*********(№º!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wae șº țeae,*…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**** saes, ș, º ** ** ***+?=~= ** ****-*=- a, , ,,s)= ,№:№,træ, **** ::=≡: →æ• :ºxae sae;ț¢&&*^®* *ſ*...***•••• •¿¿.******** ¿№ :*()_(№º!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!))))))))* = *)>(.*?=$. ſae 。、「」、。、。(**) №. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *** ********* !! ;*)>ș**¿.*¿.* -Ģae șæ√≠√æ√r.: º * : No. 120-Price 20 cents | THE AMERICAN CITY PAMPHILETS Relative to City and Town Improvements Published by The Civic Press 87 Nassau St., New York Catalogue sent on request Public Bath Houses and Swimming Pools” Purposes and Types of Public Baths—Points of Importance in Mechanical Equipment—Sanitation of Swimming Pools by Prevention of Water Contamination and by Treatment After Pollution By Dr. William Paul Gerhard, C. E. . * > * ~ |ºº. - Consulting Sanitary Expert HY do we bathe, and how do we W bathe P Let us consider at the out- set the various distinct objects sought in taking baths, for this is essential to a correct appreciation of the following discussion of the problem. Distinguished according to the results desired there are four classes of baths as follows: (1) Hygienic or cleansing baths—those taken to keep the skin clean and to promote or maintain health by cleanliness of the body and by the proper functions of the ºskin (2) Baths for recreation and for physi- cal exercise—those which promote bodily ºhealth only indirectly (3) Baths for refreshment and for hard- ening the body (4) Baths for healing, for the cure of - disease by the application of so-called medical or curative baths We cannot render our bodies clean, main- * Condensed and adapted from a paper prepared by the author for the 1914 meeting of the American Asso- ºciation for Promoting Public Hygiene and Baths, held at Newark, N. J. sº THE NEW WILDER BATHS, ST, PAUL, MINN. tain a healthy action of the skin, keep our undergarments reasonably clean, and there- by help to solve the problem of ventilation in large crowds, without the use of warm or tempered water and soap. Hence the cleansing baths are, to my mind, those of the foremost importance, not only for the health of the individual, but also for the attainment of a higher sanitation in a com- munity. The most sanitary type of such baths is the tepid douche or shower bath. Second in importance are the baths taken for physical exercise, for the sake of recre- ation, for the love of the sport of swim- ming. For such baths a natural or artificial pool is required. They are in no sense in- tended as cleansing baths; in fact, cleanli- ness can only be attained in those floating river baths, where a pure river water is constantly flowing through the pool. While it is conceded that swimming is one of the best forms of exercise, it cannot be con- ducive to health in a polluted water, or in a close and badly ventilated swimming hall. The refreshing and cooling off of the 347169 Engin. Library a º | | allº allºs alſº - * * EE-------ºr- Tri-º-º: - Courtesy of Richard W. Erler, Associated Ar body during the hot season, or after vio- lent exercise, can be attained alike in the shower or in the pool. The hardening of the body, to make it more resistant against some ills, can also be attained, after a warm tub bath, by the taking of a cooler or a cold douche, administered from either a hand or overhead spray. Finally, the treatment of ailments by the use of the many forms of curative baths is rather a medical subject, hence foreign to this discussion. For the Maintenance of Health Through Cleanliness Of public baths, by far the most impor- tant, so far as the health of a city or com- munity is concerned, are the people's cheap or free bath houses. They should be lo- cated as near as possible in the center of populous districts, occupied by the work- ing classes and the poorer people generally. In large cities, obviously, more than one such bath house is required. The ruling principle should there be to decentralize the baths: rather than have one large bath house, with hundreds of bath units, the large city should establish a number of ". - chitect, Werner & Windolph, New York THIRD WARD PUBLIC BATH, NEWARK, N. J. smaller bath houses, to avoid inconveniently long walks or rides to them, but also be- cause people's baths with too many bath units are difficult to control and manage. The buildings themselves should be un- pretentious, and the interiors should be sim- ple and sanitary. Monumental buildings, from an architectural standpoint, are de- cidedly out of place. This criticism may, with some reason, be applied to some of the city bath houses erected in the past. While it is customary to include a few tub baths for women and children, the equipment should