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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76117 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                        THE
+                  SWIMMING BATHS
+                        OF
+                      LONDON.
+
+
+                        BY
+                R. E. DUDGEON, M.D.
+
+
+                      LONDON:
+               HENRY TURNER AND CO.,
+              77, FLEET STREET, E.C.
+
+                       1870.
+
+                 _Price Sixpence._
+
+
+
+
+    PRINTED BY J. E. ADLARD, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.
+
+
+
+
+THE SWIMMING BATHS OF LONDON.
+
+
+Swimming is an exercise at once healthful, pleasant, and useful.
+The full hygienic effects of swimming can only be obtained when it
+is practised in the open air, and in unpolluted water of a natural
+temperature. In a close, more or less imperfectly ventilated room, and
+in water artificially heated, from which, consequently, the air has
+been partially expelled, swimming, while still retaining its characters
+of pleasantness and utility, ceases to be a hygienic agent of any
+considerable power. Every town which aspires to be considered at all
+perfect in its sanitary arrangements should possess ample swimming
+baths of pure water in the open air. The seaside towns of this seagirt
+land are provided by nature with a most exquisite description of
+swimming bath in the ever-changing, ever-fresh sea—ever-fresh, that is,
+when not polluted by the drainage of the town, as often happens. But
+our inland towns are not so well off, and unless in the neighbourhood
+of a lake or a river, they must construct artificial baths or do
+without them. Even when they have a lake or a river they too often
+allow it to be so polluted by sewage as to render it unfit for bathing
+purposes; and when they have neither lake nor river, they too often
+neglect to provide artificial substitutes, thus depriving themselves
+of a powerful hygienic agent, a pleasant recreation, and a useful
+accomplishment.
+
+The healthful effects of swimming in cold water in the open air
+result from the peculiar exercise, the temperature of the surrounding
+mediums, and the exhilaration of the spirits it causes. Before entering
+the water, and each time of leaving it, we enjoy an air-bath, the
+beneficial effects of which are not solely or chiefly dependent on
+the temperature, but are mainly owing to the actual impact of the
+atmospherical gases, and of the light, and possibly the direct rays of
+the sun upon the skin. In the water, if it be considerably colder than
+the ordinary summer air, say 50° to 60°, there is a rapid abstraction
+of heat from the surface, causing contraction of the cutaneous
+blood-vessels, and expulsion of their blood, which sometimes produces
+an almost painful sensation. If we then get out of the water at once,
+there is a rapid reaction and an intense glow, often so intense as
+to cause tingling over the whole surface, accompanied with visible
+redness, owing to the sudden reflux of the blood into the cutaneous
+vessels. If, however, we remain in the water in spite of the painful
+sensation caused by the first action of the cold, this gradually
+subsides, and if the water be not very cold, and our reactive powers
+good, and we keep ourselves always moving, the blood gradually returns
+towards the cutaneous surface, and we thus become accustomed to the
+low temperature, and can remain a considerable time in the water that
+seemed at first too chilly to be borne. When we then come out of the
+water we do not perceive any sudden reaction, but unless we have
+remained too long in the water, we only feel refreshed and invigorated.
+
+The exercise in swimming is quite peculiar. The body and limbs being
+completely supported by the medium in which they are immersed, the
+muscles are not employed in supporting their weight, consequently
+their movements have a freedom not enjoyed in any other exercise, and
+are attended with little or no fatigue. This is, however, only the
+case with experienced and confident swimmers, swimming deliberately
+and at their ease. The inexperienced swimmer finds the exercise very
+fatiguing. This, I believe, is chiefly owing to his unconscious efforts
+to keep more of his body out of the water than would be effected by
+its own natural buoyancy. The experienced swimmer lets the water do
+all the supporting business, and consequently swims deeper than the
+tyro. Very rapid swimming, of course, will soon exhaust even the most
+experienced swimmer, just as any other violent exercise will exhaust.
+The quickest swimmers show very little above the water when swimming a
+race. Most swimmers when making a spurt throw themselves on one side.
+If on the right side, they make a downward stroke with their right
+arm, then a horizontal stroke with their left, and lastly the legs
+are forcibly extended, during which last movement their right arm is
+stretched in front as a cutwater, and the nose and mouth brought to
+the surface for respiration. Swimming on the left side is done in the
+same way, _mutatis mutandis_. In this kind of swimming the only parts
+of the body visible above water are a small portion of the face, and
+that only for a short time, and occasionally the left shoulder and arm
+to the elbow. It has a very ridiculous appearance, and as the swimmer
+from his position cannot see in front of him, it often happens that two
+competitors in the races that take place in our short swimming baths
+will, when swimming in opposite directions, run their heads full tilt
+against one another to their mutual discomfiture. But it is not this
+sort of swimming I mean, when speaking of swimming as a hygienic agent,
+a pleasant recreation, or a useful art. It so happens that swimming
+competitions are confined almost entirely to rapidity of swimming,
+and everything is sacrificed by competitors to quickness. The kind
+of swimming cultivated by our swimming athletes, whether amateur or
+professional, is neither graceful nor salubrious, and its utility,
+except for gaining cups and medals, is very doubtful. The secret of the
+hygienic effects of swimming in sea, lake, or river, is gentle exercise
+in a medium whose temperature excites the system to vigorous reaction.
+I do not attach much importance to swimming in cold water as a means of
+cleansing the body. There is no doubt that it does wash off the grosser
+impurities that accumulate about the skin, but it cannot be considered
+as a substitute for the daily tub with plenty of soap, by means of
+which only can the skin be kept perfectly clean and wholesome.
+
+The pleasures of natation need not be dwelt on. To feel oneself
+completely at home in a new element, to lose the sense of ponderosity,
+to be able to move one’s limbs in any direction through an unresisting
+medium, is to enjoy, for the moment, the pleasures of existence of a
+different order of animals. To feel not the weight of the flesh which
+we often find “too, too solid” on terra firma; to dart hither and
+thither at will, roll over on side or back, or dive into the depths
+beneath us, is little short of ecstasy; we are no longer a terrestrial
+animal, we have entered a new phase of existence, we are a fish, our
+limbs are fins, and the water is our element. He who passes through
+life without learning to swim misses one of the purest pleasures life
+affords, and deserves to be drowned in a six-foot pond.
+
+The uses of swimming are obvious. To be drowned by the upsetting of
+a pleasure boat within a few yards of the shore—can anything be more
+pitiful? To see our friend, perhaps our child, perish because we cannot
+swim a few yards to save him—can anything be more painful? Think of the
+number of lives that have been lost by inability to swim, of the number
+of lives that have been saved by the possession of this faculty. He who
+cannot swim is as far from being perfectly educated as he who cannot
+walk.[1]
+
+  [1] I believe that no arrangements exist for teaching our
+      soldiers or sailors swimming (except in the training ships,
+      whence a few of our sailors are derived), the consequence of
+      which is that a very small proportion of the men in either
+      service can swim. In some Continental countries, particularly
+      France, every soldier is taught to swim just as he is taught
+      his drill, and yet French soldiers are not nearly so much
+      exposed to “perils of waters” as our own.
+
+But, it will be alleged, there are dangers connected with swimming. And
+so there are dangers connected with walking, riding, driving, railways,
+steamboats; but these dangers do not deter us from making use of these
+means of locomotion. But let us see what these dangers are. In learning
+to swim you may get out of your depth and be drowned:—Then learn
+to swim in shallow water. The cold water may give you a chill:—Not
+much fear of that unless you are very imprudent, but to avoid that
+insignificant risk you can learn to swim in tepid water. There are
+plenty of such baths in London and most large towns. There is the risk
+of cramp overtaking the most practised swimmer and sinking him suddenly
+to the bottom:—Swimmers do sometimes sink suddenly in deep water and so
+get drowned, but I doubt if they are often good swimmers, and I doubt
+if it is cramp that sends them to the bottom. The _Lancet_ lately
+alluded to this subject, and suggested that it might be a sort of spasm
+of the respiratory muscles, whereby the air was suddenly expelled from
+the lungs, and the specific levity of the body being thus lost, the
+swimmer sank like a stone. That may be partly true, but I am convinced
+it is not the whole truth, nor does it explain how the catastrophe is
+caused. I believe the so-called cramp to be a spasm of the heart and
+respiratory organs, and that it is produced in this way. The swimmer
+may be accustomed to swimming, but he has never thoroughly mastered the
+indispensable first step in swimming, of committing the support of his
+body entirely to the water. He exhausts himself in efforts to elevate
+his head and shoulders above the water. As he gets into deep water
+these efforts, which are of the nature of nervousness, are increased;
+the cold of the water (to which perhaps he is unused from having
+hitherto practised swimming chiefly in tepid water) sends the blood in
+upon the heart, he feels choking, throws up his arms with a loud cry,
+and goes to the bottom at once. The cause of this often fatal seizure I
+believe to be a compound of nervous exhaustion, anxiety, and cold. It
+is extraordinary the difference that prevails in regard to the power of
+resisting cold. I have seen a man shivering and blue after five minutes
+in one of the tepid swimming baths, while others can remain an hour or
+longer in the sea and come out warm and comfortable.[2] A dip in cold
+water, even a cold sponging bath, will cause some men’s extremities
+to die away and remain apparently devoid of circulation for hours.
