Health resort

“ HEALTH RESORTS As a health resort the Southern Hills have gained a National reputation. A sanitarium for treatment of tuberculosis patients has been established by the State near Custer, 29 miles north of Hot Springs. ”

“ They can only regain their health by a strict enforcement of dietetic measures, and these can be carried out just as well at the patient's home as at the health resort. For the treatment of such cases after the ulcer has healed, these health resorts can be of great benefit, but the patient must be cautioned not to commit excesses in eating or drinking, especially to the latter must their attention be called, as it is customary in most resorts adapted to such cases, to drink large quantities of the medicated waters in the morning. ”

“ Sanitary Perils at Watering-Places.—The "Lancet" has uttered a warning against the sanitary dangers to which populous health resorts are liable, which receives support from several incidents that have happened within a few years past. It is incumbent upon every one who goes to the seaside, to take care that he does not leave a comparatively healthy home to seek recreation in a place which may be a nursery of disease. ”

“ At different health resorts in Europe there are to be found people who have suffered all their lives from bad chests, but who, by moving from one resort to another, according to the season of the year, are able to live with little pain or discomfort. ”

“ The fact of Florida as a health-resort has long been established, the proof being furnished by the length of time consumptives who come for the purpose of lingering a little longer than they otherwise could North, and living in the enjoyment of sufficiently good health to pursue any lucrative vocation their tastes may decide, is sufficient evidence of the efficacy of the climate for pulmonic complaints. Exposure in Florida, as in other places, has its penalties affixed. ”

“ A certain amount of tourist-traffic must also be mentioned, but he would be a bold man who described it as a flourishing industry. The alkali springs, which rose from the ground in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital and formed the centre of an attractive bathing-establishment, constituted the claims of the city to be considered a health resort. ”

“ The opportunity of living in the open air and freedom from the cares of business, together with relaxation and mental diversion, are in the category of accessory circumstances. These contribute largely in some cases to the benefit derived from change of climate. Patients at a health-resort are apt to carry out hygienic regulations more faithfully than when at home. ”

“ Much evidence might be adduced from the experience of the effects of the parks and other places of public resort in the metropolis, to prove the importance of such provision for recreation, not less for the pleasure they afford in themselves, than for their rivalry to pleasures that are expensive, demoralizing, and injurious to the health. ”

“ But there are other and adequate causes assignable for the more rapid recovery of health in public places of resort for invalids, than in private life. Man is the creature of habit; and habit results chiefly from imitation. In a great watering-place, we acquire, or at least comply with, habits which we would not attempt at home. How many delicate and fashionable invalids would start from their couches at sun-rise every morning, in London, and drink repeated draughts of nauseous compounds before breakfast? How many would dine at one, instead of seven o’clock? ”

“ I do not wonder, therefore, that it is so much the resort of invalids; it would be more so if the softness of its atmosphere and the beauty and serenity of its seasons were generally known. Nor should it be supposed that accommodations for persons in delicate health are wanting; they are in fact becoming better with every year, as the demand for them increases. Among the acquaintances whom I have made here, I remember many who, having come hither for the benefit of their health, are detained for life by the amenity of the climate. ”

“ Instead of suffering it to become the plague spot and breeding place of moral and physical diseases, as it certainly will if left to itself, let the city purchase and improve it as a park, first, by thorough drainage, and then by such artistic arrangement as shall make it an attractive resort, and it is obvious that the result will be not only the securing of a charming place of recreation and ornament to the city, but the conversion of a threatening danger to health, into a chief source of its promotion. ”

“ In regard to one famous resort the State Board of Health of Massachusetts said six years ago: “The unsanitary grounds invite a pestilence. They violate the plainest teachings of hygienic common sense. There is no adequate provision for the removal of refuse, and the wells and privies are everywhere in close proximity, and some of the latter are immense and offensive affairs, emptied only once a year, in the absence of the summer boarders. ”

“ L. Sambon, in opening the discussion, well said, sanitation within the last few decades has wrought wonderful changes in all tropical countries as regards health conditions, and the changes in some places have been so great that regions once considered most deadly are now even recommended as health resorts. ”

“ These are undoubtedly a source of interest, but not necessarily of health. It may be a delight to see fresh places and experience new national customs and a totally different diet, but in many cases these advantages are obtained at the expense of bodily health. People who are run down rarely get any benefit from them. Even if they have the sense to make for one place and stay there or use it as a centre, the long railway journey tires them to such an extent that they cannot enjoy [Pg 141] their holiday properly. Usually a visit to some home resort is of infinitely greater value. ”

“ Hence health-resorts are munificently got up, and splendidly patronised by people of means. The poor, fortunately, have been successful in the struggle for existence, by innate hardiness, otherwise they would have had a bad chance without ready cash for purchasing health. ”

“ Sanitaria for phthisical patients at health-resorts are doubtless serviceable in many cases, because hygienic measures are enforced which would not under other circumstances be thoroughly carried out. ”

“ This effect is particularly charming on a rock-bridge under the water, extending clear across the cave. Beyond this bridge may be seen, through a cleft in the rock, a second blue cave of smaller dimensions and different light-effects.
British Health Resorts.—The health resorts of Great Britain have the advantages—to Englishmen—of being convenient of access and of being conducted according to British ideas of comfort. Their disadvantages are those of a cool and humid climate, and the long, dreary, sunless winter. The sea-side resorts are probably the most important. ”

