a city of Somersetshire in England, seated in W. Long, 2° 30'. N. Lat. 51° 27'. All the different names that this city has borne in different ages and languages have been taken from its medicinal waters, as the Aqua Saeux, or "hot waters," of Ptolemy; the Aquae Solis, or "waters of the sun," of Antoninus; the Caer Badon, and Caer Ennant, i.e. "the city of baths," and "the city of ointment," of the Britons; and the Aelmochelester, i.e. "the city of valerianarians," of the Saxons. The baths consist of the King's bath, the Queen's bath, the Crofs-bath, the Hot-bath, the Leper's bath, and the duke of Kingston's-bath. This place was of old a resort only for cripples and dilacerated persons; but now it is more frequented by the found for pleasure than by the sick for health. The waters are very pleasant to the taste; and impregnated with a vitriolic principle, yielding, upon evaporation, a little neutral salt, and a calcareous earth and iron. They are very efficacious in strengthening the bowels and stomach, bracing the relaxed fibres, and invigorating the circulation. In bilious complaints they are counted specific; and prove serviceable in most nervous, paralytic, rheumatic, and gouty, complaints. At the King's bath is a handsome pump-room, where the gentlemen and ladies go in a morning to drink the waters; and there is a band of music that plays all the time. In the Crofs-bath is a monument of marble, representing the descent of the Holy Ghost attended by angels, erected by the earl of Melfort (who was secretary of state for Scotland) when king James II. met his queen here. The King's-bath is a large basin of 65 feet 10 inches by 40 feet 10 inches, containing 346 tons 2 hogheads and 36 gallons of water when filled to its usual height. In the middle is a wooden building with niches and seats for the accommodation of the bathers. There are also iron rings all round for them to hold by; and guides, both male and female, to attend them in the bath. The person intending to bathe puts on, at his own lodgings, a bathing dress of brown canvas hired for the purpose; and is carried in a close chair, of a particular make, to one of the slips which open into the bath. There he descends by steps into the water, where he is attended by a guide. Having flaid his flated time in the bath, he ascends again into the slip, where he puts off his bathing-dress, and being wrapped up in blankets, is carried home to bed, where he lies for some time to encourage perspiration. The King's-bath is overlooked by the company in the pump-room; and adjoining to it are places furnished with pumps to pour the hot streams on any particular part of the body. The Queen's-bath communicates with the King's, from which it is filled; therefore the water of it is not so hot, being at a greater distance from the source. As the heat is here more moderate, the bathers descend first into the Queen's-bath, and advance gradually to the centre of the other. In the year 1755, the abbey-house, or priory, belonging to the duke of Kingston, was taken down, in order to erect a more commodious pile of building; and in digging for the foundation, the workmen discovered, about twenty feet below the surface of the earth, the remains of Roman baths and sudatories constructed upon an elegant plan, with floors suspended on pillars, and surrounded with tubulated bricks, for the conveyance of heat and vapour. These were supplied by a spring of hot water of the same properties and temperature with those of the King's-bath; and the fewer was found fill entire, that conveyed the waste water into the river. The duke, having cleared the spring and the fewer, has erected several convenient baths and fountains on the spot, where invalids may be accommodated at all hours, by night as well as by day. The two seasons are the spring and fall; but those who take the waters purely for their health do not regard the seasons, but drink them all the year round. There are a number of gentle sedan chairs, which carry people to any distance, not exceeding half a mile, for sixpence. The company assemble in the afternoon alternately, at two flatly rooms, to converse together, or play at cards. At a very pretty new theatre near the parades, plays are acted every other night; and there are balls twice a week; for which and the rooms, and books at the libraries, the gentry generally subscribe. The city is surrounded with hills on all sides, except a little opening to the east and west, through which the Avon runs. This river, which has been made navigable to Bristol by act of parliament, washes the city on the east and south sides, and there is an elegant bridge over it. This city hath formerly had a flight wall, of which some part still remains, as well as one or two of its gates; but almost all the new buildings, and much of the greatest and finest part of the city, is without the walls, particularly the fine square called Queen's-square, in the middle of which is a small garden, with gravel walks, and an obelisk in the centre. But the greatest ornament at Bath is the circus: it is of a circular form consisting of houses built on an uniform plan, with three openings at equal distances to the south, east, and west, leading into as many streets. The fronts of the houses, which are all three stories high, are adorned with three rows of columns in pairs, of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, the frieze embellished with sculpture. The whole has an air of magnificence, which cannot fail to strike the most indifferent spectator. In the centre of the area is a reservoir, or basin, filled by two or three springs rising in the neighbouring hills; whence the streets in this district are supplied with water. On the south side of the town are the north and south parades, two noble walks, paved with hewn stone, raised upon arches, facing each an elegant row of houses on one side, and having a stone balustrade on the other. These, with the two streets that join them, were planned and executed by one Mr Wood, an able architect, who likewise built the square and projected the circus. The two public rooms stand betwixt the north parade and Orange-grove; which last is a square planted with trees, having in the middle a stone obelisk, inscribed in Latin to the late prince of Orange, who recovered his health in consequence of drinking the Bath waters, and gave his name to this part of the town. Several new streets and rows have of late years been built on the north-side of Bath, in the neighbourhood of the square, such as Gay-street, Midford-street, Edgar-row, Harlequin-row, Bladud's-buildings, King's-mead-street, and Brock-street. Their advantages for building here are very great, having excellent free-stone, limestone, and flate, in the neighbourhood. One fort of their lime is as white as snow. The guild-hall of Bath stands in the market-place, and is said to be built on a plan of Inigo Jones, which however, exhibits nothing worthy of that great architect: besides, one end of it has been rebuilt in a different style. The hall is ornamented with some portraits of the late prince of Wales and other remarkable personages: but the greatest curiosity of the place is a Minerva's head in bronze, a real antique, dug up in Stall-street, in the year 1725. Bath boasts a noble infirmary, or general hospital, for the reception of the sick and lame from all parts of the three kingdoms. It extends 100 feet in front, and 90 in depth, being capable of receiving 150 patients. Here was anciently a monastery, of which the present cathedral was the church. It is a venerable pile; the principal front of which is adorned with angels ascending and descending. There are three other churches in Bath, and several chapels and meeting-houses. Besides the infirmary, there are several other hospitals, almshouses, and charity schools. The corporation consists of a mayor; eight aldermen, of whom two are justices of the peace; and 24 common-council men. The city is extremely well provided with stage-coaches, post-coaches, chaises, machines, and waggons. Bath is the general hospital of the nation, and a great number of invalids find benefit from the waters: but as the city lies in a bottom surrounded by very high hills, the air is constantly charged with damps; and indeed this place is more subject to rain than any other part in England. The markets are remarkably well supplied with provisions of all kinds at reasonable rates, particularly fish and poultry. They also afford excellent mutton fed upon Landdown, one of the highest hills that overlook the city. This down, remarkable for its pure air, extends about three miles; and at the extremity of it there is a stone monument, with an inscription, erected to the memory of Sir Beville Granville, who was here killed in a battle which he fought with the parliament's army in the reign of Charles I. Bath sends two members to parliament. The earldom of Bath was bestowed on William Pultney in the end of Sir Robert Walpole's administration as a reward for his patriotism, but is now extinct for want of heirs-male.

