Saturday, July 29, 2017

Floating Baths

I found floating baths referenced in Olmstead's Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England (in the online version recommended by Texan99 - thank you), and could guess what these might mean, but did not know.  Apparently they were a big deal in 19th C England, and also in New York. There is a bit about them in the delightfully-named Cat's Meat Shop blog.

2 comments:

  1. Never heard of these before. It takes bathing machines to a new level.

    "The aeration of the water which takes place in the process of filtration, and in its discharge from the fountains, frees the water from the chemical impurities which might be expected to be present to some extent in Thames Water"

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  2. I'm guessing the Thames was then the outlet for sewers and drains, and all manner of fecal contamination.

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