commission. During 1897 there were 657,275 bathers of whom 120,915 were women and girls. The total expense for maintenance for that year was $23,768.31. In that year there were thirteen floating houses. The old style floating houses are about sixty by thirty feet with twelve feet posts. They are four feet six inches under water and are supported by tanks holding 8,000 gallons. Sometimes casks are used to float the house. They last several years but are recoopered annually. The baths accommodate about seventy-five bathers at a time.1 The new style of floating bath is open to the sky, thus ensuring better ventilation. There are also in Boston six beach baths and two swimming pools and two river baths. "The swimming pools were established to supply summer baths to the sections of the city without water frontage. One of the pools is at Orchard Park, a small open space with grass and trees in the midst of the tenement districts of Roxbury. It consists of a tank made of concrete, eighty feet in length by thirty feet in width and four feet in depth; to which fresh water is supplied from the city pipes. This tank is enclosed merely by a high board fence. Two or three polling booths temporarily fitted up for the purpose afford the necessary dressing accommodations. Great care is taken to keep the water clean. The surface is drawn off several times daily, and once each day the tank is completely emptied and washed out. Every bather before entering the pool must use the shower bath. Between eighty and ninety thousand gallons of water are used daily." The number of bathers accommodated at all the Boston baths in 1899 was 1,920,368. In-door Baths. While the summer or out-door baths are excellent, they can only be used about one-third of the year and even then are not so desirable for cleansing as are shower baths. It is very generally agreed that the rain bath is the best form for general public use, though tub baths and plunge baths have their place in public plants. As was above stated, public baths of this kind were first established by private philanthropic enterprise, but there are now municipal works in a number of cities. Massachusetts2 has permitted her towns to construct such baths, and New York has required cities of the first and second class to establish baths of hot and cold water which shall be open fourteen hours each day. These baths are to be constructed as the board of health may require. Baths have been built under this law in Buffalo, Rochester, New York, and Utica. The first municipal bath of this character was the Carter H. Harrison Bath in Chicago, which was opened in March, 1893. 1 Boston, Report of Department of Baths (1899). 2 Massachusetts, Chapter 125 of 1898. 3 New York, Revised Statutes (1896), p. 433. "It is a handsome structure of pressed brick and brown stone, twenty-five feet wide by one hundred and ten feet deep. In the basement are the laundry and two furnaces, one for heating the building, the other for heating the water for the baths. In the front of the main floor is a waiting room sixteen feet square, seating forty people. Beyond this are the bath rooms, with necessary toilet accommodations. There are sixteen shower and two tub baths, and a plunge twenty by thirty feet. This last has not been a success, owing to its small size and to the aversion of people to sharing so small a body of water. Allowing twenty-five minutes to each bather, the capacity of the bath is 2,600 persons a week. Two minutes are allowed for undressing after entering the bathroom, when the water is turned on for eight minutes. One minute's notice is given before the water is turned off, to allow time for a rinse off. Fifteen minutes are allowed for dressing. Women are allowed to use the baths two days a week, men using them the remainder of the time. women the temperature is 105 degrees, and on days for men, 100 degrees. people resort to this bath, not only for the purpose of cleanliness, but for relief for rheumatism and other diseases, with, as they claim, good results." For Many The bath cost $10,856, and the operating expenses in 1898 were $4,434.72, the total expense for each bath averaging four and one-tenth cents. During 1898, 106,233 baths were given, 25,608 to women and girls. In July, 1896, the remarkable number of 11,250 baths were recorded. The following account of the Madden bath is from the report of the Chicago Health Department for 1897-8, p. 92: แ 'The Martin B. Madden bath, at 39th street and Wentworth avenue, was opened to the public, April 17, 1897. The dimensions of this building are as follows: "The front part of the building, which consists of waiting rooms and office, is 30feet by 49 feet 6 inches; wing part, which is the bath proper, is 26 by 70 feet, and contains 31 separate dressing rooms and shower baths, one tub bath, and all necessary toilet arrangements annexed. The basement is divided into a boiler room, laundry and soup kitchens. "Baths given in 1898 (288 days, closed 67 days, including holidays, Sundays and for repairs): To males, 96,461; females 12,461; total.. Daily average of baths given. 108,922 $4,040 31 0.03% 374" Two more baths, one with two swimming pools, have since been built. The bath built by the town of Brookline, Mass., is a most remarkable example of public spirit. This town with a population of less than 20,000, built a public bath at a cost of about $43,000, exclusive of land. It was opened in January, 1897. "The main part of the building contains the natatorium, spectators' gallery, running track and dressing rooms, and is well lighted, well ventilated, and commodious. The main tank is 80 feet long and 26 feet wide, and has an average of 4 1-2 feet of water. The bottom of the tank slopes gradually, and is four feet deep at one end and seven feet at the other. Around the swimming hall are forty-two dressing Brookline Public Bath. From a plate loaned by the Committee on the Public Bath. rooms, with a passageway on either side. At one end of the swimming hall are three rain baths, at the other, two; these are for the preliminary cleansing bath required of all before entering the swimming tank. On the right of the entrance is the instruction room, containing a small tank 22 by 10 feet, with water of an average depth of 3 1-2 feet; six large (double) dressing rooms and a rain bath (s). On the left of the entrance is a large room (c) containing six rain and foot baths, and three bath tubs with an overhead rain-bath attachment, and nine dressing rooms. The rain baths are of the "Gegenstrom" pattern, and there are fifteen of them in all, in various parts of the building, with space for three more when needed." Rules for the conduct of the bath are given in the 1st Report of the Bath Committee, 1896. The fee for a bath is-ten cents which includes towels and soap, but on two days in the week the bath is free. In 1899 there were 49,391 bathers. The running expenses were $7,600 and the receipts were $5,230 making the net cost $2,370. Buffalo has a brick bath house which cost $14,800. It has twenty shower baths. Powdered soap is used, and only enough for one bath is issued to each person. The bath is entirely free. The following data were kindly furnished by the health commissioner: STATISTICS PERTAINING TO FREE PUBLIC BATH HOUSE, NO. 1, Of those using the bath during 1899, 60,029 were men, 2,588 women, and 19,176 children. 3,166 persons took advantage of the laundry privileges. 1 The stone floors of the passageway and dressing rooms are kept warm by special steam pipes underneath. |