Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/172

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i 4 8] BAI The substances used for heating bag72tos are various ; such as bricks, stones, ice. managed in different, ways, and in several vei - sels and utensils, according to die choice or fancy of the proprietor. The effect generally expected from resorting to such places, is an im- moderate degree of perspiration, occasioned by artificial heal : this cannot fail to open the pores ; to attenuate and dissolve the hu- mours ; to dissipate all the super- fluous particles ; and eventually to heat and dry the whole body. — Hence this practice cannot be pro- per for persons of a choleric, thin, and spare habit, nor for diose sub- ject to periodical discharges. In rheumatic and paralytic dis- eases, great benefit has sometimes been derived from a cautious use of the bagnio. For whatever com- plaint it be resorted to, care must be taken that neither the bowels nor stomach be distended, Whi< h might be the case in the former, by obstructions or costiveness j in the latter, after a plentiful repast. Besides, the heat of a bagnio should always be accommodated to the strength and peculiar condition of the patient ; for if immoderate, it will be attended with effects detrimental to the whole frame, the least of which are. pustules, tumors, and obstructions of the surface of the body. BAITING, a practice deri from the barbarous Of t] LI the human character. Thu : hear of the baiting of bulls, or bears, by mastiffs, or buf- with short noses, that they may 'take a firmer hold of their,. What irermaybe urged in jus- tification of ha this cri- B AK minal species of game deserves to be equally condemned, both on ac- count of its moral and physical ten- dency. It was first introduced in Ei gland as an amusement, in the reign of King John, about the year 12Q9, and Las been continued to the. present day, though the spirit of. barbarism has apparently been succeeded by that of refinement. Scarcely an animal is now killed without being previously baited ; because it is pretended, that the chasing and exercise of the poor brutes, render their flesh more ten- der and digestible. Although this assertion be partly true, yet, on the other hand, such meat is much disposed to putrefaction, and un- less consumed in time, cannot fail to be hurtful to those who possess a weak and indolent stomach. In- dependently of this consideration, the inhuman practice of bull-bait- ing ought not to be connived at by magistrates, especially about the metropolis, where butchers are suf- fered to sport with our lives, by furiously driving cattle in the open day through crowded streets, and particularly in what is called the City Road, where no person on foot can pass i as with safety. BAKER, a person whose busi- is that of baking and selling i of this useful ■ertained, though it is certain that the first public ed in the East, and 1 from Greece to Italy, about ear of Home 583. Prior to that i, every house- wife baked her o n !-. ancient Borne bakers enjoyed

s, and formed a kind

. ich neither they children were permitted ■aw j holding all their ef- in cornmon, and not being allowed