Gell, William: Pompeiana: the topography, edifices and ornaments of Pompeii ; the result of excavations since 1819 ; in two volumes (Band 1) (London, 1832)

POMPEIANA. 125

brum, and this was the preparation for en-
countering the lower temperature of the te-
pidarium, whence, after the use of unguents,
it was thought safe to enter the frigidarium,
and thence to pass into the open air.

The thermae must have been of great ad-
vantage to the practice of medicine. Alex-
ander the Great is said to have slept in the
bath during a fever; and certainly, where
perspiration was the object, such a plan
could scarcely fail. They practised cup-
ping, and bleeding with leeches also, in the
laconicum.

The physicians of antiquity have written
much on the subject of thermae and their
effects, without always rendering the subject
very intelligible.

Galen, Book X., says a bather should
first go into the warm air, thence into the
warm water or Xovrgov, thence into the cold.
After this he should enter the tepidarium
or apodyterium, where the scraping off of
the perspiration should be performed, and
where Celsus says persons were anointed.
This is not very comprehensible; but Cel-