rd (_atrium_) in which the attendants waited, and it was also the
exercise-yard for the young men. Advertisements of the theatres and
gladiatorial shows were exhibited on the walls of the atrium. The
undressing room was also the reception room and meeting-place. The
bathers' garments were handed over for custody to slaves, who were, as a
general rule, a very dishonest class. The _frigidarium_ contained a cold
bath 13 ft. 8 in. in diameter, and a little less than 4 ft. deep. It had
two marble steps, and a seat under water 10 in. from the bottom. Water
ran into the bath through a bronze spout, and there was a conduit for
the outflow, and an overflow pipe. The frigidarium opened into the
_tepidarium_ which was heated with hot air from furnaces, and furnished
with a charcoal brazier and benches. The brazier at Pompeii was 7 ft.
long and 2-1/2 ft. broad. The tepidarium was commonly a beautifully
ornamented apartment, while the anointing-room was conveniently situated
off it. Pliny has described the various unguents used by wealthy and
luxurious Romans. From the tepidarium the bather might enter the
_caldarium_ or sweating room, an apartment constructed with double walls
and floor, between which hot air was made to pass. This room contained a
_labrum_, or circular marble basin, containing cold water for pouring
over the head before the bather left the caldarium. The method of
heating rooms by passing hot air between the "hanging" and the lower
floor was in use in the better class of houses, and the device can at
present be seen in some of the buildings on the Palatine Hill in Rome,
and in the ruins of the great Baths of Caracalla. After a course of
sweating the bather had the sweat removed from his body by the strigil,
in much the same way as a horse is scraped with a bent piece of
hoop-iron by a groom. The _guttus_ was a small vessel with a narrow neck
adapted for dropping oil on the strigil to lubricate its working edge.
Pliny states that invalids used sponges instead of strigils. Rubbing
with towels followed the use of the strigil, and the bather finally
lounged in the tepidarium for a varying period before entering the outer
air.

The boilers in use at Pompeii were three in number. The lowest one,
immediately over the furnace, contained the hottest water. The next
above and a short distance to the side held tepid water, and the
farthest removed contained cold water. This system was economical
because as the very hot water