Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-06-15
LARGE CITIES AS HEALTH
RESORTS.


Were I a physician. ] could pre-
scribe nothing but-'Recipe: ccclxy
drach- Londin. per annum'" 1885
doses OF London a year,. Thus wrote
a noted Londoner. Horace walpole
II few days in London does your
neurasthenic patient no good, his case
may well be helpless and hopeless. 4"
These. the words OF DR.. Clippingdale
addressing the balneologic and climEt-
ologic section of the Royal Society OF
Medicine a few weeks ago on London
as health resort and as a sanitary
city. Those who are accustomed TO
go to the mountains. the fashionable
spa, the seashore or the health resort"
may ask whether this is merely sub
tie humor or iil-concealed sarcasm at
the expense of what has been called
the healthiest, and with the excep-
ton of Madrid, the ugliest city in the
world Or are physicians unduIy OBJ
hvious of the suitability OF a large
city for certain maladies, chiefly of a
psychopathic or homeopathic nature.
asks the Journal of the American Med
ical Association?
have a dread OF open spaces. for ex.
ample, the country. 1t is to such that
e very large city. on account of its
size and the almost infinite number
OF diversions il permits, appeals most
remarkably The London life Is IN
such persons the material on which
they live There are persons who pre-
Ter lookin on men and artificial
things- The loneliness of the woods
and green fields appalls them. Many
patient sent TO the monotony of the
sea shore to recuperate finds his first
real Joy and comfort in the return TO
the motley throng OF some great CITY
In this spirit Charles Lamb once
wrote: Il am naturally inclined ~
hypochondria- But in London IL van
ishes' as do other ills. The man must
nave rare recipe for melancholy
who can feel dull in Fleet street"
Despite the numerous epithets of
antipathy which have been recorded
against the great English METROPOLIS
despite the alleged lack OF estbetic at. !
tributes Clippingdale stoutIy defends
Its suitability for persons suffering
from certain nervous disorders; cases
1f simple depression from the normal. 1
cases Of hypOchondria, meIanchoIia
insomnia and neuralgia of non-organic
'rlgin, the drug and alcoholic habits
and morbid introspection; cases. In
act requiring the very opposite OF a
'rest-cure." He insists that MANY
means for rational psychotherapv are
provided by the diversions of a great
.lty. TITS historic. artistic and liter.
ny associations" writes Clipping
ale. Its many picture galleries and
museums, its numerous places OF
musement, the business activity. the
Lttic regions OF Belgravia and the Al !
attain retreats of the East End all I
ombine to produce a state of exhiliar- {
on not met with elsewhere. In fact. T
has been loosely remarked that II 9
themselves fell into a state
iethaTgy nothing would arouse them s
rom II unless II were two parliament I
~ elections in one year, together @
'fth an earthquake in the Strand" d
here is. OF course. an underlying {
ERIN OF truth In all OF this Not every s
ian can be rescued from depression e
the soothing environment of a san Il
forum or the joys OF the outdoor
fe- The heart OF the city is Ike a
aim to a persistent minority. 4
AS for London itself, the annual ex- e
ius therefrom is a Comparatively n
odern invention" Speaking from q
atisucal comparison OF the general a
ortality IL is a healthy city. Its nat n
al advantages are enhanced by the
rye number of open spaces in its n
idst II the climate Is nothing to te
Iast of. it must be remembered that II
og is not an atmosphere Of poisonous -
crobes-" After all. the question OF a
eableness in any environment is, as :. -
rule, one Of the temperament and -
aptability of the individual. Ameri- 81.
rs have braved the dreaded tropics =
h comparative comfort and re- -
ined IN perfect health. Manila and ~
mama have lost the terrors OF eli on
te, while the north has become the "a
OF pleasuressekers. The health m
less OF an environment, urban or
urban, inland or coastWise. has be-
lie almost entirely a question of III
ional hygiene and mental satisfac- IL
coupled with the indispensable ac- d.
Daninsents Of Qublo SsniistioR- Or