consist mainly of shower baths. This type of bath is without the shadow of a doubt the cleanest and most sanitary, because the water used in the ab- lution of the body flows at once away, with- out the body of the bather staying, as it does in the bath tub, in contact with the pol- luted water. The people's baths should be municipal institutions, offering during all seasons of the year to the working population oppor- tunity to obtain health and cleanliness by plain, quickly taken baths. Swimming pools in such baths are, in my judgment, entirely out of the question, because of the cost º º º -- | º ſº º º and difficulty of keeping the water in the pool pure and unobjectionable. . . In passing, I wish to mention that, in my judgment, it is quite feasible to utilize public school baths during the evening hours for the people, as is done sometimes in Europe. In smaller communities, one may place the baths in other existing buildings, as, for instance, in the basement of a town hall, or in connection with a fire engine station, or even in connection with a village library. The provision of cleansing baths in prosper- ous villages is a subject worthy of the spe- cial attention of civic and health organiza- tions. Public Baths for Cleansing and Recreation Bath houses with provision for swim- ming are either open-air baths, available only during the summer season, as, for in- stance, the river and seaside baths and the so-called wading and bathing pools in city parks, or they may be enclosed, heated bath houses, which have the advantage of being serviceable during the entire year. The equipment of this type consists in (1) baths for cleansing, shower baths, and perhaps a very few tubs, and (2) the swim- ming pool. In planning such more complete bath houses, one should always bear in mind the two different objects, recreation and cleanliness. The shower douches are not, however, altogether for cleansing, for if the object of a bather is merely to remove a surplus of bodily heat, after healthful physi- cal exercise, he can obtain perfect satisfac- tion by the use of a cold douche or shower. Where natural water courses are avail- able with a pure flowing water supply, river baths are, perhaps, better than artificial indoor pools. But where the river water is impure and sewage-polluted, floating river baths should be abolished. The pub- lic authorities should in such cases provide efficient and economical substitutes. These may be found in the establishment of open- air summer pools, enclosed on the sides only, and open to the sky at the top, which have proved successful in some inland Courtesy of Richard W. Erler, Associated Architect, Werner & Windolph, New York SHOWER BATHS AND DRESSING ROOMS OF THE THIRD WARD BATH, NEWARK, N. J. There are ninety-five shower baths in the building. for the bath and one for dressing. These are of the type having two compartments, one Special mixing valves prevent scalding -- X- | - - Tº º -- - lºssºs's Cº. - s º | Vº | ". º | THE SUTRO BATHS, SAN FRANCISCO cities. To preserve the purity of the pool water, these should have ample means for preliminary cleansing baths. Municipal cleansing and pool baths should, if possible, be entirely free. But if the cost of maintenance becomes high on account of the combination of both types of bath, a fee might be charged for use of the pool only, leaving the use of the show- ers free, provided always the fee is not made so high as to interfere with a good attendance. There are, and always will be, a large number of self-respecting working people able and willing to pay such a small fee, for which in return a bath towel and a cake of soap might be given. -- Common to all types of bath houses is the chief and, to my mind, uppermost require- ment of cleanliness. This can be secured and maintained by the use of appropriate materials of construction, by suitable plan- ning, arrangement and equipment, by ample lighting and ventilation, and by the enforce- ment of certain general rules of conduct applicable to all bathers. Jºſechanical Equipment Among the points of importance in the equipment of baths are the water supply, the material for water supply pipes, the heating of the water, its filtration, the pre- vention of water waste, the material for bath and dressing compartments, the shower mixing valves, the construction and sani- tation of the swimming pool, the disinfec- tion of bathing suits and bath towels, and rules for the bathers. I shall not attempt to consider the heating and artificial light- ing of baths. - 1. Bath houses may take their water from a public water main, or else they may in- stall a private independent water supply plant. As a rule, the former plan is the more economical. If the water works are owned by a private concern, it is usually possible to obtain special concessions in the rates charged for water. 