FORBES SPECIFICATIONS’ LATE 19TH to EARLY 20TH CENTURY ANTIQUE SIGNED GERMAN GLASS FLOATING BATH THERMOMETER in RETICULATED WOOD HOUSING, with INCISED, LATHE-TURNED WOOD HANDLE & INTACT GLASS THERMOMETER. Late 19th to early 20th century European antique floating bath thermometers, used to determine the safe, healthy temperature of heated bath water for personal bathing. 10 ¼” Length x 1″ Width x 1 Depth. Weight: 2.4 oz. The use of superficial’bathing’ or washing with wet cloths, amounted to a’poor man’s bath. Suffice to say, early Ame ric ans and their B r i t i s h counterparts were quite odiferous and their often ripe, sweat-influenced smell, was only disguised by the use of perfumes when available and depending on what social class you belonged to. This bath thermometer is a kind of marker and milestone, indicating a sudden and abrupt change in attitudes, when it came to personal hygiene and what was to become the quite common practice of’bathing’ in heated water, with the use of soap animal fat and lye. This is where this floating bath tube thermometer, consisting of a routered body and lathe-turned, incised ring bulbous handle, with a blown glass upright glass thermometer with printed degree scale, located inside the glass tube’s structure. It was produced in Ger ma ny for export and the international marketplace. It’s a rather simple, rudimentary mercury-in-glass thermometer designed for determining when bath water is at a healthy temperature. The black ink printed scale extends from 0 to 130 degrees and is marked’Dr. Forbes Specifications,’ as well as’FREEZING,”COLD BATH,”COOL,”TEM,”TEPID,”WARM’ and HOT. The reference seen is to John Forbes, a Sco tt ish physician who recommended therapeutic bathing. Intact, complete and a wonderful late 19th to early 20th century Ge rm an antique floating bath thermometer in estate-fresh, as-found and untouched condition. With a naturally dry, matte wood finish, it was once used when bathing and baths first came into vogue, saving most B r i t i s h and Ame ri cans literally from themselves and their own unfortunate, odiferous stench. This revolutionary personal hygiene tool, helped determine the safe, hygienic temperature of bath water, where the user could then safely bathe, with the help of animal fat and lye soap. Bathing, where the body is submerged in heated water, was simply not the standard practice in G r e a t B r i t a i n , the Ame ri can colonies or then later in the nascent Ame ri can Republic. People took’poor man’s baths,’ cleaned themselves in rivers, ponds and streams (weather permitting) and sponge bathed, often disguising their sweat influenced body odor, with the use of floral oils and perfumes, often at great cost and principally used by the wealthy and patrician class. This little Ge rm an floating thermometer therefore, clearly improved the social and personal interactions of its day and most likely made romance, well, let’s just say, slightly less odiferous and loathsome and quantifiably and most undoubtedly, more thrilling and even exhilarating. Good to Very Good overall antique condition. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Advertising\Merchandise & Memorabilia\Thermometers”. The seller is “modsanctuary” and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped worldwide.

• Germany: Vintage
• Late 19th to early 20th century: Circa 1880-1900
• Modified Item: No
• Country/Region of Manufacture: Germany
• Original surfaces: Natural dry, matte wood finish
• Complete, w/all original, intact parts: No fractures, loss or damage
• Date of Creation: 1880 – 1900
• Wood scorched & bleached by hot water: Not oiled or moisturized to enhance wood color
• Late 19th century: Made in Germany
• Wood: Glass
• Floating glass thermometer: Blown glass tube
• Held mercury (yellow tinted): Black ink lined interior temperature scale
• Routered, reticulated wooden body: Lathe-turned, incised bulbous handle
• Ruled: Yellow tinted mercury
• Victorian: Medicinal, personal hygiene instruments
• Color: Beige
• Estate fresh: In ‘as-found,’ unbastardized condition
• Brand: Dr. Forbes Specifications