Bath is joined with Wells to form a bishopric, called the diocese of Bath and Wells. The bishop's seat is at Wells, whose cathedral church was built by Ina, king of the West Saxons in 704, and by him dedicated to St Andrew. Several other of the West Saxon kings endowed it, and was erected into a bishopric in 905, during the reign of king Edward the Elder. The present church was begun by Robert the 18th bishop of this see, and completed by his immediate successor, John de Villula, the 16th bishop, having purchased the city of Bath for 500 marks of king Henry I., transferred his seat to that city in 1088. From this, disputes arose between the monks of Bath and the canons of Wells, about the election of a bishop; but they were at last compromised by Robert the 18th bishop, who decreed, that from henceforward the bishop should be styled from both places, and that the precedence should be given to Bath; that in the vacancy of the see, the bishop should be elected by a certain number of delegates from both churches; and that he should be installed in both; both of them to constitute the bishop's chapter; and all his grants and patents to be confirmed in both. So it stood till the reformation. But in the 35th of king Henry VIII., an act of Parliament passed for the dean and chapter of Wells to make one sole chapter for the bishop. This diocese hath yielded to the church of Rome one cardinal, and to the civil state of England six lord chancellors, five lord treasurers, one lord privy seal, one lord president of Wales, and principal secretary of state. The diocese contains the whole county of Somerset, except a few churches in the city of Bristol; the number of parishes amounting to 368; and the churches and chapels to 503. Of the parishes 160 are inappropriate. It is valued in the king's books at £535:1:3, and computed to be worth annually £2200. The clergy's tenth is £353:18:0. To the cathedral belong a bishop, a dean, three archdeacons, a chancellor, a treasurer, a sub-dean, fifty-nine prebendaries, four priory vicars, eight lay vicars, an organist, six choristers, and other officers.