+We can then easily imagine that the cold of the sea, or of a lake or
+river, may in an individual so sensitive to its effects cause such an
+accumulation of the blood about the heart and lungs as to produce all
+the phenomena observed in drowning by so-called cramp. That a certain
+degree of fear or anxiety is one of the causal elements is, I think,
+sufficiently proved by the fact, that this so-called cramp never occurs
+in shallow water. That it is not cramp of the voluntary muscles is,
+I think, evident from the fact that many people do get cramp in their
+legs when swimming, and this, though painful, is not dangerous, for we
+can always throw ourselves on our back or swim in spite of the pain. I
+have actually plunged into deep water with a slight attack of cramp in
+one of my legs, but found no difficulty in keeping myself afloat until
+the cramp subsided. Although, until its nature is precisely understood,
+there will always remain some risk of accident from so-called cramp,
+still I believe the risk would be reduced to insignificance if those
+who chill rapidly, whom swimming fatigues, or who become nervous in
+deep water, would refrain from venturing beyond their depth until they
+have conquered these failings, which habit will soon enable them to do.
+
+  [2] The power of resisting the cold of the water often depends
+      very much on the condition of our body at the time of
+      immersion. If we enter the water feeling cold we soon become
+      thoroughly chilled, but if we are warm from the heat of the
+      weather, or still better from previous moderate exercise, we
+      can much better resist the cold of the sea, lake, or river.
+
+But the slight risks attending swimming in cold water should not deter
+a community from providing itself with open-air swimming places.
+The risk from drowning will be entirely obviated by artificial
+constructions on a lake or river, such as are to be found in many
+continental towns. English towns are for the most part entirely
+destitute of open-air swimming baths, and if they have suitable rivers
+or lakes near them it is rare, indeed, to see any portion of them
+inclosed for bathing purposes. London itself, with a population of
+three millions, is now without any regular open-air swimming bath. A
+noble river runs through it, but in spite of the gigantic works for
+intercepting and carrying off the sewage, the Thames is still such
+a polluted stream that no one with all his senses entire—especially
+those of sight, smell, and taste—would venture to bathe in it below
+Teddington Lock. It is true that one sees in summer many boys
+disporting themselves on its grimy bosom between the bridges, and I
+have even seen some enjoying a douche at the outfall of a sewer, but
+such feats will be more admired for their temerity than imitated for
+their propriety; and the Thames from Richmond downwards must still be
+considered as unsuitable for bathing. London has many lakes of more or
+less clear water admirably adapted for swimming purposes, but bathing
+is forbidden in all these with the exception of three, and in these it
+is only allowed at such inconvenient hours as practically to exclude
+all but a few from using them. London has many canals, but bathing is
+forbidden in them, and though it is impossible to keep the boys out
+of them, they bathe in peril of being seized by some policeman and of
+being fined by some magistrate for “indecent exposure of the person.”
+
+In the absence or dearth of open-air swimming baths London is pretty
+well supplied with covered swimming baths, mostly tepid, but some few
+cold. With only one exception (and that because it was closed) I have
+inspected, and with six exceptions (four of these because there was no
+water in them at my visit, two, because they were so repulsively dirty)
+I have bathed in all these baths, so that I can describe them from
+personal experience.
+
+I shall begin with the cold baths, these being entitled to the first
+place by reason of their antiquity. And here let me pay a tribute of
+regret to the memory of the only open-air swimming bath London ever
+possessed, specially constructed for that purpose and available at all
+hours of the day—I mean the ancient _Peerless Pool_ in Baldwin Street,
+City Road. It measured fifty yards by thirty, was built of stone, and
+several flights of steps led down to its bottom. It was amply provided
+with open bathing boxes, and was a secluded spot in a densely populous
+neighbourhood. Its water was clear and cold, and it was large enough
+and deep enough for swimming purposes. Its site is going to be built
+over, the more’s the pity, as London is now absolutely without a real
+open-air swimming bath.
+
+  _Old Roman Bath_, Strand Lane, Strand.—The ancient Roman bath
+  which gives its name to this bath is not the place used for
+  bathing. It is where the spring rises. It is in a cellar, is
+  built of brick, and is about 3 yards long by 1½ wide. It is said
+  to be near 2000 years old. The water, which rises at the rate of
+  10 tons per diem, from a spring at one end, is cold and as clear
+  as crystal; it overflows through a pipe into the more modern
+  bath, which is in an adjoining cellar, low-roofed, whitewashed,
+  and obscurely lighted by a dimmed glass window. This bath is said
+  to have been built by the Earl of Essex in Queen Elizabeth’s
+  time. It is a basin 4 yards long by 2½ wide; sides and bottom of
+  marble slabs; steps leading down to it at one corner; depth about
+  4 feet 6 inches. Flags of sandstone surround the bath. There
+  are seven boxes for bathers in the passage leading to the bath.
+  The water is delightfully clear, cool, and refreshing, but the
+  atmosphere of the apartment is rather musty and cellar-like, and
+  the size hardly admits of anything in the way of swimming except
+  mere paddling about.
+
+  _Old Royal Bath_, Bath Street, Newgate Street.—This is a very
+  remarkable bath. It is said to have been built for Charles II,
+  and it still bears traces of royal magnificence. The floor
+  of the apartment is of marble, and the bath itself, which is
+  7 yards long by 3 wide, is made of black and white marble slabs,
+  forming a pleasing pattern. The depth is 4 feet 6 inches, and in
+  the middle of the bath floor is a depression or trough, making
+  the water 5 feet deep there. In the sides of the bath are six
+  niches faced with Dutch tiles, in which the water agitated by
+  the bather makes a curious noise. On either side of the bath the
+  marble floor is raised a few inches. The walls of the bath room
+  to the height of 9 feet are covered with quaint Dutch tiles,
+  with 4 niches for statuary on either side, also faced with
+  tiles. Above the tiles on both sides of the room is a sort of
+  balcony with a railing, but with no visible access to it. Higher
+  up is an octagonal cornice, from which springs the dome-shaped
+  roof, richly ornamented with carved stone or stucco garlands,
+  whitewashed over and terminating in a round skylight. There is
+  another window at the lower part of the dome. It is on the whole
+  rather dimly lighted. The water is clear and cold and is derived
+  from a spring. At one end of the bath steps cut in the marble
+  floor lead to the bottom of the water. The boxes for bathers run
+  along one side of the room, and a quaint little pyramidal mirror
+  apparently as old as the bath serves for toilet purposes. The
+  ventilation is good and the bath very refreshing, but not large
+  enough for vigorous swimming.
+
+  _Coldbath_, Coldbath Square, Clerkenwell.—This bath, whence the
+  name of Coldbath Fields comes, is upwards of 200 years old.
+  Access is obtained to it by a steep narrow and dark staircase,
+  that descends to a considerable depth below the level of the
+  ground. The present bath was originally two baths, one for
+  ladies, the other for gentlemen. They have been thrown into one,
+  which is 7 yards square, lined with marble, 4½ feet deep, with a
+  deeper longitudinal depression in the centre of what was formerly
+  the men’s bath, making the depth there 5 feet, just as in the old
+  Royal Bath. Above the marble, for about 3 feet, the wall is faced
+  with Dutch tiles. Above this, on two sides, rises a whitewashed
+  wall. On the other two sides runs a platform, with a railing at
+  the edge next the bath. At the angle formed by the platform the
+  railing is pierced to allow access down to the bath by means of
+  marble steps. The ceiling is of wood, whitewashed, and is low.