2. In planning the water supply, the engi- neer should carefully calculate the maxi- mum daily volume of water required, and obtain or specify a large connection with the city supply main. To a certain extent the engineer, however conscientious and well-meaning, is at the mercy of the official in the water department office who issues the permits for the taps or service connec- tions. I know of several instances where the engineer or the architect was refused a desired 4- or 6-inch connection, only two 2-inch taps being allowed him. The re- sult was that after the bath house was put in operation, the supply was found to be insufficient, and the city bath department had to dig up and remove the small ser- vices and replace them by larger sizes. 3. The question of the best material to use for the water supply pipes is an impor- tant one. The choice would seem to lie be- tween cast iron, galvanized wrought iron or steel welded pipe, and brass pipes. The brass piping is quite expensive, and in the majority of cases galvanized wrought iron pipes are used. . . . . In the light of present knowledge on the subject, my advice regarding material suit- able for the supply pipes in bath houses is as follows: for the large mains, both for hot and cold water, those 4 inches in diam- eter or over, use cast iron flanged pipe, or else cast iron Universal pipe with ground- in joints tightened with lugs and bolts. For cold water, cast iron socket pipes with calked joints may be used. For the smaller cold water mains, use wrought iron or steel pipe of best obtainable quality, the pipes being protected against corrosion by either “special” galvanizing, or by black enamel. For the smaller hot water service pipes, use either seamless brass or copper pipes. 4. Where, for economical reasons, wrought iron or steel pipes must be used, the aim should be to keep all piping ex- Lººſe- - - Wºº-yº - C - Ceº ºr ºve 22 ºz Pºrº 22° 2 º' ºrº-2-cy Pºº-Preºny ºro- Jºwer &Q - ºffereº ºro- Oper/ow ººzººe - adder. 2-ºre ºf …a…arº ||| 9 - gºve ſhººt | 32 - tº owe rºº Poor Jº Jºy ºzºe 7-7 ºffer Cº- ºr and ſ - - º, * ev. Wº Wºº. | Woº- Pºº or Main ºr - - ... º. - º º --- º - T. - * * * * * * wº-ººººº-ºº: | wº'-wºº ºrcs Wº waiting ºoº- | ºaſe ºf tº 9-ſº - JJ Jº wº ºate Parrºw Zºº ºr ºf eafººd by Uteacº º az. | J£º. ºeafºy - Chºº, º in Aase- º ºf Ventºny Pºcº are º º 2-cºded - - A ºf Mºed, wººd ºººoo- ºny ºccº, are cººd cº-wºº wºe zºo" above rº, - - - - º - º º sº º -- HOUSE TO A PUBLIC BATH CONVERTEI) FROM A POWER Main-floor plan of a public bath at Troy, N. Y. This bath was formerly a power house, used as a pumping station for the water works posed and out of floors or walls, so that re- pairs, if they become necessary, can be more readily undertaken. Regarding the best position of the water distribution pipes in bath houses, it should be borne in mind that the essential water- proofing of the floors should be pierced at as few points as possible. Hence it is best to carry the horizontal pipes on the main floor of the bathroom overhead, and not at the basement or cellar ceiling, in which lat- ter position many branches to the douches become necessary. One should endeavor, however, to avoid a position of the cold water mains where the drippings due to condensation on the outside of the pipes would annoy the bathers. 5. Heaters for warming bath water should be calculated and made ample in ca- pacity. In bath houses which have both the showers and the pool, each kind of bath should have its own water-heating device. Where the bath house contains only shower baths it is, in my judgment, a mistake to heat the hot water all the way from 150° to 180° F. Satisfactory results can be ob- tained if the temperature in the heater or hot water storage tank is kept at IIo° to II5° F. Any excess is undesirable, for it is one cause of the quicker wearing out of the vulnerable parts of faucets and valves. The lower temperature would also have a tendency to increase the life of steel or wrought iron pipe by diminishing the cor- rosion. A further advantage is that it per- mits doing away with the expensive shower mixing valves, the use of which originated from the necessity of guarding the bather against scalding when the hot water was unduly heated. Two ordinary shutoff valves, in reach of the bather, on the hot and cold supply branches, would prove to be better and less expensive than the mixing valves in use, provided the hot water is heated not to exceed IIo° F. 6. The filtering of the water supply for cleansing shower baths is neither necessary from a hygienic point of view, nor is it required, as some argue, from a purely mechanical point of view, in order to pre- vent the obstruction of the holes in the shower heads. The construction of these should be one permitting the removal of the douche head in order to clean the holes. The water for swimming pools, on the other hand, should be filtered if it comes from a Street main, except in cities having an ex- ceptionally pure water supply. 