Knights of the Bath, a military order in England, concerning the origin of which antiquaries differ in their accounts. The most probable deduction seems to be the following.

The knighthood of the Bath is supposed to have been practised by the ancient Franks, the inhabitants of Lower Germany, with whom it is highly probable the Saxons, who invaded England, had the same common descent, and, with other customs, upon their settling here, introduced the same method of knighthood. These ancient Franks, when they conferred knighthood, observed, amongst other solemn rites, bathing before they performed their vigils; which custom continues to be practised in England: they were from thence denominated Knights of the Bath.

In the reign of Henry IV., there was a degree of knighthood specified under the express appellation of the Bath. That king, on the day of his coronation in the tower of London, conferred the same upon 46 esquires, who had watched all the night before, and had bathed themselves. From that time it was customary with our kings to confer this dignity preceding their coronations, the coronations of their queens, the birth and marriage of the royal issue, and their first advancement to honours, upon their designed expeditions against their foreign enemies, upon installations of knights of the garter, and when some grand anniversary festivals were celebrated. The last knights of the Bath so made were at the coronation of King Charles II. in 1661; after which the order was neglected until the year 1725, when George I. was pleased to revive it, and to order a book of statutes for the government of the order. By this the number of knights is fixed to 38, viz. the Sovereign, and 37 knights-companions.

The apparel of a knight of the Bath is a red surcoat, lined and edged with white, girded about with a white girdle, without any ornament thereon; the mantle is of the same colour and lining, made fast about the neck with a lace of white silk, having a pair of white gloves tied therein, with tassels of silk and gold at the end; which mantles are adorned upon the left shoulders with the ensign of the order, being three imperial crowns or, surrounded with the ancient motto of this knighthood, Tria juncta in uno, wrought upon a circle gules, with a glory or rays issuing from the centre, and under it the lace of white silk heretofore worn by the knights of the Bath. They have red breeches and stockings, and have white hats, with a plume of white feathers thereon. The king allowed the chapel of King Henry VII. to be the chapel of the order, and ordered that each knight's banner, with plates of his arms and styles, should be placed over their several stalls, in like manner as the knights of the Garter in St George Chapel in the castle of Windsor; and he allowed them supporters to their arms. His Royal Highness Prince William, second son to the Prince of Wales, on this occasion, was made the first knight-companion, and his Grace the Duke of Montagu grand master of the order, the dean of Westminster (for the time being) dean of the order; the other officers of which are, Bath king of arms, a genealogist, registrar and secretary, gentleman usher, and messenger.

Bath, Balneum, a convenient receptacle of water for persons to wash or plunge in, either for health or pleasure.—Baths are distinguished into hot and cold; and these again are either natural or artificial. The natural hot baths are formed of the water of hot springs, of which there are many in different parts of the world; especially in those countries where there are or have evidently been volcanoes. The artificial hot baths consist either of water or of some other fluid made hot by art. The cold bath consists of water, either fresh or salt, in its natural degree of heat; or it may be made colder by art, as by a mixture of nitre, sal-ammoniac, &c. The chief hot baths in our country are those of Bath and Bristol, in Somersetshire; and those others of Buxton and Matlock, in Derbyshire; which latter, however, are rather warm or tepid than hot. The use of these baths is found beneficial in diseases of the head, as palsy, in cuticular diseases, as leprosies, &c. obstructions and constipations of the bowels, the feverish and stone, and in most diseases of women and children. The baths have performed many cures, and are commonly used as a last remedy in obstinate chronic diseases; where they succeed well, if they agree with the constitution of the patient: but whether they will agree or not, cannot be known without trial.

