Sea-bathing: Its Use and Abuse

by Ghislani Durant

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76 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1878

Reviews

[Octavia Cade · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the most entertaining things about the Internet Archive is that it gives you access to all sorts of terrible old books. This appalling thing, from 1878 no less, is absolutely hopeless but gets an extra point for the entertainment value of its awful advice. In ye olden times, sea-bathing was something done to improve the health, but as Dr. Durant makes plain, it is a terrible risk to well-being and should only be attempted under stringent conditions. Sometimes these conditions are not always clear, as in where he says sea-bathing is recommended to persons in the first stages of consumption (p. 33) but is completely unsuited for anyone suffering from consumption (p. 40).

He tries to back it all up with science, but the medical science of the day is frankly shit, and anyway I see very little backing for his claims that women are medically required to wear wool bathing suits, and the colours of those suits must be either blue or maroon in order to adequately resist the corrosive effects of the water, for instance. (Men merit no such consideration in their costumes.) Children under six, he informs his readers, should on no account spend more than 1-3 minutes in the water - as someone who grew up in an island nation, good fucking luck with that - and nursing infants may becomes so excited by sea air that their parents should be prepared to take them promptly inland if they show signs of energy or, presumably, enjoyment.

I suspect he is no fun at parties. I suspect he is also no fun as a doctor, given that he recommends sea-bathing for people with running sores caused by massive and improperly healed burns, which honestly sounds agonising. Although, given that he spends a lot of time telling readers that staying in water so cold they turn blue (or even purple) is bad for them, I frankly question the sense of some of them. If you're turning blue get out of the water, otherwise wear whatever colour you like and hope that sea water cures insanity. Durant seems fairly confident that it might.