Communication.

We invite all members of the University to contribute to this column, but we are not responsible for the sentiments expressed.

To the Editors of the Crimson:

The communication by XXX in yesterdays' CRIMSON regarding the condition of the shower baths in the gymnasium was timely and expressed the sentiments of nine-tenths of the men who frequent that department of the University. The inconvenience of the present facilities and the consequent violation of the sixth article of the Decalogue have been well set forth, but it seems to me that hardly enough emphasis has been given to the fact that nothing jeopardizes the health of the students more than this very bath room about which so much has been facetiously written. With a view of calling the attention of the authorities to this phase of the matter I offer the following facts. Here is a picture to be seen at the gymnasium any day from four to six p.m. during the winter months:

Twenty or thirty naked and perspiring athletes lined up around the sides of the bath room, waiting their "turn" to stand for a moment under one of the streams of alternately hot and cold water, which flow from the four spigots. Perhaps ten or a dozen fellows have enjoyed this rare (?) treat when a sulphurous epithet from the head man in line announces to the patient fellows back of him that the hot-water has given out. Which horn of the dilemma will prove least dangerous is the question which now confronts the men who have not yet bathed; whether to stand there until the hot water is again turned on, in the meantime becoming thoroughly chilled and contracting heavy colds; or to retire without bathing and incur a similar risk.

The college spends thousands of dollars every summer in its endeavor to perfect the sanitary condition of the dormitories; and yet for several seasons has neglected this tenfold more dangerous condition of affairs in the bath-room of the gymnasium.

The writer of this communication was confined to his room for several days and suffered for as many weeks, last winter, from a severe cold contracted in the manner described above, and he has good reason to believe that much of the sickness which prevailed so extensively among the students during the past season was due to similar causes.

But why waste further words. The authorities cannot afford to let this condition of affairs continue. It is too important, too serious a matter. The health of several hundred students must not be further jeopardized if the means are at hand to remove the danger. Let us trust that the present summer will witness the construction of a bath-room with facilities to meet the increased demand which has arisen from the recent growth of the University and that future Harvard students may never experience the feelings of one who has heard the familiar cry

"NO HOT WATER."