+  Two dim windows afford scanty illumination. There are two or
+  three bathing boxes in the bath room, and there is a dressing
+  room up a few steps, with benches to lay the clothes on. The
+  water is very clear and cold, and is said to possess medicinal
+  qualities from mineral impregnation. It is derived from a spring,
+  and is constantly running into the bath from a lion’s head in
+  clay. It is delightfully fresh and cold, but hardly large enough
+  for swimming comfortably in, and its underground situation is a
+  great drawback.
+
+  _Camden Swimming Bath_, Hampshire Grove, Torriano Avenue.—This
+  bath is about 20 yards long by 5 wide. It is lined throughout
+  with plaster, and is accessible only from one end, where there
+  are wooden steps down to the bottom. The walls, whitewashed,
+  run sheer up from the bath on either side and at the other end.
+  The depth is about five feet. At the entrance end is a platform
+  and six quite open boxes like square church pews. The ceiling
+  is on the double slope, whitewashed, and pierced by seven small
+  skylights, which illuminate the bath but dimly.
+
+These are all the cold plunge baths London possesses. The three
+first are too small for swimming purposes, and the last, though long
+enough, is very narrow and decidedly mean in appearance. Being all
+under cover and some of them quite subterranean, the air feels chilly
+and cellar-like, and the great charm that all swimming in cold water
+should possess, namely, the accompaniments of pure fresh open air and
+sunlight, are sadly conspicuous by their absence in them all. All
+except the Camden bath are open all the year.
+
+I shall now pass on to a description of the tepid swimming baths of
+London, but, before doing so, I will first make a few remarks on tepid
+swimming baths in general. If the water be but moderately heated, say
+not above 70°, and frequently renewed, and if the ventilation of the
+bath be good, swimming in it would be refreshing and salubrious, and
+if not possessing all the charm or all the hygienic power of open-air
+bathing, it may still be a health-giving exercise not altogether
+despicable. But if, as often happens, the water is too warm, say about
+80°, seldom renewed, and the ventilation bad, in all or either of such
+conditions swimming, in place of being a healthy exercise, becomes
+just the reverse. On coming out of such a bath we feel no refreshment,
+but, on the contrary, we feel limp and exhausted from the heat of
+the sodden water which has lost all its vivifying air, and from the
+confined atmosphere of the bathing room, tainted with the exhalations
+from the bodies of the bathers. The temperature in these baths, even
+of the same bath at different times, is very unequal. Sometimes they
+are fresh and cool and apparently unmixed with warm water. I found this
+to be the case in one of the best of these baths one Sunday morning.
+I asked the attendant how it happened that the bath was so pleasantly
+cool, and he informed me that it was often so on a Sunday morning,
+as so many people came there for warm baths that there was no warm
+water to spare for the swimming bath. However, he added a piece of
+information not altogether so agreeable, to the effect that when it was
+deemed necessary to heat the swimming bath under these circumstances,
+this was often done by letting into it the water that had already been
+used in the warm baths. If this little manœuvre, so naïvely revealed
+to me by this bath attendant, often takes place, it will fully account
+for the flat “wersh” feel of the water of so many of the swimming
+baths. But, without supposing anything so nasty, the water will readily
+acquire this unrefreshing character, with a number of persons bathing
+in it, if it be not frequently renewed. In some of the swimming baths
+the water is allowed to flow off every night and fresh water admitted
+in the morning, and in them a certain amount of freshness is always
+perceptible. But in many baths this excellent plan is not adopted,
+and the water is either very seldom allowed to flow off entirely, or
+the dribbling inflow from a meagre jet and a corresponding outflow are
+considered sufficient. Swimming in baths of this character is neither
+refreshing nor wholesome. Imperfect ventilation is not such a common
+occurrence in the metropolitan swimming baths, for they have mostly
+lofty roofs and plenty of open windows. However, some of them are
+defective on this point, and all swimming in such a tainted atmosphere
+must be more prejudicial than beneficial. On the whole, however, a
+careful examination of the London swimming baths has convinced me that,
+as a rule, they are highly creditable to the parochial authorities by
+whom they have mostly been erected. If not equal in hygienic influence
+to open-air swimming baths, they are, at all events, excellent swimming
+schools, and, as they are to be found in every quarter of the town, and
+their price is extremely moderate, it is the fault of the Londoners
+themselves if they do not learn to swim. The art acquired even in a
+tepid swimming bath will be serviceable under all other circumstances;
+and though one accustomed to these artificially warmed shallow pools
+may at first feel not altogether at his ease in cold deep water,
+yet the power of swimming will not forsake him under these novel
+conditions, and familiarity will soon enable him thoroughly to enjoy a
+swim in river, lake or sea, and lead him to despise the languid joys of
+the tepid tank.
+
+In the absence of any better classification I shall describe the
+swimming baths of London in alphabetical order.
+
+  _Albany Swimming Bath_, York Road, Lambeth.—Length of bath
+  17 yards; breadth 12; depth from 3 to 5 feet. 50 boxes with half
+  doors along 3 sides of the bath. A footway all round the bath;
+  a rude spring-board at the deeper end. The ceiling is traversed
+  by great beams; is dark coloured and pierced by few windows. The
+  water is of a yellowish colour, and so opaque that no part of a
+  body immersed in it is visible. This peculiar appearance, I was
+  told, was owing to the quantity of iron it contains. “Highly
+  recommended by the faculty for its strengthening effects,” I was
+  informed. It would need to have some great medicinal virtues, for
+  its appearance is not very inviting.
+
+  _Alexandra Swimming Bath_, Bennett Park, Blackheath.—This bath
+  is 18 yards long by 8 wide. Sides and bottom faced with white
+  porcelain tiles. Depth from 3 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 6 in. Ceiling
+  low, whitewashed. The lighting is effected by 4 dimmed windows
+  in a recess at the shallow end, and 6 windows at one side, 5 of
+  which open on to large square bathing boxes under a glazed roof
+  capable of accommodating each three or four bathers. A gallery
+  runs along the windows projecting over the bath, and opposite
+  this is another elevated gallery or platform, on which stand 13
+  other bathing boxes of unequal sizes, with curtains in place
+  of doors. Few of the boxes are provided with mirrors. There
+  is a spring-board at the deep end, and “headers” may be taken
+  from the platform on which stand the bathing boxes. The water
+  is clear, but the ventilation seemed to me not very perfect,
+  and the illumination very indifferent, for though the bath has,
+  apparently, plenty of windows, 5 of these windows do not admit
+  the direct light of heaven, but only the light reflected from the
+  walls of the bathing boxes, and the other windows are dimmed and
+  unfavorably placed for illuminating purposes. Bathing drawers are
+  required to be worn and are supplied by the establishment.
+
+  _Bermondsey Swimming Baths_, Spa Road, Bermondsey.—This bath is
+  13 yards long by 9 wide. The sides are of white porcelain tiles,
+  the top row having an ornamental blue pattern. Bottom of white
+  glazed bricks. Depth from 3 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 6 in. The ceiling,
+  of tasteful iron work, nicely painted, forms a double slope, in
+  which there is plenty of glass to illuminate the bath well. The
+  bathing boxes, 34 in number, are at both ends of the bath, 18
+  at the deep end, in two tiers, 14 at the shallow end similarly
+  arranged. They are roomy, neatly painted, and are provided with
+  mirrors and curtains in place of doors. There is a broad footway
+  in front of the boxes, and a gangway across the water at one
+  side, leading from one end to the other, and which, being about
+  5 feet above the water, may be used as a spring-board. Walls
+  painted in oil colour rise from the water on both sides. The
+  water is quite clear. There is a second class bath precisely the
+  same in dimensions, the only difference being that the boxes are
+  not painted nor furnished with mirrors or curtains, and that
+  there is no ornamental border round the top of the bath.
