"Because for the last few days I have been feeling rheumatic and old. A Turkish bath is what we call an alterative in medicine - a fresh starting-point, a cleanser of the system."--Dr. Watson, "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax"
"Both Holmes and I had a weakness for the Turkish bath. It was over a smoke in the pleasant lassitude of the drying room that I found him less reticent and more human than anywhere else."-- Dr. Watson, "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client"
Being a person who always wants a hot bath, I'm inordinately fond of Watson's talk about the Turkish baths in LADY and ILLU. I saw the Granada production pictured above long before I actually read either story. The idea of the two in the bath made me laugh every time I watched the episode. (Still does.) But, after reading the two stories many times over in the many years since, I've come to realize the Turkish bath means more to me: I think this bath business is a perfect example of Watson leading Holmes, something which doesn't occur too often in the Canon, especially not in the early days.
The timing for the bath mentions is not the early days; Holmes and Watson have been together for awhile by the events of these two stories. The date for ILLU seems as straightforward as Canon dating ever gets: "... On the upper floor of the Northumberland Avenue establishment there is an isolated corner where two couches lie side by side, and it was on these that we lay upon September 3, 1902, the day when my narrative begins." The dating of LADY is, like most Canon dating, all over the place with the major chronologists arguing for dates between 1890-1901.
Like many of the chronologists, I choose to believe the events in LADY precede ILLU. I don't have any intricate reasons; Watson's words explaining why he wants a Turkish bath make more sense coming before Watson's declaration about the joint excursions to the bath house.
Tracy's The Encyclopedia Sherlockiana describes these baths as:
Turkish bath, a kind of bath introduced from the East, in which the subject, after having undergone copious perspiration in a heated room, is subjected to various processes such as soaping, washing, and massaging, and ultimately proceeds to an outer apartment called a drying-room where he is placed on a couch to cool.Sounds wonderful to me. In my head canon, Watson encouraged Holmes to go and enjoy the benefits of his alterative medicine and Holmes agreed, apparently finding the experience enjoyable enough to make it a regular practice. Watson's alterative is certainly better for the body (and spirit) than Holmes's seven-percent solution of the early days. I especially like the idea of Holmes being so relaxed he gets chatty and "more human."
In the idiom, to get "into hot water" usually means to get into trouble, and we know Watson follows Holmes often enough into that kind of hot water. I like the idea of Holmes following Watson into a good kind. My thoughts about the baths and what they represent in the cooperation between Holmes and Watson are hardly new or important but they give me warm, fuzzy feelings, which are very welcome now when the days can often feel cold and hard.
Not everything about Holmes and Watson has to be scholarly or incisive. Sometimes things can just be comfortable.
Now, I'm off to take a hot bath, grateful I am able to do so, and grateful to have my warm fuzzy Holmes and Watson feelings to go with because "...for the last few days I have been feeling rheumatic
and old," too. I hear you Watson. You have no idea what I would give to be on one of those side by side couches.