As to the origin of those hot waters, of which the natural hot baths are formed, we are very much in the dark. All that can be affirmed with certainty is, that where there are volcanoes, there also are hot springs in great abundance; but how the heat of the volcano should be constantly communicated to the waters of a spring for many ages, during a great part of which the volcano itself has lain in a dormant state, seems almost beyond the reach of investigation. Another thing that creates a great difficulty is, that the fire of a volcano must certainly lie very deep in the earth, and most probably shifts from place to place; but the waters of a spring must always issue from a place situated lower than the origin of the spring itself. Besides, though we should suppose the water to come from the top of a volcano itself, and consequently boiling hot, it could not be supposed to percolate far through cold earth, without losing all the heat it acquired from the volcano. From some observations, however, it certainly does appear, that there are some spots on the earth which have a power of producing heat within themselves, independent of any thing foreign; and that water is so far from being able to destroy this power, that it seems rather to promote and continue it. We know that water hath this effect upon a mixture of iron filings and sulphur; but whatever quantities of similar substances... stances we may suppose to be contained in the earth, we must also suppose to be destroyed by one great conflagration soon after they have begun to act upon each other, so that by their means no lasting heat in waters could be produced. Dr Stukely indeed would solve this, and several other phenomena, by making the fire and smoke of volcanoes the effects of electricity; but here sufficient proof is wanting; for electricity, even in its most powerful state, is not very apt to set bodies on fire. The thought, however, deserves attention; for if electricity is capable of setting a volcano on fire, it is undoubtedly capable of producing sulfateras where it meets with proper materials, and from them springs of any degree of heat.

The cold bath is found one of the most universal and innocent remedies yet discovered, though full its use is not to be adopted without precautions.

Baths in vapour, the fume or steam of some decoction is received upon the body to promote a perspiration.—These are also by some called Balnea Laconica.

Vapour baths are, when the patient is not plunged into what is prepared for the bath, but only receives its steam upon those parts of his body which require it: as in some distempers of the fundament and womb, where the patient sits and receives the fumes of some proper fomentation, &c. To these may be added the bagnio; where people are made to sweat by the heat of a room, and pouring on of hot water; after which they generally go into a hot bath or bagnio.

A peculiar sort of vapour-bath was much used by the ancient Mexicans, and is still in use among the present Indians their descendants. According to the Abbe Clavigero, these baths are built of raw bricks, and their form is similar to that of ovens for baking bread; but with this difference, that the pavement of the bath is a little convex, and lower than the surface of the earth; whereas that of most ovens is plain, and a little elevated for the accommodation of the baker. The greatest diameter of a bath is about eight feet, and its greatest height six. The entrance, like the mouth of an oven, is wide enough to allow a man to creep easily in. In the place opposite to the entrance there is a furnace of stone or raw bricks, with its mouth outwards to receive the fire, and a hole above it to carry off the smoke. The part which unites the furnace to the bath, and which is about two feet and a half square, is shut with a certain dry stone of a porous texture. In the upper part of the vault there is an air-hole, like that to the furnace. This is the usual structure of the temazcalli; but there are others that are without vault or furnace, mere little square chambers, yet well covered and defended from the air.—When any person goes to bathe, he first lays a mat within the temazcalli, a pitcher of water, and a bunch of herbs or leaves of maize. He then causes a fire to be made in the furnace, which is kept burning until the stones which join the bath and furnace are quite hot. The person who is to use the bath enters commonly naked, and generally accompanied for the sake of convenience, or on account of infirmity, by one of his domestics. As soon as he enters, he shuts the entrance close, but leaves the air-hole at top for a little time open, to let out any smoke which may have been introduced through the chinks of the stone; when it is all out he likewise flops up the air-hole. He then throws water upon the hot stones, from which immediately arises a thick steam to the top of the temazcalli. While the sick person lies upon the mat, the domestic drives the vapour downwards, and gently beats the sick person, particularly on the ailing part, with the bunch of herbs, which are dipped for a little while in the water of the pitcher, which has then become a little warm. The sick person falls immediately into a soft and copious sweat, which is increased or diminished at pleasure, according as the case requires. When the evacuation desired is obtained, the vapour is let off, the entrance is cleared, and the sick person clothes himself, or is transported on the mat to his chamber; as the entrance to the bath is usually within some chamber of his habitation.—This sort of bath, called temazcalli by the natives, has been regularly used in several disorders, particularly in fevers occasioned by colicines. The Indian women use it commonly after childbirth, and also those persons who have been stung or wounded by any poisonous animal. It is undoubtedly a powerful remedy for all those who have occasion to carry off gross humours; and certainly it would be most useful in Italy, where the rheumatism is so frequent and afflicting. When a very copious sweat is desired, the sick person is raised up and held in the vapour; as he sweats the more the nearer he is to it. The temazcalli is so common, that in every place inhabited by the Indians there are many of them.