7. Unnecessary waste of water should be prevented in a public bath house quite as much as in other buildings. To make the overhead douches of the cleansing baths of a very large diameter is objectionable and uncalled for. A sufficient stream of water for bodily ablution can be gotten from a douche head not more than 4 or 4% inches in diameter. Neither should the numerous holes be unduly large, for if so a great waste of water takes place. 8. Not only are the majority of bath mixing valves expensive, but some of them are not altogether reliable. They were in- troduced by manufacturers to prevent acci- dents to bathers. For the free public bath houses, I contend that it is much simpler to reduce the temperature of the hot water to IIo degrees, and to use plain hot and cold water valves to control and mix the flow of water to the douches. 9. A not inconsiderable saving in the cost of construction of the free public baths can be effected by not using marble as a mate- rial for the shower bath and dressing com- partments. A bath interior can be made attractive and perfectly sanitary, and the compartments durably constructed, by using a cheaper material, which has the merits of being impermeable, non-absorbent, clean- able, and light in color, so that no dirt would be hidden, as might be the case if dark slate were used. Io. The recently introduced hand paper towels form a satisfactory substitute in public places for the unsanitary common or roller towel. Since these came into use it has always seemed to me something of a similar nature might be contrived for use in public bath houses. Several German firms now make paper bath towels. These seem in Germany to be preferred by fastidious bathers to the common bath towels, which, unless properly disinfected or sterilized after each use, may transmit dis- ease. Each bather now gets an entirely new towel, which is used only once. I am informed that these towels, while soft and pliable, are still sufficiently tough, so that they do not tear easily and can be used for rubbing by merely folding them double. The use of paper bath towels would do away with a constant item of expense in the laundrying of the towels, and in the un- avoidable waste due to stealing. Courtesy of Electrical World LIGHTING OF THE MUNICIPAL SWIMMING POOL IN ST. LOUIS The Smimming Pool The larger a pool is made the more costly becomes the filling with fresh water, or the process for purifying the pool water, and the heating of the water to a proper tem- perature, usually 70° or 72° F. Hence it is desirable to limit the dimensions of the swimming pool. The cost of heating the water can in some cases be reduced by obtaining waste steam from a nearby steam power plant, or from a private or municipal electric light plant. A swimming pool should be constructed as a perfectly watertight basin of stone, brickwork, or reinforced concrete masonry. Waterproofing of the bottom and sides is essential. The floor and the walls of the pool should be finished in non-absorbent and washable materials, preferably marble slabs or glazed tiles. In all corners a special treatment is required to have them well rounded, as this facilitates cleaning opera- tions. Some time ago " I suggested lining the sides of pools up to the water line with light-blue, glazed tiles, with a horizontal border, and white tiling above, as I had seen done in many German swimming baths, but I have not found one American archi- tect willing to try this kind of finish for the pool. I wonder why? Many European pools undeniably owe their attractive ap- pearance to this feature in construction not less than to the crystal-clear water. A scum gutter at the normal water level of the pool, and run along at least three of sº Gerhard, “Modern Baths and Bathhouses”; .00. DAYLIGHT VIEW OF THE ST. LOUIS MUNICIPAL SWIMMING poo: : its sides, is an essential feature. By its means many of the lighter floating impuri- ties, due to the perspiration and exudation of the sweat glands of the surface skin, in- cluding abrasions from the skin, or other foreign substances, like hair, dirt and dust, and lint from bathing suits, can be at once removed from the surface of the pool water. It is, of course, necessary that the water level should be kept constantly up to the level of the gutter, and that there be a continuous inflow of pure tempered water into the pool. abominations not to be tolerated, because the always present vapors attack these sur- faces quickly. The importance of admitting sunlight and fresh air to a swimming hall, at times crowded