The use of shower baths in schools in England and on the Continent / by Frederick Rose.

  • Rose, Frederick.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The use of shower baths in schools in England and on the Continent / by Frederick Rose. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    and tlio water is renewed as often as ])ossihle, generally every day in tl»e summer. In many towns cldldren are not only nMjuired to douche, hut are sent to the offices before entering' tlie )>ool. In England 1 am afraid there are very lew swim- ming hatlis where compulsoiy previous douching is ret|uired. On the contrary, a great deal of })crverse ingenuity has l>een c.\|)ended in ridding the water of the scum and sediment which naturally accumulates when dirty persons uso the swimming pool. I know of one bath in London which is fitted with a steam ])ipe, perforated with holes j)laced about an inch above the surface of the water at one end of the bath. The object of this pipe is at stated times to blew off the scum to the opposite end of the bath for pur[)oses of removal. At another bath, a long wooden pole was })ro- vided and was dragged across the surface of the water to collect the scum. At an Edinburgh school a few years ago, the water w as only renewed once every three weeks, although 400 children used the swimming pool per week. The sediment which naturally collected at the bottom was carefully coaxed by means of a long handled broom towards the lower part of the bath, and then draw n off by an ingenious suction a})paratus, in order to prevent any appreciable loss of water. A little common sense in the shape of the installa- tion of a few' douches and making doucliing com})ulsory before entering the swimming ])ool would have been mucli simpler than this interesting application of j)erveise ingenuity. 1 am afraid, Gentlemen, that in s])ite of what has been done in Germany and on the Continent in shower baths and swimming baths, and in England in swimming baths, the twentieth century is still far l)ehind anticpdty. At the time when (Constantine removed his residence to Byzantium, Jtome possessed no less than Slid public baths, with a daily consum|)ti()n of some two millions of gallons of water. Now, what has been done in England for the systematic inculcation of bodily cleanliness on a broad and comprehen- sive scale ? Here, again, 1 must strictly differentiate between shower baths for the j)ur]io.'?e of washing and ])owerful invigor- ation of the skin, aiul between sw imming baths for the j)ur|>o.se of physical exercise and gentle invigoration of the skin. With the sole exception of the installation of four douches at the Pulteney School in Ix>ndon, no attempt, as far as 1 am aware, has been made anywhere in the United Kingdom to grapple systematically with this problem, the result being that even little German provincial towns, w ith populations under are far in advance of London. There are even districts in
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