Review, Dec. 1, 1897.

the part, the cover is placed over it, and radiation is prevented by means of a blanket. For stiff joints or for rheumatic conditions the vaporarium is extremely useful.

Fig. 6 represents the arrangement for the application of sprays and douches to the rectum and vagina, and in disorders where it is necessary to act upon the pelvic circulation.

The Nauheim Baths were also shown, in the mechanism of which carbonic acid gas is artificially added to the water. Looking at the Nauheim Bath from a strictly scientific standpoint, Dr. Wilde said it was a bath which, commencing with water at the indifferent point, was gradually lowered in temperature as the patient became accustomed to it and could bear it. The carbonic acid in the water supplied a stimulus to the skin which rendered the lowered temperature easier to bear, but which was inferior for this purpose to the Needle Bath, or the friction with the hand used by Priesnitz. It was one of those fashions in bathing which would leave behind it certain elementary truths which had been previously occluded by false theories. Exercise and cold baths had been forbidden to persons whose hearts produced certain sounds when examined by the stethoscope, and the heart muscle robbed of its natural stimuli had suffered. There were thousands of persons who, if they could afford a course of Nauheim Baths, would be benefited, but if the scientific principle involved were considered, it would be found that there were many less expensive, and less tedious, ways of accomplishing the same results. But the public demanded the Nauheim method, and the Bath Corporation had copied it as closely as it was possible to do.

Several other baths were visited, including the room where the mineral water in atomised form is used for affections of throat, nose and ear; the Scottish Douche Bath, where douches of hot and cold water are rapidly alternated in affections of the spine, and where a stimulating effect is required.

The visit to the deep baths and to the large swimming bath had to be given up, as many of the members expressed a wish to visit Bath Abbey.

Leaving the Baths, the party strolled through the costly new buildings now in course of erection as an addition to the Baths, which will afford facilities for promenades with music for the convalescent, and enable the public to inspect the Roman remains under the most agreeable conditions. They then passed on into the Abbey, the most interesting features of which were pointed out; thence to the municipal buildings, where the visitors, being conducted upstairs to the Mayor's parlour, found a welcome surprise awaiting them in the shape of wines and light refreshments, the Mayor himself being present, wearing his chain of office, ready to receive and greet them on the city's behalf. The ceremony of introduction by Drs. Wilde and Wills having been concluded, refreshments were handed round, followed by cigars, cigarettes &c., to those who cared for them, and it is needless to say

Review, Dec. 1, 1897.

that his Worship's thoughtful and generous hospitality was much appreciated. There were, of course, the inevitable speeches.

The Mayor said a few appropriate words by way of welcoming the party under the municipal roof, and expressed the confident hope that under the able guidance of Drs, Wilde and Wills they would spend an instructive and enjoyable day.

Dr. Proctor, as President of the Congress for 1897, expressed their sincere and hearty thanks to the Mayor for his courtesy, and for the entertainment to which they had

been treated; it was something for which they had not been prepared, and like all unexpected pleasures came with a double zest. They would all look back with very pleasurable feelings to the kind welcome they had received in Bath, and he was very glad indeed to have the opportunity of expressing their sense of the reception given them.

The Mayor's health was then drunk with enthusiasm. The Mayor, in reply, said he must in his turn thank them most heartily for their kind words. He was only sorry that Dr. Wilde did not broach the subject of this visit to him, so that they might have had a proper gathering and a banquet, or something of that kind, which would have done greater honour to the occasion. However, he was very pleased to meet them and give them such entertainment as lay in his power. Speaking as Mayor of Bath, he had no doubt that to a great extent doctors might be regarded as the feeders of the eity the creators of its prosperity. Without doctors, and their recommendation of the healing waters which the city afforded for the treatment of certain diseases, it was only reasonable to assume that those facilities would not be taken advantage of in the way they now were. He thanked them very much for the kind way in which the President had proposed his health, and he assured them that whatever he could do to further make their visit enjoyable he should be only too willing to do. His Worship then invited the company to make a tour of the municipal buildings. (Applause.)

On leaving the Guildhall the party drove in four-horse wagonettes through the Victoria Park and along the slope of Lansdowne to the joint Lansdowne and Homœopathic Hospitals. These are situated 430 feet above the sea, facing south, and command extensive views.

Dr. WILDE said, that in the building of this hospital the question of heat had been their greatest difficulty. With twelve private wards it was essential to have fires under control, and to minimise labour. They all knew the convenience, the cleanliness, and the disadvantages of the gas stove. The atmospheric burner yielded carbon monoxide, which sometimes caused symptoms in invalids, and the incandescent asbestos blocks dried up the atmosphere of the room. Το make a gas fire practical, it was necessary to change the chemical composition of the flame and add moisture to it, instead of letting it consume the moisture of the room. He came to the conclusion that if he could supply hydrogen it might combine with the carbon of the carbon monoxide and give a flame which would be innocuous. If he could decompose water, and get two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen, it would suit his purpose perfectly, but unfortunately it

Review, Dec. 1, 1897.

required a heat of 1,500 to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit to decompose water. But by the principle of dynamization the homœopathic school had made insoluble substances soluble, and obtained effects from agents which were ordinarily regarded as inert. He could not triturate the water with

sugar of milk, but he could split it up by passing it through asbestos fibres, so that the surface presented by a single drop was increased many hundred times. He tried this, and the result was perfect. He placed an apparatus in contact with the pale blue flame of the atmospheric burner and immediately