The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-07-04
Sea-Rathing.

One who has pass ed his early life II
an inland city or village can well re
4 member how frequently he has desired
s to see the heaving waters of the ocean
. to hear its tempestuous roar and, OF
5 visiting a seaboard city for the frs
: time, he may not have been content t.
| look upon the waters of the bay, but
; may have journeyed to some exposed
portion of the coast-line, where the
} waves roll in from across the broad
waste of waters. To every one there
are majesty and beauty in the sea.
The air at the seaside has peculiar
freshness and life, that, as we breathe,
seems to penetrate every portion of ou1
frame, and impart to us new vitality.
And we shall not have breathed this air
long before we shall experience keen
appetite, and, if vigorous, feel inclined
to athletic exercise. Exactly what it
is in the constitution of sea-air that
produces these effects has not been dis
covered. We, however, know that the
air is purer than that of the land, less
contaminated by miasma. by vegetable
exhalatiors and noxious gases, though
in the component oxygen it differs tub
lithie. The air of the ocean is alwsev
belhly charged with watery vapor,
charing with it perceptible amount of
CHLORIDE of sodium. When we hayt
geen exposed to the sea-air for Iona
time, we detect this in the salt taste
experienced when the tongue touches
the outer borders of the lips. Expert
| ment has shown that this saline vapor
is much more freely diffusei when the
ocean is agitated, and it is carried in
land for several miles. Besides con-
tanning chloride of sodium, it is quite
probable that the atmosphere of the
sea also contains proportion of iodides
and brOmides, q conclusion, however,
which is not based on direct exp ri
ment And, although chemistry has
not revealed the minute differences be-
tween ocean air and that of land, still,
whoever is familiar with its Odor can
! recognize it miles inland from the sea-
shore. Many persons sojourn at the
! sea-shore more for the purpose of
breathing the sea-air than for bathing
in the surf. Breathing sea-air affects
the organism by the change wrought in
the blood, and thus in the entire sys-
TEN. How quickly medical agents act
through the lungs is shown by the IA
pidity with which an@sthesia may be
produced by chloroform.
Sea-air is deemed especially applica-
BILE to chronic bronchitis accompanied
with considerable expectoration. If the
patient, on the contrary, has dry cough
and great irritability of the lungs and
larynx, it will not prove beneficial. In
the chronic cough of old age-senile
bronchitis-it is also advantageous, If
the patient is not sufferer from asthma
and emphysema. Phthisis in its early
stages is favorably influenced by a resi-
dence at the seaside, or repeated ocean
voyages. Indeed, the last-named RENE
dy has been a favorite in all ages
Pliny, CELSIUS and Galena, have all tes-
recommend that those cases only seek
the sea in which the cough is moist, and
there is very little tendency to h@m-
optysis.
The temperature of the sea, like that |
of rivers, is never constant, varying ac- |
cording to the seasons. At the seaside |
resorts it ranges between go degrees and |
70 degrees Fair. during the season. |
The sea bath is a cold bath, and its ef- |
fects may almost all be deduGed from
this fact. But it is cold bath under |
the most favorable conditions. The |
fascination of the sea, the attraction of |
many bathers in the water at the same |
time, the excitement attendant on the |
rolling in of the waves, and the exer-
else required in meeting them, contrib |
ute to the salutary effect that is expe- |
rienced Here the person makes no |
conscious effort to exercise, but the en- |
tire surroundings lead them to do so, |
and often so vigorous is this exercise |
that reaction commences while in the |
water, to be followed by complete red
ness of the surface, and a feeling of re-
newed energy when he retries to
the dressing-room and is thoroughly |
rubbed and dried. That the mineral
constituents of the water have any part
in the result is exceedingly doubtful,
for, on the one hand, the temperature
of the water is SO low that the skin is
unprepared for absorption, and, on the
other, the period of immersion is usual
ly so short that, under the most favora-
bic conditions, little absorption could
occur However, it must be remem-
bered that, during the entire time, the
lungs are continually filled with the
aroma of the sea, and the blood much
more highly charged with its medical
properties than when at the hotel on
the shore The time passed in the
bath varies from five to twenty minutes,
ana Wn6fe Gn0 WaU6G Is unuSdlly NdElIl,
it may be extended beyond these limits.
One bath day is sufficient, and two
each day as many as should be indulged
by the most vigorous. In some instan-
ces reaction is not readily established |
on coming from the bath, and in such
cases. in addition to rubbing with the
coarse towel, it will be advantageous to
immerse the feet in warm water. It is
- 4Iaf
is the preferable time for the bath, and
that the stomach should be empty
when it is taken.
The effect of course of sea-bathing,
according to Durand-Fnrdel, is as fol-
lows: The first baths cause excitement,
excessive fatigue, especially if the sea
has been rough sometimes the appetite
is lost. But, in five or six days, these
conditions disappear, and feeling of
bien-etre, of vigor and joyOusness, sue
ceeds at the same time the appetite is
increased, and the secretions are more
active, especially those of the kidneys,
skin, and lungs. But, if the baths are
too long continued, after fifteen, twenty,
or thirty davs-according to the indi-
vidual.the excitement, fatigue, and
the pain reappear, and, if the baths are
gained may be lost.
Sea-baths are especially applicable to
persons of Emphatic constitutions. In
these classes they favorably influence a
number of diseases by the tonicity
wrought in the system. They have
been highly lauded as remedy at the
age of puberty, in both sexes, when
there is a want of development, an ap-
parant failure of the vital forces; they
then stimulate to renewed effort, the
pale youth develops into vigorous boy,
and the cheek of the an@mic girl as
sumes the rosy hue of health.
RUssIA's WORLD ExPOsTTIoN.-An ex-
hibition more wonderful than that of
Vienna, will be held in Russia about
the middle of August. The scene of
it's operations is the historic city of
Mimi -Novgoord, which is situated at
the confluence of the Colga and Okla,
in Central Asia. The ordinary popula-
ton of the city is about $4,000 inhabi-
tants, but during the fair that number
zvIJ1 ba ouornopta6 nv an addition of