+
+  _City of London Swimming Baths_, Golden Lane, Barbican.—These
+  baths are situated in a squalid district, the teeming population
+  of which seem not to avail themselves to any great extent of the
+  facilities for ablution the establishment affords. The first
+  class swimming bath is underground, dimly lighted by grimy
+  windows at both ends and one side, which derive their light at
+  second hand from other windows rising from the level of the
+  pavement. It is about 30 yards long by 11 wide; is deepest (5 ft.
+  6 in.) in the centre, and shallow (3 ft. 6 in.) at either end.
+  The sides and a few feet of the bottom at one end are paved with
+  white porcelain tiles, the rest of the bottom with reddish tiles.
+  The water is clear. There is no visible out-and-in flow. The
+  bathing boxes, 20 in number, are sufficiently roomy. They seem
+  originally to have had half doors, but only two or three of these
+  remain. These boxes stand upon a sort of platform overhanging the
+  bath on one side. On the opposite side is a spring-board, and
+  another at one end. At the other end a sort of Chinese bridge
+  without a parapet crosses the water. The ceiling is of moderate
+  height, and consists of boards, through which project clusters
+  of iron pipes, evidently connected with the bath and laundry
+  arrangements above. The sides of the walls are painted over with
+  pious texts, with which the language of the bathers at my visit
+  did not correspond. There was a close smell about the place,
+  which must be much intensified when the bath is full. Although
+  the size of the bath is great, and the water clear, and at my
+  visit not too warm, this bath is not very inviting, it being
+  dark, ugly, and ill-ventilated. There is a second class bath here
+  of somewhat smaller dimensions.
+
+  _Greenwich Swimming Baths_.—The first class bath is 17 yards
+  long by 6 wide. Depth from 3 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 6 in. Sides and
+  bottom covered with a sort of asphalte painted white. Fourteen
+  open bathing boxes painted light blue, with curtains and mirrors,
+  along one side of the bath. Footway in front of the boxes of
+  slate. A narrow stone ledge at deep end, and in front of it
+  a plank across the bath for a spring-board. Walls of brick,
+  whitewashed, rise directly from the bath at the shallow end and
+  the side opposite the boxes. Ceiling, of iron work, double slope,
+  with glass let in at the top. Ventilation and lighting good. The
+  second class bath is almost precisely the same, differing only in
+  the colour of the boxes, and there being no curtains to them.
+
+  _Hammersmith Swimming Bath_, Bridge street, Hammersmith.—This
+  bath is 20 yards long by 7 wide. The sides are of white porcelain
+  tiles with round black spots at the angles, the top row having a
+  blue flower pattern. The bottom of white and black glazed bricks
+  forming a pattern. Depth from 3 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 6 in.; 22
+  bathing boxes, painted drab and blue, with small mirrors and half
+  doors, run along one side and the shallow end. The footway in
+  front of the boxes and at the deep end is of wood, and projects
+  over the water. A narrow stone ledge runs along the opposite
+  side. The walls are sized stone colour. The ceiling is moderately
+  lofty, arched, and whitewashed. Gaseliers depend from it.
+  Daylight is admitted by two large windows in the side wall, and
+  three semicircular windows at each end. Panes of thick unpolished
+  glass are let into the roof all down the side where the boxes
+  are. The illumination is good. There is a spring board at the
+  deep end. The warm water is admitted at the surface of the water
+  at one corner of the bath, whereby the heat is very unequally
+  distributed. At my visit the top of the water in many parts was
+  quite warm, while the depths of the bath were very cold. The
+  water is clear. This bath is first class on Mondays, Wednesdays
+  and Fridays, and second class on the other days of the week. It
+  is an excellent bath, of good size, well lighted and ventilated,
+  and very clean—perhaps because it is new, and the only fault to
+  be found with it is in regard to the heating of the water, which
+  would be better if the warm water were admitted at the bottom
+  of the bath about its middle, in place of at the surface of the
+  water at one end.
+
+  _Kensington Swimming Bath_, High Street, Kensington.—This little
+  bath is about 10 yards long by 7 wide. It is lined, sides and
+  bottom, with cement painted white. Depth from 3 to 5 feet. The
+  walls, which rise straight up from the bath on three sides, are
+  painted in imitation of stone, and are festooned all round with
+  chains for the bathers to lay hold of. The ceiling, not very
+  lofty, is of wood, whitewashed, pierced by six windows, which
+  admit a good quantity of light. Four chains hang from the ceiling
+  to near the surface of the water. The water is very clear and
+  fresh. There are 8 boxes for bathers, entered at the back by
+  doors, and with half doors facing the water. Stone steps lead
+  down to the bottom of the water from these boxes, which occupy
+  the whole of the shallow end of the bath, are rather narrow, but
+  clean and neat, with mirrors. At one side of the bath is a short
+  footway projecting about 10 feet over the water. A spring-board
+  in the middle of the deep end, and at the corners ladders for
+  diving from. This bath, though small, is clean, well ventilated,
+  and select.
+
+  _Lambeth Swimming Baths_, Westminster Bridge Road.—The first
+  class bath is 41 yards by 15. Depth from 3 to 5 feet. The sides
+  of the bath have a row of white porcelain tiles above, the rest
+  of the sides and the bottom are lined with dusky tiles. The water
+  tolerably clear. An elegant fountain in the centre admits the
+  warm water. An aquarium at the shallow end. A lofty spring-board
+  at the deep end, a lower one at one side. Eighty roomy boxes for
+  bathers with half doors, running along each side of the bath.
+  Above these, on each side, is a gallery supported on light iron
+  pillars, with 16 superior rooms for bathers. Ceiling lofty,
+  double slope, pierced with numerous windows, which light the bath
+  well. A broad paved space between the boxes and the water. This
+  is the largest first class bath in London, and is much used for
+  swimming matches. It is well lighted and ventilated. There is a
+  second class bath nearly as large, 38 yards by 17.
+
+  _Marylebone Swimming Baths_, Marylebone Road.—The first class
+  bath is 15 yards by 8. Depth from 3 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 6 in.
+  It is paved with blue and white porcelain tiles arranged in a
+  pattern. The sides are of slate slabs, with an elegant border
+  at the top, of blue and white pattern, in porcelain tiles. The
+  boxes, 10 in number, and provided with a complete door that
+  closes with a spring lock, which can be opened on the inside by a
+  handle, but on the outside only by a key, are roomy, clean, and
+  provided with mirrors. They run along one side of the bath only,
+  and in front of them is a footway of slate. The walls rise from
+  the water on the other sides, and are painted imitation stone.
+  A spring-board passes across the deep end of the bath. At the
+  shallow end is a shell fountain of white marble, whence fresh
+  water is always flowing into the bath with a pleasant sound. The
+  ceiling is lofty, ridge and furrow, with many lights. This is a
+  little gem of a bath, the water is generally fresh and clear, the
+  lighting and ventilation excellent. It is open on Wednesdays till
+  2 o’clock for ladies. There are also a second and a third class
+  bath below the level of the street, each 23 yards long, lined
+  with blue and white porcelain tiles, well lighted by glass roofs,
+  clean and tasteful. Accommodating respectively 30 and 40 bathers
+  in neat, open, varnished wooden boxes.
+
+  _Metropolitan Swimming Baths_, Ashley Crescent, City Road.—The
+  principal bath is 33 yards long by 11 wide. Depth from 3 ft.
+  10 in. to 5 ft. There is also a smaller bath 16 yards long by 9
+  wide, of a uniform depth of 5 feet. The large bath is lined with
+  reddish bricks, and a row of white porcelain tiles runs round
+  the top. The boxes, 47 in number, run down both sides and along
+  the shallow end. They are placed two and two between pillars
+  supporting arches. They are roomy, and are entered by a door
+  leading from a corridor at the back. A half door opens on to the
+  water, down to which there are wooden steps in front of each box.
+  The boxes have no mirrors. The corridor extends all round the
+  boxes, which are between it and the bath, so that the bath can
+  only be entered through the boxes or at the deep end of the bath,
+  where there is a platform and spring-board, beneath which the
+  water is admitted, when required, in a large cascade. Ornamental
+  colouring is applied to the pillars and arches supporting the
+  ceiling, which is moderately lofty, flat, and whitewashed, with
+  two circular skylights. The bath is further lighted by 22 windows
+  looking into the corridor, placed just below the ceiling. The
+  lighting is not so good as might be expected from the number of
+  windows, as they are unfortunately placed. The water is clear,
+  and the ventilation good.