Baths (Dry), are those made of ashes, salt, sand, shreds of leather, and the like.—The ancients had divers ways of sweating by a dry heat; as by the means of a hot sand, stove-rooms, or artificial bagnios, and certain natural hot streams of the earth, received under a proper arch, or hot-house, as we learn from Celsus. They also had another kind of bath by insolation, where the body was exposed to the sun for some time, in order to draw forth the superfluous moisture from the inward parts; and to this day it is a practice in some nations to cover the body over with horse-dung, especially in chronic diseases, to digest and breathe out the humour that causes the distemper. In New England they make a kind of stoves of turf, wherein the sick are shut up to bathe or sweat.

The same name is sometimes also given to another kind of bath, made of kindled coals, or burning spirit of wine; the patient being placed in a convenient close chair for the reception of the fume, which rises and provokes sweat in a plentiful manner: care is here taken to keep the head out, and to secure respiration. This bath has been found very effectual in removing old obstinate pains in the limbs, and venereal complaints; and will often complete a cure left unperformed by salivation.

Some authors speak of bloody baths, balnea sangui-nolenta, prepared especially of the blood of infants, anciently supposed to be a kind of specific for the leprosy.

Baths (Metalline), those made of water impregnated with the scoriae of metals. The most common and useful of this kind are those prepared with the scoriae of iron, which abound with the earthy, saline, and sulphurous substance of the metal; and these are of excellent service for strengthening and bracing up the part to which they are applied, and recovering weak and decayed. cayed limbs; stopping various kinds of bleeding; and restoring the menstrual and hemorrhoidal flux where obstructed; insomuch, that they may well be substituted for the natural iron baths.

Adjacent to the smelting huts where metals are run from their ore, are to be found large quantities of the flag of copper, antimony, and cobalt, which abounding with sulphur, vitriolic salt, and an earthly principle, make serviceable baths for strengthening the lost tone of the fibres, and relaxing them when they are too stiff. These baths have likewise a detergent and cleansing virtue; so that with prudence, and due regard to circumstances, they may be used on many occasions. The way of making these artificial baths is, either to take the flags as they come hot from the furnace, or else to heat them afresh, and throw them into hot water; which is afterwards to be used either in the way of bath, or fomentation, occasionally. There are other artificial baths, prepared of alum and quicklime, by boiling them together in fine rain-water. Such baths are highly serviceable in paralytic disorders and weaknesses of the limbs.

The pepper bath, or pepper water, on the Alps, is one of the most celebrated in Europe, and has been the subject of treatises before, besides what has been said of it occasionally by Scheuchzer and others. It was first discovered in the year 1240, and is of the periodical kind. The water breaks forth in a dreadful place, scarce accessible to the sun-beams, or indeed to men, unless of the greatest boldness, and such as are not in the least subject to dizziness. These baths have this singularity above all others, that they commonly break forth in May, and that with a sort of impetuosity, bringing with them beechn-leaves, crabs, or other wood-fruit; and that their course deflates in September or October. Scheuchzer professes himself of opinion, that these waters are not impregnated with any minerals, or if they do contain any, that their virtues in curing distempers and preserving health do not proceed from them. They are exceeding clear, destitute of colour, taste, or smell.

Baths, (Balnea), in architecture, denote large pompous buildings among the ancients, erected for the sake of bathing. Baths made a part of the ancient gymnasia, though they were frequented more for the sake of pleasure than health.