with bathers, is often undervalued. I quite agree with sanitary experts who favor putting the pool in a one-story struc- ture covered with a glass roof, and arrang- ing the roof so it can be opened up in sum- mer to admit the sunlight and to aid in the ventilation of the place. In most swimming baths the dressing MULLAN PHY SWIMMING A swimming pool should be located in a well-lighted and well-ventilated lofty hall. It loses much of its attraction if it is placed in a dark room with a low ceiling, where sunlight never enters, and where there is little or no opportunity to admit outside fresh air. Matters become worse when the constructive features of the pool are cheap and unsanitary. A pool with cemented bot- tom or with cement-lined brick walls al- ways suggests the thought of its being dirty, even if it may not actually be so. The walls of the swimming hall should likewise be finished in enameled bricks or in tiles, and the ceiling should also be tiled. Painted brigk, walls and plastered ceilings are - - - * - - - POOL, ST. LOUIS, MO. rooms are located along the long sides of the pool. If so placed, it is a good plan to provide two gangways, an outer one which gives the patrons access to the dressing rooms, and an inner one around the pool, which should be accessible only to the bath- ers after undressing. It is not desirable to have non-bathing visitors walk in the inner gangways, as they would necessarily defile them by street dirt and mud, carried in with their shoes. Much better is the plan of having an upper visitors' gallery, accessible by stairs from the waiting room. A good plan is to have all dressing com- partments on an upper gallery, from which stairs for the bathers lead to the cleansing baths. Only after using these are the bath- ers permitted to enter the pool. In this way the bathing master is given a full con- trol over all bathers. - It is inadvisable to pitch or grade the inner gangway floor toward the scum gut- ter, for when the floor is flushed by means of a hose, much dirty water necessarily runs past the gutter into the pool, contami- nating the water. A better plan is to pro- vide a raised coping or curb around the pool and to arrange separate floor drains on all four sides of the gangway. How Often Should the Water Be Changed? We come now to the important question as 'to how frequently or completely the water in a pool should be changed, both for Sanitary and esthetic reasons. This appears to me to be dependent ob- viously upon four factors: (I) Upon the size and capacity of the pool With the same average number of bathers per hour a small pool becomes more quickly contami- nated than a large one. - (2) Upon the maximum daily number of bathers - - - - At those times when there is a maximum attendance a pool, whether its water is admitted fresh or refiltered, must be emptied more often than at times of nor- mal attendance. (3) Upon the character of the bathers - It seems to me that the water of a pool in a club house requires changing less often than the water of a Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation pool, and this again less often than that of a pool in a mu- nicipal or other public bath. (4) Upon the season of the year In winter time a swimming bath pool does not require emptying as often as in summer; where once a week in winter suffices, it should be twice a week in summer. The ideal, but practically nearly always unattainable standard, would be the empty- ing, cleaning, scouring and refilling of the pool once in twenty-four hours. The next to the ideal condition would be to admit continuously a sufficient hourly flow of pure water (one-tenth to one-twentieth) so that the water contents are changed at least once in twenty-four hours, and to empty and clean the basin at least once a week. The dirt attaching to the sides of the pool can be removed by means of long-handled brushes, but the process is not a thorough one; vacuum cleaning brushes have also been tried. The heavier suspended matters drop at once to the bottom, and can only be removed by the emptying of the pool. A pool can doubtless be cleaned in the best manner while it is empty. This cleaning has necessarily to be done during the night, or else on Sundays, if the bath is not then open. g Prevention of Water Contamination My personal .belief is that satisfactory sanitary conditions of the water in pools can be obtained fully as much by the pre- vention of water contamination as by treat- ment of the water after pollution. The introduction of dirt and bacteria into the pool and the fouling of the water should be prevented, as far as possible, by the strictest attention to the cleanliness of the body of bathers. Accordingly, the most important sanitary feature of a swimming bath—to my way of thinking—is not the pool