The thermal baths of Bath : their history, literature, medical and surgical uses and effects, together with the Aix massage and natural vapour treatment / by Henry William Freeman.
- Freeman, Henry William, 1842-1897
- Date:
- 1888
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The thermal baths of Bath : their history, literature, medical and surgical uses and effects, together with the Aix massage and natural vapour treatment / by Henry William Freeman. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![opened from the groves opposite the ends of the main build- ings. The thermae proper were entered from the groves by four principal doorways in the north-east facade, and four lesser lateral doors. The principal doorways opened into large vestibules, B, divided by columns only from the great frigidarium with its swimming bath, H, Inner lobbies, G, led from the vestibules to the apartments, K, at each end of the central hall or great tepidarium, I. The other doors opened into vestibules, R, attached to which were apartments for conversation, or perhaps waiting rooms, S. The frigidarium was an uncovered apartment, about one hundred and seventy-six feet long by seventy-five feet wide, exclusive of the recesses on its south-west side. The swim- ming bath occupied its entire area, and was entered by steps from the vestibules, B, and the central hall. The central hall, or great tepidarium, I, was vaulted and elaborately de- corated ; it measured about one hundred and eighty feet by seventy-eight feet, exclusive of large lateral recesses. In four of these recesses were baths, probably of tepid water ; and in the central ones were large circular labra or fountains. From the central recess, on the south-west side, doors gave access to a smaller tepidarium, L, most probably of a higher tem- perature than the central hall; and introduced with the view of assisting the body to bear the still greater heat of the caldarium, M. Warm baths were provided in the lateral recesses of this small tepidarium. The adjoining portions, marked X, were open courts for light and air, and also for stoking the furnaces which heated several cisterns, shown in the thickness of the walls. Two entrances, protected by double doors, gave access from the intermediate tepidarium, also- a female figure, is clothed and carries one serpent. Two heads are represented as covered with hair formed of serpents, serpents also being sculptured in the hair and beard of the head o: Medusa, which formed the centre of the pediment of the temple, the remains of which are now in the -portico and in other parts of the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution. All these seem to be symbolical of the healing properties of the Bath Thermal Springs, which for centuries have been so celebrated, and granted, as Solinus expresses it, ad U81LS mortalvwn. The Dog also was not only a symbol of -^sculapius, but represented the Dog Star [kviov] adopted by the Romans from the Greek, indicating the passage of the Sun into the constellation Leo.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21053212_0437.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