+
+  The smaller bath is lined with cement painted. It is surrounded
+  by 48 boxes with half doors placed against the wall, and there is
+  a broad footway betwixt the boxes and the bath. Some of the boxes
+  are in a recess at the head of the bath. There is a spring-board
+  at one end. The water is clear, and apparently kept somewhat
+  cooler than that in the large bath.
+
+  _The Wenlock Swimming Bath_, Wenlock Road, is the second class
+  bath to the Metropolitan. It is 60 yards long and 10 wide. It can
+  accommodate a vast number of bathers in boxes with half doors on
+  either side and at the top, and an unlimited number of spectators
+  in galleries above the boxes. This bath being the longest in
+  London is much used for swimming matches. The water is very far
+  from clear, and the arrangements are altogether very second class.
+
+  _North London Swimming Baths_, Pentonville Road.—The first class
+  bath is 18 yards by 7. Depth from 3 to 4 feet; deepest in the
+  middle. The sides are lined with white porcelain tiles with
+  ornamented top row, the bottom paved with red tiles. There are 24
+  roomy bathing boxes, with mirrors, running along one side and
+  one end. Above these is a gallery which will accommodate bathers
+  or spectators. A flagged footway runs in front of the boxes.
+  At the end and side not occupied by the boxes, a spring-board
+  runs along the whole length, and there is another spring-board
+  near the middle of the opposite side. Three trapezes hang from
+  the ceiling for the daring flights of amphibious Leotards. The
+  ceiling is lofty, of dark stained wood, and glass in sufficient
+  quantity to light the bath well. The side walls are of bare
+  yellow brick. The water is clear, the lighting and ventilation
+  good, but the depth of the bath is quite insufficient, and in
+  plunging from the spring-board one must take care of one’s head
+  against the bottom. There is a second class bath somewhat smaller.
+
+  _Poplar Swimming Baths_, East India Dock Road.—There are two
+  baths, first and second class, of similar dimensions, 15 yards
+  by 9. I was unable to inspect them, as the baths close at the
+  end of September, and my visit was made during the first days
+  of October, when the baths were locked up, and the man who had
+  the key was absent. They were described to me by an intelligent
+  policeman as very nice baths—I presume of the usual character of
+  parochial baths, of which I have examined and described so many.
+
+  _Royal York Swimming Baths_, York Terrace, Regent’s Park.—There
+  are two swimming baths, one for gentlemen, the other for ladies.
+
+  The gentlemen’s bath is of an irregular shape, about 22 yards
+  long by 7 wide. Depth from 3 to 5 feet. A spring-board at each
+  end. The bath is floored with tiles of a dusky reddish-brown
+  colour, the sides of white bricks. The bathing boxes, 20 in
+  number, very narrow, with half doors, run along the top and down
+  a part of one side. The walls, whitewashed, support a low ridge
+  and furrow ceiling, with dimmed panes of glass let into it. A
+  narrow ledge runs along one side of the bath. Small jets of water
+  run in at one end. At my visit the plaster was peeling off the
+  walls in patches, and green mould was creeping up the walls.
+  This, with the low ceiling, the dim illumination, and the dismal
+  colour of the material of which the bath is constructed, gave a
+  gloomy and uninviting aspect to the place. Still, I am bound to
+  say, the water was clear and pleasant.
+
+  The ladies’ bath is smaller, 10 yards by 7. Depth 4 ft. 6 in.
+  Lined with white porcelain tiles. Platform and 6 boxes with
+  curtains at one end. The walls, whitewashed, rise up from the
+  bath at the other three sides, and support a not very lofty
+  ridge and furrow ceiling pierced with a few windows. This bath,
+  which is the only one I know of in London exclusively devoted to
+  ladies, deserves attention on that account. It is far from being
+  everything that is desirable, but the water is clear, and there
+  is just room enough to learn swimming.
+
+  _St. George’s Swimming Bath_, Davies Street, Berkeley
+  Square.—This bath is 14 yards by 8. Depth 3 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft.
+  6 in. Sides paved with white porcelain tiles with black spots at
+  angles; a top row with Greek pattern in blue, bottom of white
+  glazed bricks. Open boxes with mirrors and half curtains, 42 in
+  number, all round the bath. A sloppy, slippery wooden footway in
+  front of boxes. Spring-board at deep end. Wooden steps down to
+  the bath at the middle of one side and at one corner. Ceiling,
+  supported on iron pillars, of painted iron work. The light comes
+  from a large skylight at the top of a high narrow funnel with
+  painted iron sides, and from 7 small windows over the top of
+  the boxes on one side. The water is clear, but the lighting is
+  very indifferent, and the ventilation decidedly defective. The
+  wringing machine belonging to the laundry keeps up an almost
+  incessant and very lugubrious noise. This bath is first class on
+  Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and second class on the other
+  days of the week. It is under the same management as the
+
+  _St. George’s Swimming Bath_, Buckingham Palace Road.—This bath
+  is 20 yards by 8. Depth from 3 ft. 4 in. to 5 ft. 4 in. Sides of
+  white porcelain tiles with black spots at angles, and a Greek
+  pattern in blue along the top row. Bottom of white glazed bricks.
+  Forty-six open boxes, with half curtains and mirrors, on three
+  sides of the bath. Wooden footway all round. Ceiling, of iron
+  work, lofty, supported on painted iron pillars all round the
+  bath. Lighted by a large glass roof. Spring-board at deep end.
+  This bath is much superior in size, lighting, and ventilation, to
+  the establishment in Davies Street. Like the latter, it is first
+  class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and second class on
+  other days. It closes the end of October, but the bath in Davies
+  Street is open all the year.
+
+  _St. Giles’ and St. George’s, Bloomsbury, Swimming Baths_, Endell
+  Street.—The first class bath has an oblong shape, broader at one
+  end than the other. Its length is 12 yards by 10 at the deep end,
+  tapering off to 8 at the shallow end. Depth from 4 ft. to 6 ft.
+  Sides lined with white porcelain tiles with round black spots
+  at angles, a blue pattern on top row. Bottom of white glazed
+  bricks. Twenty-three open boxes, with mirrors and curtains, on
+  one side and along the shallow end. A wide footway of slate on
+  three sides of the bath. A spring-board at deep end. Pillars,
+  of painted iron, round three sides of the bath, supporting the
+  roof. A painted screen about 12 feet high separates this from the
+  second class bath, which is in all respects the same as the first
+  class, except that the boxes are not painted and have neither
+  mirrors nor curtains. The two baths have a common roof of glass,
+  very lofty, and with elegant iron-work supports. The water is
+  clear and fresh, the ventilation and lighting excellent. This
+  and the Tower Hamlets bath are the only ones in London where a
+  middle-sized man can get out of his depth, which is a great charm
+  to the practised swimmer.
+
+  _St. James’ Swimming Bath_, Marshall Street, Golden Square.—You
+  mount up a flight of steps to get to this bath. It is about
+  13 yards by 9. Depth from 3 to 5 feet. Sides of bath slate,
+  bottom plaster. Eighteen open boxes. A lofty ceiling, well
+  lighted. The water is dirty looking, and the whole arrangements
+  very inferior, and altogether second class.
+
+  _St. Margaret’s and St. John’s Swimming Baths_, Great Smith
+  Street, Westminster.—The first class bath is 12 yards by 10. It
+  is lined throughout, and for 3 feet above the water, with white
+  glazed bricks. Depth from 3 ft. to 5 ft. 6 in. Boxes 16, open,
+  with mirrors, in two tiers at the shallow end. A footway 6 feet
+  broad in front of boxes, about 3 feet above the water, to which
+  two flights of wooden steps lead down. A narrow gangway, about
+  6 feet above the water, leads to a door opening on to the second
+  class bath, which is very similar to this, only 3 feet longer,
+  and with double the number of boxes arranged similarly at either
+  end. The walls, whitewashed, rise from the water on three sides.
+  They support a lofty double sloped ceiling of painted wood, with
+  glass let in along each slope. The water is clear, and the bath
+  is tolerably well lighted and ventilated, but as it is deficient
+  in everything ornamental, it has rather a mean appearance.