itself, but the pre- liminary cleansing baths. These should al- ways be, but frequently are not, provided, and they should be—but often are not— properly taken. Sufficient attention does not appear to be given in our bath houses to this very important feature. Even in the hot pool baths of Japan there are, ac- cording to Prof. Baelz, who has lived in Japan many years, regulations prescribing that bathers must soap, scrub, wash and rinse thoroughly before entering the pool. In order to attain thorough cleanliness, bathers should be afforded privacy during ablution, for they should perform it before putting on the bathing suit (women) or the bathing tights (men). Some of the clean- ing compartments should, therefore, be pro- vided with curtains. A thorough ablution should be encouraged by furnishing to the bathers free soap and scrubbing brushes. If I had my way about it, I would provide not the ordinary bath soap, but a small cake. of germ-destroying, disinfecting or medical Soap. Cleansing baths should consist not only of downward douches, but also of a few up- *g § E. wº * * sº - º * & º dº sº : - - º tº . ºf PATTERSON PARK OPEN-AIR SWIMMING POOL IN BALTIMORE ward douches (or bidets in womens' baths), and likewise of foot baths. I do not recall having seen in any American swimming bath, in the section devoted to cleansing baths, these very necessary foot baths. They may consist of either a single long free-standing trough, with tempered water running continuously in and out; or, better, of a series of individual porcelain fixtures, arranged back-to-back in the center of the cleansing room. Further measures tending to prevent the pollution of the pool are the provision of special, water-flushed cuspidors, the already described scum gutter, and the location of urinals and toilets in immediate vicinity of the cleansing baths. Large, easily-read signs should be conspicuously posted, di- recting the bathers to use the toilet fixtures before going into the pool. For women bathers, thoroughly sterilized bathing suits should be furnished, either free or for a small fee, and they should preferably be of an undyed material, as the dye contributes to the discoloration of the pool water. Male bathers should be per- mitted to use very small triangular tights or loin cloths, but the practice should be en- couraged to enter the pool without bathing garment. Strict rules for the bathers should be posted in all dressing compartments to enforce the use of the cleansing baths. In cities with a large foreign population the rules should be given in the principal lan- guages of the people. Spitting or blowing the nose while in the pool should be pro- hibited, likewise all smoking or the chewing of tobacco while in the bath house. The practice of urinating anywhere except in the toilets should be made a punishable offense, though this is naturally difficult to detect. Rejuvenating the Pool Water If it should be decided that for reasons of economy the entire contents of a pool cannot be renewed daily, some compromise must be adopted, in order to improve the water in the pool from a physical, chemical, bacteriological and esthetic point of view. Several processes are available by which pool water, polluted by the bathers, can be purified and used over again. One is the well-known refiltration method, in which the water is withdrawn continually from the pool, passed through filters (with or with- out chemicals), reheated, and readmitted to the pool. Another method, used in some English and German bath houses, is the Rowe system of aeration and filtration, the aeration of the pool water being a chief feature. The use of hypochlorite of calcium has a $ marked effect in restoring the pool water to purity. Sometimes the two processes of refiltration and hypochlorite treatment are combined. Other processes are the puri- fying system using ozone, the Permutit system, and more recently the sterilization of the water of swimming pools by means of ultra-violet rays. Some of the advocates of such methods unquestionably go to extremes when they represent that the same water, refiltered or otherwise sterilized, can actually be used over for periods varying from three months to two and a half years. I cannot bring myself to look favorably upon refiltration of pool water, except where a weekly emptying of the pool takes place, and this for several reasons. In the first place, filtration does not remove the salts in solution, the ammonia, the urine or any other polluting matter dissolved in the water. Secondly, it should be borne in mind that the effect of pollution in a pool which is emptied at rare intervals is likely to be a cumulative one, increasing as the frequency of change of water decreases. Furthermore, there is in many persons an almost insuperable objection, largely