As regards temperature, this bath may be cold, tepid, warm, or hot, according to the indications requiring it. The apparatus for administering it consists of a tin or wooden tub of sufficient capacity to contain water enough to cover the hips and lower part of the abdomen when the patient sits down in it. The tub should have a raised back to support the patient, and should be sufficiently elevated above the floor, so that the feet may rest comfortably when the patient sits down in the water. In the absence of a special arrangement of this kind, any ordinary washing-tub will suffice. The duration of the hip or sitz bath will be from five to thirty minutes.

Besides these, various local baths, cold, warm, or hot, under various designations, are used in medical practice, e. g., foot, hand, elbow, and head bath. The effects of these differ in no wise from the baths already described, except in degree.