“ Improved accommodation, increased accessibility, cheapened travel and additional attractions, have changed matters. The season opening in May, and lasting till the end of October, is now patronised by hundreds of visitors from all parts of eastern France. These health resorts are much more sociable than our own. ”

“ No facilities are there for bathing unless one is willing to do so in the presence of the whole camp; the clothing is often worn much longer than is conducive to health, and many of the things we consider so essential are missing, yet few of the men are affected with sickness. Unsanitary are the surroundings, but the hours in the pure air and the hard, active lives of the workers seem to counteract the disease-breeding conditions. ”

“ There is another class who experience no uncomfortable symptoms during the use of the waters, which operate by the skin, the kidneys, and the bowels—and these proceed quickly and favourably to a restoration of health.
There is still a third class who experience no relief from the waters, but rather an exasperation of all their maladies. The spa doctors give them this consolation, that, long after their return to their homes, they will probably get much better—or quite well! ”

“ Many diseases—especially organic ones—are aggravated by the journey to a distant spa—by the imprudent use of the water—by the warm or hot bathing—by the enthusiasm or rather hydromania, of the spa-doctor, who, having little acquaintance with the constitution of the patient, extols his favourite spring, and recommends it in almost every complaint. To separate probabilities from improbabilities, and impossibilities from both, will be attempted occasionally in the following pages, as we pass in review some of the principal resorts of invalids on both sides of the Rhine. ”

“ Children exist in great numbers in Summer resorts, for some unknown reason these places being supposed to be good for the final recovery from measles, mumps, scarlet fever and other popular diseases. They romp in the corridors while you take your afternoon nap, and thoughtfully wake you up early enough in the morning to take the business man's train for town when you have foolishly planned to pound your adamantine mattress for another hour.
The only things that are not allowed at a Summer resort are dogs. ”

“ On the other hand, it cannot be denied that there are thousands of men and women in these islands, who seem to enjoy a large share of robust health, and who possess what assurance companies would call, “good lives,” but who never indulge in the luxury of either a bath or a bedroom tub. But it will generally be found, that these people belong to the out-door working classes, who take abundant exercise in the open air, people whose pores are kept patent by the toil they undergo, and who, moreover, possess capacious lungs, substantial livers and healthy kidneys. ”

“ The situation of the building itself is upon an eminence, surrounded upon all sides with ravines sloping to the river bank, giving perfect natural drainage, as well as a command ing view of the river, with its busy life and scenes of varying interest. The effect of this alone upon the health can hardly be estimated, as such an institution possesses tendencies on the part of the patients always towards the inception of disease. The perfect cleanliness that is so rigidly enforced within the building, is a continuation of these hygienic measures. ”

“ The biggest university of hygiene in the world is not within houses but outside, up that hillside where the trees are blowing, in the doorway of our tent, on the lawn in front of the house, out on the lake, even on a city house-top, and, last resort if necessary, by an open window. One reason why many people are concerned about this question of hygiene is because they know that not only are human beings happier when they are well and strong, but also because a healthy person is, nine times out of ten, more moral than one who is sick or sickly. ”

“ This curative result has only been attained, in every instance, by rousing and improving the organic powers, and principally those of nutrition. If a consumption patient can be improved in health, and thus brought to eat and sleep well, thoroughly digesting and assimilating food, the battle is half won; and helping the physician to attain this end is the principal benefit of the winter climate of the Riviera. ”

“ The Bath that cleanses the inward as well as the outward man, that is applicable to every age, that is adapted to make health healthier, and alleviate disease whatever its stage or severity, deserves to be regarded as a national institution, and merits the advocacy of all men, and particularly of medical men; of those whose special duty it is to teach how health may be preserved, how disease may be averted. ”

“ One can see at a glance the connection between this miserable housing and the public health. Plenty of sunshine, pure air and sanitary conditions are absolutely necessary to good health. We all know these are not to be found in rear tenements and unhealthy basements. ”

“ Females, [Pg 410] of course, would be in attendance to wait on those that frequent the bath rooms. Quite a number are employed at water-cure establishments, which are open for patients at all seasons of the year. Not only does cleanliness promote comfort, but it is conducive to health. Many of the diseases of the poor arise from a want of cleanliness. ”

“ Here may be found a remedy for one great drawback to the success of summer vacations in general, which are often robbed of much of their sanitary benefit by poor food and inattention to the laws of health. While the cuisine of this establishment is of the most bounteous character, it is especially ordered with reference to healthfulness, and is in itself one important element of the great success of the institution in curing the sick. ”

“ People should always begin with the short period—and not too high a temperature. Where it is desirable to encourage gentle perspiration after the bath, the patient should go to bed.
As all sudden extremes are repugnant to nature, invalids, when travelling towards watering-places, should begin to adopt the regimen and hours which they must follow at the spas. A few tepid baths of plain water are useful preparations, and light cooling diet, should be employed for a week or two before arriving at the spa. ”

“ But, on the other hand, if the reaction clearly shews itself at the springs, considerable consecutive effects, of a salutary nature, may be confidently looked for—and the remainder of the cure may be safely trusted to nature at the patient’s own home. The system of diet enjoined by the Kissengen physicians, and Dr. Balling in particular, is nearly as rigid as at most of the other spas, where certain doctors have hobbies which they ride to death beyond the Rhine as well as in this country. ”