on esthetic grounds, of bathing in water which has been used over and over again. If we consider the refiltration method as usually practiced, we find that during each hour of the day only a small portion of the contents of the pool is removed and returned to the larger already polluted vol- ume in the pool after being filtered. It seems to me that better results could be obtained if the pool could be emptied at night quickly and all at one time by means of more powerful pumps, and the contami- nated water passed through filters of Suf- ficiently large capacity so that the next morning the entire pool would contain re- filtered water. This seems to be feasible, but it would involve, of course, a much greater expense. tº The number of bacteria in a water is a convenient, though not necessarily a con- vincing, test of its purity. It is the number of bacteria of intestinal origin, the patho- genic germs present, which alone interest us, and they bear no specific proportionate relation to the total number of bacteria. Bacteriological examinations are all very well, but for myself I should like to see, in the investigations of swimming pools, more importance attached by expert hygienists to the physical and chemical examinations of the water. * A Sound opinion was expressed not long ago by a very prominent German sanitary engineer, the late Baurat Herzberg, that “it is not the number of bacteria in the water which determine, from a practical point of view, the contamination of the pool, but rather the suspended and dissolved sub- stances, the urine, the perspiration, the skin abrasions, the fat particles, the dirt and Soap carried in the swimming suits. All the matter passing into solution cannot be filtered out. The claims of the artificial purification of the pool water have been greatly exaggerated and overestimated.” That some saving in the amount of the water bill can be effected by adopting re- filtration is conceded, but should this be the chief consideration ? In estimating such saving, moreover, consideration should, of course, be given to the cost of the filters, of the chemicals, of the amount of water used daily for washing the filters, and the inci- dental cost of the labor. Conclusion Reviewing what has been said, the sani- tation of people's free baths and of public baths generally, and the hygiene of the Swimming pool in particular, are, and al- ways must remain, to a large extent, merely the application and enforcement of com- mon sense, not only in the planning and equipment, but essentially so in the super- vision and in the rules and regulations for the management of such places. ſº THE ONLY AMERICAN BOOK ON THE SUBJEet “The widespread distribution of bathing literature will in the end fulfill its every promise, with the result that we will be better people, morally, physically and intellectually.” - • . .” MODERN BATHS AND BATH HOUSES DR. W.M. PAUL GER HARD, C. E. Consulting Sanitary Expert. CON TENTS The book brings together many valuable data and .much information on people's baths with or without swimming pools, as well as details Öf rain baths and other bath, appliances. The complete specification for the plumbing and water supply of bath houses, prepared by the author, should prove of great value to architects en- trusted with the planning and execution of such structures. To them, as well as to librarians, the complete bibliography on the subject, compiled by the author, will be of inestimable value. The general reader will find much to interest him in the introduc- tory chapter and in the appendix, which 8vo, xvi + 311 pages, 130 illustrations. deal with bathing and bathing practices from a historical and geographical point of view, for the history of bathing is close- ly allied with the history of civilization in different countries. Physicians, medical practitioners and managers of sanatoria will find valuable, interesting and novel features in the chap- ters dealing with medical, electric light and air and sun baths. Many of the plans and details are taken from his own practice in the line of domes- tic sanitary engineering. The views in European bath houses were gathered by him during his trips abroad. Cloth, $3.00 net (12/6 net) In his practice as a sanitary engineer the author has had ample opportunity to deal with this subject in a practical way. Many baths in state hospitals and other institutions, and many of the people's and other bath houses in New York City were planned and specified by him, and the plumbing, water supply and sanitary features were installed under his superintendence. For Sale by the Book Department of THE AMERICAN CITY 87 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK Maker& ► ſe ſe º § 3 ± • № = | g = ť. № ; * №. !! !! !! - ~~~~*=~º ~º ±,±,±), ·*…*...- * ->-**** --* *