Thermal baths and waters have an ancient history. Hippocrates believed that baths had a strong influence on the balance of the humours, responsible for man’s well-being. Asclepiades introduced baths into therapy as both a cure and for prevention. The Greeks and then the Romans used baths commonly, with basins of hot (calidarium, tepidarium) and cold (frigidarium) water. Pliny the Elder distinguished the type of water for different purposes: the sulphur one for muscle asthenia, with potassium alum for paralysis, and he recommended drinking it to cure gout, sciatica, fever and psoriasis. Galen especially recommended cold water, setting a long-term trend like all of his doctrine. The Roman influence spread the use of thermal baths to the conquered countries, such as Bath in England, or with variants with steam such as the sauna in Germany or the Turkish bath in the East. This bathing custom was then lost, according the famous Middle Age definition by Michelet: "a thousand years without a bath".