Sea-air and sea-bathing / by John H. Packard.

  • Packard, John H. (John Hooker), 1832-1907.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sea-air and sea-bathing / by John H. Packard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    we consider what the homes are, and what the lives, from which many of these people obtain in this way a brief respite, our wonder at the popularity of these cheap sea-side excursions may well be much dimin- ished. As might naturally be expected, the great majority of the excursionists are not only unaccustomed to the sea-shore, and unaware of the things to be done and avoided, but they belong to a class in which dense ignorance prevails as to hygiene generally,— a class whose ideas are wont to run in very narrow grooves. Within the limit of their knowledge and experience, they may show no lack of acuteness, but outside of that they are very children. Such persons are apt, on reaching the sea-shore, say at ID A. M., after a hurried breakfast and a journey of three or four hours, to take a hearty meal, perhaps of an unwholesome character, and badly cooked. They then want to go into the surf; they hire bath- ing-suits, and take a bath without prudence as to its mode or its length, but they stay in as long as they can, to get the worth of their money. They then come out, dress, and occupy themselves with the vari- ous amusements provided at such places. Many of them indulge freely in ale, beer, spirituous liquors, or ^' mixed drinks. They expose themselves recklessly to the sun, and often a second bath is taken after din- ner. As the result of all this, the return trains carry