+
+  _St. Pancras Swimming Baths_, King Street, Camden Town.—The
+  first class bath is 19 yards by 8. The corners of the bath
+  are rounded. The sides of white porcelain tiles, the top row
+  ornamented with blue dolphins. The bottom is of glazed black and
+  white bricks arranged in a pattern. Depth from 3 ft. 4 in. to
+  5 ft. 5 in. A spring-board at deep end. The boxes, 25 in number,
+  with mirrors and half doors, run down one side and along deep
+  end. At the shallow end, and in front of the boxes, a footway of
+  stone flags. At the other side runs a screen about 10 feet high,
+  separating it from the second class bath, which is identical with
+  it in all respects save the mirrors and dolphins. The two baths
+  are covered, to the extent of one half, by a very lofty glass
+  dome. The other half of the bath is overhung by a not very lofty
+  ceiling of plaster and ironwork, with sundry round holes in it,
+  displaying intricate conglomerations of iron pipes. The water is
+  beautifully clear, and the lighting and ventilation good. It is
+  one of the most recent of the parochial baths, and does great
+  credit to the much-reviled St. Pancras Board of Guardians.
+
+  _Tower Hamlets Swimming Baths_, Church Street, Mile End New
+  Town.—First class bath 23 yards by 10. Depth from 5 to 6 feet.
+  The sides and bottom of bath of cement painted white. Forty-two
+  unnumbered boxes, with doors which do not lock, and are cut
+  away slightly at top to admit light, run along the two ends
+  and one side of the bath. Above them is a gallery with seats,
+  where more bathers or spectators can be accommodated. On the
+  opposite side runs a gangway over the water, which can be used
+  as a spring-board. The footway in front of the boxes is of stone
+  flags. The walls, of brick, are whitewashed on the three sides
+  where the boxes are, with some attempt at colour near the top,
+  and a gorgeous Royal Arms at one end. The other side is of wood
+  painted, forming the partition between this and the second class
+  bath. The roof is on the double slope, of wood, dark and grimy.
+  Glass is let in at the top on both sides. The illumination is
+  indifferent, the boxes rather rickety, and, on the whole, the
+  bath, though extent and depth of water are satisfactory, is
+  decidedly shabby. The second class bath is the same as the first,
+  except that the boxes are open, 26 in number, and so much larger,
+  that each box will accommodate on an emergency ten bathers. The
+  proprietor informed me that he has seen 1200 bathers together
+  in this bath, 500 or 600 in the water at one time. There is no
+  attempt at colouring on the whitewashed walls, and the water is
+  not so deep as that in the first class bath by half a foot.
+
+Some of the above tepid swimming baths are open all the year round.
+Some, where there are first and second class baths, close one of these
+during the winter and strike an average of the prices of admission.
+Some close at the end of September, others at the end of October, to
+reopen in April. The prices of the swimming baths connected with the
+parochial baths and washhouses are usually 4d. for the 1st class and
+2d. for the 2nd class. A few charge 6d. 1st class, some 3d. 2nd class,
+and one, the Marylebone, charges 8d. 1st, 4d. 2nd, and 2d. 3rd class.
+The non-parochial swimming baths, Kensington and Blackheath, are 1s.
+each.
+
+Almost all the swimming baths are the head quarters of one or more
+swimming clubs, which generally have one night a week for their
+meetings and practisings. With few exceptions they have all attached to
+them a professional swimmer, in most cases one of the bath attendants,
+who teaches swimming to beginners and coaches aspirants after prizes
+in that extraordinary mode of rapid swimming adopted by the London
+aquatic athletes, in plunging, in picking up eggs from the bottom of
+the bath, and other equally useless feats. The shallowness of the baths
+prevents all practice of the really useful accomplishment of diving
+deep in water from a height or while swimming; and I am not aware of
+any instruction being given in the very difficult art of rescuing a
+drowning person. I need not say that this is a dangerous and difficult
+operation as long as the person to be rescued is able to struggle and
+clutch at his rescuer. It too often happens that the desperate efforts
+of a drowning person drag both himself and his would-be preserver to
+the bottom. In some books it is recommended not to attempt the rescue
+of a drowning man until he has ceased to struggle, when it may be too
+late. There is a method of grasping and supporting a drowning person,
+however lively, that should be taught to swimmers, which will enable
+them to save life without much peril to themselves; and this could be
+taught in our swimming baths, but no prizes are awarded for it, and
+professionals, for the most part, think only of teaching what will win
+prizes at the swimming competitions. By the way, either Shakspeare
+understood little about swimming or he intended to represent Cassius
+as a vain boaster, which, however, is hardly consistent with his
+character in the play, when he makes him talk about rescuing the
+drowning Cæsar by taking him on his shoulders as Æneas did Anchises.
+
+The above, as far as I can ascertain, are all the places expressly
+constructed for swimming purposes at present existing in London,[3]
+and if they fully answered the ends for which they were designed, and
+enabled their frequenters to obtain the full benefit of the hygienic
+exercise of swimming, one could scarcely say that they were too few for
+even such an immense town. But they are of little use in a hygienic
+point of view. I must remind the reader that in order to derive the
+full health-giving advantages from swimming, it must be performed
+in cool and deep water, with plenty of room, and surrounded by the
+wholesome accessaries of fresh air and sunlight. Moreover, the mind
+of the swimmer should not be harassed and anxious. Now, the London
+swimming baths satisfy none of these requirements. They are, with one
+exception (for we cannot count the three ancient plunge baths among
+swimming baths, on account of their puny dimensions), all tepid. This
+is no fixed temperature, but varies in every bath, and in the same bath
+at different times. It may mean any temperature from 65° to 80°, or
+upwards. The lower temperature would not be objectionable in the point
+of view of salubrity, but it would not be relished by the swimmers,
+who would insist on more warm water being added, or otherwise the
+most of them would forsake the bath. When the water approaches the
+higher temperature indicated, swimming in it is followed by languor
+and prostration, more prejudicial to health than otherwise. To me
+the water in this state feels sodden and lifeless, and though one can
+stay in it a long time without shivering, the longer one stays in the
+more prostrated does one feel afterwards, and a good cold douche or
+shower-bath would be required to restore anything like tone to the
+system.
+
+  [3] There are, I believe, several additional tepid swimming baths
+      in the course of construction in London and suburbs, and one
+      has been recently opened at Stratford, but that town can
+      scarcely be considered as part of London, though within the
+      postal district, and as Mr. Sweedlepipe says, “we must draw
+      the line somewhere.” Some may think I have not drawn the line
+      narrowly enough, when I have included in my survey Hampstead,
+      Hammersmith, Greenwich, and Blackheath, but I preferred to
+      make it possibly too wide than to incur the reproach of having
+      made it too narrow.
+
+The London swimming baths are all shallow, with two exceptions,
+and these are only six feet deep at their deepest part. There is
+consequently no opportunity for diving deep and experiencing the
+powerful influence of the pressure of a considerable column of water
+on the organs of respiration and circulation.
+
+With few exceptions the London swimming baths are too small. When
+any considerable number of bathers are in the water, then there is
+hardly room for the swimmers, who are consequently continually butting
+against, or kicking, or even scratching one another in a manner
+anything but favorable for the preservation of good temper—a most
+essential requisite in a hygienic point of view.
+
+None of the London baths have the advantage of pure fresh air. Some of
+them are close, stuffy and fœtid. The best of them can only be said to
+be well ventilated, but no amount of ventilation in a covered building
+is an equivalent for the caller air with its fresh breezes, that play
+around and about the exposed body of the open air bather.
+
+Few of the London baths have a sufficiency of light. Some are mere
+gloomy cellars. In the very best of them the body does not receive the
+direct rays of the sun, the light being transmitted through glass of
+greater or less thickness, often artificially dimmed, in case it should
+impinge too strongly on the exposed body. The powerful hygienic effects
+of light on the body have recently received much attention, and it is
+no doubt a chief agent in the salubrious influence of open-air bathing.
+To construct a swimming bath where the light is nearly excluded is to
+forego one of the greatest advantages of the bath.