The most magnificent baths were those of Titus, Paulus Aemilius, and Diocletian, of which there are some ruins still remaining. It is said that at Rome there were 856 public baths. Fabricius adds, that the excessive luxury of the Romans appeared in nothing more visible than in their baths. Seneca complains, that the baths of plebeians were filled from silver pumps; and that the freedmen trod on gems. Macrobius tells us of one Sergius Oratus, a voluptuary, who had pendant baths hanging in the air.

According to Dion, Maecenas was the first who made a bath at Rome: yet there are instances of public baths prior to this; but they were of cold water, small, and poorly decorated. Agrippa, in his edifice, built 160 places for bathing, where the citizens might be accommodated, either with hot or cold, gratis. After this example, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Severus, Gordian, Aurelian, Maximian, Diocletian, and most of the emperors who studied to gain the affections of the people, erected baths laid with the richest marble, and wrought according to the rules of the most delicate architecture. The rich had baths at home, and frequently very magnificent ones, especially after the time that the practice of pillaging the provinces had begun; but they only used them on extraordinary occasions. The great men, and even emperors themselves, sometimes bathed in public with the rest of the people. Alexander Severus was the first who allowed the public baths to be opened in the night-time during the heats of summer.

The Greek baths were usually annexed to palestra or gymnasia, of which they were considered as a part. These baths consisted of seven different apartments, usually separated from each other, and intermixed with other buildings belonging to the other sorts of exercises. These were, first, the cold bath, frigidarium; 2dly, The electotheum, or room where they were anointed with oil; 3dly, The frigidarium, or cooling room; 4thly, The propylaeum, or entrance of the hypocaustum, or stove; 5thly, The vaulted room for sweating in, or vapour-bath, called concaverae sudatio, or tepidarium; 6thly, The laconicum, or dry stove; 7thly, The hot bath, called calida lavatio.

As for the baths separate from the palestra, they appear to have been usually double, one for men, the other for women; but so near, that the same furnace heated both. The middle part was possessed by a large bason that received water by several pipes, and was surrounded by a balustrade, behind which there was an area for the reception of those who waited to use the bath. They were vaulted over, and only received light from the top.

In the Roman baths, the first part that appeared was a large bason, called παλαιστήρα in Greek, and natatio or piscina in Latin. In the middle was the hypocaustum, which had a row of four apartments on each side, called balnearia: these were the stove, the bath, cold bath, and tepidarium. The two stoves, called laconicum and tepidarium, were circular and joined together. Their floor was hollow and suspended, in order to receive the heat of a large furnace, which was communicated to the stoves through the vacuities of their floor. This furnace also heated another room called valarium, in which were three large brazen vessels called millaria, respectively containing hot, warm, and cold water; which were disposed, that the water might be made to pass by syphons and pipes out of one or other of them into the bath, in order to adjust its temperature. The description is given by Vitruvius. At three in the afternoon, which is what Pliny calls hora octava et nona, the Romans all repaired to the baths, either the public or the private ones: this was called the bath hour, hora balnei, which in winter was at nine, in summer at eight. The public baths were all opened by the sound of a bell, and always at the same hour. Those who came too late, flood a chance for bathing in cold water.

They began with hot water; after which, as the pores were now opened, and might give room for too plentiful a perspiration, they thought it necessary for their health to close them again, either with the cold bath, or at least with a sprinkling of cold water. During the bath, the body was scraped with a kind of knives, or small strigils, such as are still found in the cabinets. cabinets of the curious. After bathing succeeded unction and perfuming, from which they went fresh to supper.

The Romans, when they found their stomachs over- charged with meat, went to the bath, as we learn from Juvenal, who inveighs against those who, having gor- ged themselves with eating, were forced to go into the baths to give themselves relief. They found also that a bath was good to refresh themselves after some confi- derable fatigue or travel, as Celsus tells us; which makes Plautus say, that all the baths in this world were not sufficient to remove the weariness he felt. After Pompey's time, the humour of bathing was car- ried to great excess, by which many were ruined, seve- ral having brought themselves to such a pitch, that they could not bear food without bathing first. The emperor Titus is said to have lost his life thereby. Hence Pliny inveighs severely against those physicians who held, that hot baths digested the food. The em- peror Hadrian first laid a restraint on the immoderate humour of bathing, by a public edict, prohibiting all persons to bathe before the eighth hour.

