The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-05-19
SEA BATHING.

One who has passed his early life in an
inland city or village can we'll remember
how frequently he has desired to see the
heaving waters of the ocean, to hear it's
tempestuous roar; and, in visiting sea-
board city for the first time, he may not
have been content to 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
is a majesty and beauty in the sea.
The air at the seaside has peculiar fresh
ness and life that, as we breathe, seems to
penetrate every portion of our frame and
impart to us new vitality. And we shall
not have breathed this air long before we
shall experience a keen appetite, and, if
vigorous, feel inclined to atheletic exercise.
Exactly what it is in the constitution of
sea air that produces these effects has not
been discovered. We, however, know that
the air is purer than that of the land, less
contaminated by miasma, by vegetable ex-
halations and noxious gases, though in the
component oxygen it differs but little. The
air of the ocean is always highly charged
with watery vapor, bearing with it per-
ceptible amount of chloride of sodium.
When we have been exposed to the sea air
for long time, we detect this in the salt
taste experienced when the tongue touches
the outer borders of the lips. Experience
has shown that this saline vapor is much
more freely diffused when the ocean is agi-
tated, and it is then carried inland for sew
eral miles.
Besides containing chloride of sodium,
it is quite probable that the atmosphere of
the sea also contains proportion of iodides
and bromides, a conclusion, however, which
is not based on direct experiment. And,
| although chemistry has not revealed the
minute differences between ocean air and
that of the land, still, whoever is familiar
with it's odor can recognize it miles inland
from the sea shore. Many persons soiourn
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 system. How
quickly medical agents act through the
lungs is shown by the rapidity with which
ansesthesia may be produced by chloro-
form.
Sea air is deemed especially applicable to
chronic bronchitis accompanied with con-
siderable 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 adj
vantageous, if the patient is not sufferer
from asthma and emphysema. Phthisis in
its early stages is favorably influenced by a
residence at the seaside, or repeated ocean
voyages. Indeed, the last named remedy has
been favorite in all ages. Pliny, CELSIUS,
and Galena have all testified to it's virtues
Care, however, is recommended that those
cases only seek the sea in which the cough
is moist and there is very little tendency
to hemoptysis.
The temperature of the sea, like that
of the rivers, is never constant, varying
according to the seasons. At the seaside
resorts it ranges between 60 and 20 degrees
Fair. during the season. The bath is
a cold bath, an its effects may almost be
deduced from this fact. But it is cold
bath under the most favorable conditions.
The fascination of the sea- the attrac-
tions of many bathers in the water at the
same time, the excitement attendant on
the rolling in of the waves, and exercise
required in meeting them, contribute to
the salutary effect that is experienced.
Here the person make no conscious effort
to exercise, but the entire surrounding
lead him to do so and often so vigorous is
the exercise that reaction commences while
in the water, to be followed by complete
redness of the surface and a feeling of
renewed energy when he retires 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 absorp-
ton; and, on the other, the period of i'm
mersion is usually so short that under the
favorable conditions little absorption could
occur. However, it must be remembered
that during the entire time the lungs are
continually filed with the aroma of the
sea, and the blood much more highly
charged with it's medical properties than
when at the hotel on the shore. The time
passed in the bath varies from five to
twenty minutes, and where the water is
unusually warm, it may be extended be-
yond these limits. One bath day is suf-
ficient, and two each day as many as should
be INDUCED in by the most vigorous. In
some instances reaction is not readily estab-
lished 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. 1t is
almost unnecessary to say that morning 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 Fardel, is as follows:
llISt UdIIiS CAUSE eSClleIueuG. eACeSSlF6 Ia
tigue, pain in the muscles and of course the
nerves, especially if the sea has been rough;
some times the appetite is lost. But, in
five or six days, these conditions disappear
and feeling of 5ien etre, of vigor and joy
BUSINESS, succeeds; at the same time the
appetite is increased, and the secretions are
more active, especially those of the kid
neys, skin, and lungs. But, if the baths
are too long continued, after fifteen, twenty
or thirty days-according to the individual
the excitement, fatigue, and the pain re-
appear, and if the baths are not discon-
tinued, all the advantage gained may be
lost.
Sea baths are especially applicable to per-
sons of Emphatic constitutions In these
classes they favorably influence a number
of diseases by the toncity wrought in the
system. They have been highly lauded as