+
+Lastly, how can the mind remain free from anxiety, when, according
+to the arrangement in every bath in London, with one exception, the
+bather’s clothes and valuables have to be left in open boxes, to which
+any person can enter, while in most baths a notice is stuck up to
+the effect that the bath proprietor is not responsible for clothes or
+valuables, but that each bather must look after his own. In some of
+the baths the ticket givers will take charge of watches, jewellery,
+and money, but in many others they refuse to do so, and one is forced
+to leave everything exposed. With this alarming notice staring one
+in the face, what must be the state of mind of a timid bather under
+such circumstances, when the bath is tolerably full of the extremely
+mixed company which frequents these baths, I shall leave the reader to
+imagine. Certainly if the conditions were otherwise hygienically good,
+the moral state thus induced would suffice to neutralize them.
+
+Besides the above swimming baths, cold and tepid, under cover, and not
+to be enjoyed without payment, London has, or had, two large open-air
+gratuitous swimming baths, fulfilling in many respects the requirements
+of hygienic swimming baths, but objectionable in several important
+particulars; I allude to the great bathing lake in Hyde Park—the
+Serpentine, and the two smaller lakes in Victoria Park.
+
+  _The Serpentine_, before the “levelling-up” operations commenced,
+  was in very bad repute. Its depth was supposed to be very great
+  in some places; a delusion its drainage has dispelled, for it
+  appears to be nowhere above 12 or 14 feet deep. Its bottom was
+  supposed to be foul with the accumulated sediment from the
+  sewers which discharged themselves into it for many years; its
+  drainage has shown it to be foul beyond all conception, and the
+  wonder is that its water was not more impure than we know it to
+  have been, resting on such a thick stratum of abominations. The
+  water was impure,[4] there is no denying it, and its impurity
+  was often as obvious to the nose as to the eye. And yet a swim
+  in the old Serpentine on a cool spring or autumn morning was not
+  a bad thing—_experto credite_. It was a fine expanse of water,
+  with beautiful surroundings. The eye rested with pleasure on the
+  green sward of the park, the stately old elms, the picturesque
+  bridge, the pretty little Swiss boathouse, and the monstrous
+  black Duke prancing over the trees. Then if you did not examine
+  too minutely the green confervæ that rendered the water almost
+  opaque, if you kept your eyes more skyward, if you became used
+  to the faint ditch-water smell around you, and “made believe
+  a good deal,” you might almost fancy yourself disporting in a
+  retired lake far away in the country. The company was not so bad
+  as was usually supposed. The roughs don’t like getting up early
+  even to wash themselves, so there were few of them; they mostly
+  deferred their bathing till the evening. Most of the bathers
+  seemed quiet, steady, respectable people. The regular bathers
+  would generally bring along with them a bit of carpet, or hire a
+  rug from the Humane Society’s boatmen to lay their clothes on,
+  and thus save them getting wet by the dew. There was room and to
+  spare for all on the broad bosom of London’s great lake, and when
+  you could forget the stories about the horrors below you, and
+  refrain from looking too curiously at the green abominations that
+  thickened the water, a long swim in the deep placid Serpentine,
+  with the sun shining down on you, and the gentle breeze fanning
+  you, was infinitely preferable to any cold or tepid swimming
+  bath in London. If the lover of the swimming bath is to gain
+  nothing by the works now going on in the Serpentine besides clear
+  water in a shallow bed, he will, perhaps, rather regret the
+  loss of his deep but dirty lake. Bathing was permitted in the
+  Serpentine from 5 to 8 a.m., and again after sunset for an hour
+  or so; but no provision at all was made for the accommodation of
+  bathers, beyond a couple of boats belonging to the Humane Society
+  stationed near where most bathers resorted.
+
+    [4] I suppose it was this impurity of the water which
+        produced a remarkable disease among the young sticklebacks
+        and minnows, many of which I have found with deposits,
+        apparently of pus, on various parts of their bodies,
+        rendering their movements languid and awkward, and in some
+        cases, especially where these deposits were on the head,
+        causing hideous disfiguration.
+
+  _Victoria Park Bathing Lakes_.—There are two of these lakes. The
+  more easterly one is nearly 300 yards long, and is surrounded by
+  a gravel walk, beyond which are shrubs. The more westerly one
+  is nearly as large, and is more hemmed in by trees and shrubs,
+  and has several islands in it. Both have a depth of 6 feet in
+  their deepest part, becoming gradually shallow towards the
+  shore. The eastern lake is much the clearest. There is a raft on
+  one, and a small shabby bathing house on the other. A swimming
+  master resides at one end of the eastern lake, who apparently
+  adds to the profits of his profession by selling ginger-beer
+  and sugar-plums. The time when bathing is allowed is from 4 to
+  8 a.m. The remainder of the day the best of the lakes is much
+  resorted to by the owners of miniature yachts, in order to test
+  the sailing powers of their tiny craft. There is, of course, here
+  also no arrangement for the safe bestowal of one’s clothes while
+  one is in the water, so that, as in the Serpentine, you bathe at
+  your own proper peril.
+
+The lakes in these two parks are the only places in which the
+inhabitants of London are permitted to indulge in open-air bathing.[5]
+To be sure there is the river, and there are numerous canals in which
+the gamins plunge in summer, but they do so at the risk of being seized
+by the police and brought before a magistrate charged with the heinous
+offence of indecency, so that all who have any respect for the law are
+practically debarred from making use of these waters. Besides, in spite
+of the recent drainage works, the Thames is still little better than
+an open sewer, and it will be long before it is anything else;[6] and
+the canals are, with few exceptions, so dirty, that there is little
+inducement to the respectable swimmer to brave the terrors of the law,
+and defy the threats against trespassers, in order to indulge in his
+favorite exercise in either river or canal. So, practically, he is
+limited to the Serpentine and Victoria lakes, and to these only at the
+inconvenient hours, and under the uncomfortable circumstances I have
+described.
+
+  [5] I do not forget the lower ponds of Hampstead, which were once
+      magnificent sheets of water, but then they were the property
+      of the New River Company, and bathing was strictly prohibited
+      in them. Now they seem to be abandoned by the Water Company,
+      but they have been allowed to drain away or evaporate, until
+      they are little better than muddy pools with a broad margin
+      of sticky clay which would deter any one except a London
+      street Arab from attempting to bathe in them. It would be
+      possible to convert one or more of them into excellent
+      swimming baths of any required depth.
+
+  [6] Were the Thames once more the “crystal stream” that poets
+      used to call it, I fear its tidal character would offer some
+      difficulties to placing on it, between the bridges, floating
+      baths, such as we see on the Seine; for these, if placed near
+      the side, would be left high and dry at every ebb, and, if
+      stationed in mid-stream, would seriously interfere with
+      navigation.
+
+While almost every second-rate continental town has ample provision
+for open-air bathing, it is disgraceful that a large and wealthy
+metropolis like London should virtually have nothing of the sort.
+How much pleasure do its citizens consequently lose! what a powerful
+hygienic agent are they not deprived of! And yet London offers more
+facilities than almost any other town I know of for the construction of
+open-air swimming baths of the best kind, and that without infringing
+on the comfort or privileges of any one. In the Serpentine, when the
+levelling operations are completed, the finest swimming baths the world
+can show might be constructed for a very small sum of money, and I
+venture to say that while the convenience and wishes of thousands who
+delight in swimming, and to whom an open-air bath is a source of health
+and pleasure, would be gratified, no person would be inconvenienced,
+nor would anything unpleasant be presented to the eye.
+
+The arrangements heretofore in force pleased no one; the bathing public
+were put to every sort of inconvenience, and the non-bathing public
+were disgusted that for certain hours in the day the banks of the
+Serpentine should be handed over to a horde of naked savages, rendering
+it impossible for any decent female to venture near them. It is surely
+the duty of the authorities who permit bathing in the Park to provide
+that it may be done with safety and comfort, and without outraging
+decency.