Baths of Agrippa, (thermae Agrippinae,) were built of brick, but painted in enamel: those of Nero, therme Neroniana, were not only furnished with fresh water, but even had the sea brought into them: those of Ca- racalla were adorned with 200 marble columns, and furnished with 1600 seats of the same matter. Lip- pius affirms they were so large, that 1800 persons might conveniently bathe in them at the same time. But the baths of Diocletian, therme Diocletiane, sur- passed all the rest in magnificence. One hundred and forty thousand men were employed many years in building them. Great part of these, as well as those of Caracalla, are still standing; and with the vast high arches, the beautiful and stately pillars, the extraordi- nary plenty of foreign marble, the curious vaulting of the roofs, the prodigious number of spacious apart- ments, and a thousand other ornaments, make one of the greatest curiosities of modern Rome.

chemistry. Several matters employed to transmit heat are called baths; but the substances most freely used for this purpose, are water and sand. When water is employed, it is called Bath- neum Marie, or water bath; which is very much used, very convenient for many operations, and may be em- ployed successfully for all degrees of heat inferior to that of boiling water. As water, when exposed to fire in any vessel from which it can evaporate, does only receive a determinate degree of heat, which al- ways remains the same when once it has arrived to the boiling heat, it follows, that by the water bath, a de- gree of heat always equal may be transmitted with certainty. Farther, this degree of heat being inca- pable of burning, or of communicating an empiric- matic quality to matters susceptible of it, the water bath has also the advantage of not exposing substances to this inconvenience. When vessels in which distilla- tions and digestions are made, are placed in sand, then a sand bath is formed. This intermediate substance of sand is very convenient to moderate the too great ac- tivity of the naked fire, and to transmit any degree of heat, from the weakest to a red heat. As this bath is attended with less trouble, and requires less appar- atus than the water bath, it is much used in laborato- ries. Nothing is requisite for the sand bath, but an earthen or iron vessel filled with fine sand, which is fitted into a furnace, and capable of containing the cucurbits, retorts, matrasses, or other vessels containing the matter to be operated upon.

metallurgy, is used to signify the fusion of metallic matter in certain operations. In refining or cupelling, for example, the metals are said to be in bath when they are melted. When gold is purified by antimony, this semi-metal melted, is called by some the bath of gold; alchemists, who consider gold as the king of metals, call antimony the bath of the king only; because in fact gold only can resist the action of anti- mony.

Hebrew antiquity, a measure of capacity, containing the tenth part of an omar, or seven gallons and four pints, as a measure for things liquid; or three pecks and three pints, as a measure for things dry.

Bath-Kol, the daughter of a voice. So the Jews call one of their oracles, which is frequently mentioned in their books, especially the Talmud; being a fanta- stical way of divination invented by the Jews them- selves, though called by them a revelation from God's will, which lie made to his chosen people, after all ver- bal prophecies had ceased in Israel. It was in fact a method of divination similar to the fortun Virgiliane of the Heathens. For as, with them, the first words they happened to dip into, in the works of that poet, were a kind of oracle whereby they predicted future events; so, with the Jews, when they appealed to Bath-kol, the first words they heard from any man's mouth were looked upon as a voice from heaven, directing them in the matter they inquired about. The Christians were not quite free from this superstition, making the same use of the book of the Scriptures as the Pagans did of the works of Virgil. It was practised by Heraclius, em- peror of the East, in the beginning of the seventh cen- tury; for, being at war with Chosroes king of Persia, and in doubt, after a successful campaign, where to take up his winter quarters, he consulted the book of the Scriptures in this way of divination, and was de- termined thereby. In France, it was the practice for several ages to use this kind of divination at the con- secration of a bishop, in order to discover his life, man- ners, and future behaviour. This usage came into England with the Norman conquest; for we are told, that at the consecration of William the second Nor- man bishop of the diocese of Norwich, the words which first occurred on dipping into the Bible were, Not this man, but Barabbas: soon after which, William died, and Herbert de Lozinga, chief simony-broker to King William Rufus, succeeded him; at whose consecration the words at which the Bible opened were the same which Jesus spoke to Judas the traitor; Friend, wher- efore art thou come? This circumstance affected Her- bert, that it brought him to a thorough repentance of his crime; in expiation of which he built the cathedral church of Norwich, the first stone of which he laid in the year 1096.