+
+I would suggest that a first and second class swimming bath be built
+at the south side of the Serpentine when its depth has been equalised,
+as proposed, to 5 ft. 6 in., shelving into shallow water towards the
+shore. These ought, I think, to be, not floating baths, but permanent
+constructions of light and elegant appearance. Each bath should be
+at least 150 yards long by 50 or 60 wide. Round the bath should run
+a platform flagged with slates, with steps down to the water, and
+spring-boards. There should be boxes for bathers round the whole bath,
+to the number of 200 or 300. These boxes should be numbered, and
+have complete doors, with a pane of glass let in, and closing with
+a spring lock, to be opened by the attendant to the bather having a
+corresponding ticket. This for the security of the bather’s clothes
+and valuables. For what right, I may ask, has any one to invite me into
+his bathing establishment, induce me to divest myself of my clothes
+and valuables, and plunge beneath the water, while he offers me no
+security for my property, which he directs me hang up in a perfectly
+open box, and cautions me to look after myself? How I am to look after
+it when I am swimming in or under the water he does not inform me. Even
+if, when so engaged, I were to perceive a thief occupied in rifling
+my pockets or appropriating my garments, it would avail little that
+_de profundis clamavi_, “stop thief!” By the time I could get out of
+the water and make towards him, he would probably have got clear off
+with his booty. Therefore, the simple plan adopted in the Marylebone
+first class swimming bath, of full doors closing with a spring-lock,
+is indispensable for the security and comfort of the bather.[7] To
+make the security absolute, it would only be requisite to provide
+each bather with a ticket of bone or metal, the number of which would
+correspond with his box; and this by a simple contrivance might be
+fastened to his bathing drawers (without which no one should be allowed
+to bathe), and the attendant would only open the door corresponding
+to this number. I have dwelt, in what some may think too much detail,
+on this apparently trivial matter, but from experience I can testify
+that much of the comfort of a bath depends on one being assured that
+one’s clothes are in a place of safety. The boxes should be closed in
+at top with a glazed roof, as in the Hammersmith bath, and the roof,
+either glazed or of corrugated iron, should extend over the platform,
+as in a railway station, to afford shelter from sun or rain when not
+in the bath. The water should be quite open to sun and air. The prices
+of admission need not be greater—might indeed be less—than those of
+the generality of the parochial baths, viz. fourpence, first class,
+twopence, second class. For this the bather should be supplied with one
+or two towels, and bathing drawers, unless he prefer to wear his own.
+And here I would hint that the towels should always be washed after
+being used, and not merely dried, as seems to be the case in some of
+the baths, if I may be allowed to infer from their sickening smell. It
+would surely not be too much to expect a refreshment room or buffet in
+connexion with these baths, as is often to be found on the continent;
+such an addition would be highly desirable, if practicable.
+
+  [7] The proprietor of a swimming bath which has full doors
+      inveighed against them to me as affording facilities for
+      thieves, but then his doors have neither locks nor numbers.
+
+These baths should be open from an early hour until dusk, so as to suit
+the convenience of all. Many persons cannot take an open-air bath in
+the morning without injury, but can derive benefit from, and enjoy, a
+swim in the middle of the day. Again, their occupations make it more
+convenient for some to bathe at one time, for others at another time,
+and the tastes and convenience of all would be consulted by having the
+bath open all day.
+
+When such swimming baths are built, bathing, except in these, should
+be altogether forbidden in the Serpentine. Thus the non-bathing public
+would gain greatly by being spared the indecent scenes that have
+hitherto rendered that part of Hyde Park impassable for women in the
+morning and evening, and swimmers would have everything they could wish
+for. It might be a question whether bathers might not be permitted
+to swim from the bath in the Serpentine outside of it early in the
+morning. In the competitions of swimming clubs, greater space is often
+desirable than could be obtained in any bath.
+
+A similar construction might be made on the eastern lake in Victoria
+park, which is in size, depth, and form, quite adapted for it. If
+the Lilliputian yachters should think their vested rights thereby
+interfered with, the other bathing lake might be abandoned to them
+entirely.
+
+Excellent swimming baths might also be made on one of the arms at the
+east end of the lake in St. James’s Park, without interfering with
+any one’s rights or comfort. The water is already of the required
+depth, and the part indicated is but little frequented except by a few
+water-fowl.
+
+The lake in Regent Park is also well adapted for a swimming bath.
+There is a portion of the water, midway between the two suspension
+bridges, nearly hidden from every habitation by an island covered with
+trees, where the bath might be built so as to be in nobody’s way.
+However, as it is quite easy to make the structure pretty, I don’t see
+why any person should object to a full view of it.
+
+Battersea Park possesses a large expanse of water, and a few hundred
+yards of it might be very well spared by the gardeners and aquatic
+birds, to whom it is at present dedicated, for the purpose of a large
+swimming bath, which would complement the gymnasia in which the park at
+present abounds. The water, being only about 3 feet in depth, would not
+be suitable for a swimming bath without further deepening, but that is
+an operation which, I presume, would present no difficulty. It would be
+a great advantage to have a continuous and steady influx and outflow
+of water in all these lakes; this would insure constant freshness of
+the swimming baths. I am not conversant with engineering matters, but
+I should think that this might easily be effected by means of artesian
+wells in suitable situations, if the flow of water cannot be obtained
+from the water companies.
+
+I have thus shown how the great want of London, in the matter of
+open-air swimming baths, might be supplied by utilizing a portion of
+the water in five of the existing parks.[8] As there are other parks
+projected, or in course of formation in other parts of London, it
+would, of course, be easy to apply the same principle to the lakes that
+might be formed in them.
+
+  [8] I have purposely said nothing about the extra-urban parks of
+      Greenwich, Wimbledon, Richmond, and Wanstead, all of which
+      offer great facilities for the construction of swimming baths,
+      all having fine sheets of water. I confine myself to the more
+      pressing wants of the teeming millions of London proper.
+
+These baths would not interfere in any way with the existing swimming
+baths, for there would still remain a sufficiency of bathers who prefer
+tepid to cold water, and as a vastly greater number of persons would
+take to bathing than do now, they would, undoubtedly, first resort
+to the covered baths, in order to learn to swim, before frequenting
+the open-air baths. The covered swimming baths would also still be
+resorted to by those who prefer to swim in the evening, and by those
+who like to continue their bathing during the winter months.
+
+And here I should say a few words respecting the prejudice in favour
+of sea-bathing, which is almost universal with us. It is believed that
+there is something in the sea water that renders it far more salutary
+than fresh water. This is undoubtedly true with respect to certain
+morbid states of the body—such as scrofula; but it is far from being
+universally true. To many persons the seaside and sea water are little
+else than poisonous, and bathing in the sea, or mere residence near
+the sea, produces very prejudicial effects. To most healthy persons it
+is not the contents of the water that do good, but the exercise and
+the reactions caused by the temperature and the other elements I have
+indicated above. By many swimming in the sea is preferred to swimming
+in fresh water for various reasons, independent of any medicinal action
+of its salts. They like the charm of bathing in the boundless ocean
+with all its romantic accompaniments; they swim with greater facility
+and confidence, as the greater specific gravity of salt water floats
+them higher. It may be urged that medical men invariably send people
+to the sea for bathing. That is nearly true; but then medical men are
+not altogether free from sharing the national prejudice in favour of
+the superior salubrity of sea water. Moreover, it is for patients their
+advice is sought, not healthy persons, and the maladies these patients
+are suffering from may seem to them to require the medicinal effect of
+sea water. But undoubtedly the chief reason for their recommendation
+is, that they know that there are facilities for bathing in the sea,
+but they would be much at a loss to name any place where their clients
+could obtain comfortable freshwater open-air bathing. For my own part,
+though I love the sea in all its moods, and in part because it has so
+many moods, I dislike the sticky hair and generally dirty feeling it
+causes, and its nasty taste when one gets a mouthful; and I would much
+prefer that its waters were as soft, sweet, and cleansing as those of
+a Scotch or Swiss lake. To my mind the finest swimming bath in the
+world is the Lake of Geneva. There you have the changing moods of the
+ocean, while the water is fresh and sweet, and of such a lovely blue,
+that your body when immersed in it seems as white as marble, and, like
+Narcissus, you are ready to fall in love with your beautified person.
+Give us freshwater baths in the open air, and a removal to the seaside
+will not be desired or needed by many who are now attracted thither.
+
+When speaking of the advantages of swimming in the open air, I have
+not meant that these advantages were limited to the male sex. On
+the contrary, I am strongly of opinion that swimming is an exercise
+equally, if not more, adapted to women as to men. Men have their
+hundreds of games and occupations that keep their muscles in constant
+and varied play. From these women are practically debarred, and the
+exigencies of society limit their exercises to but few, and some of
+these can only be enjoyed by the wealthier classes. The tyranny of
+fashion, too, compels them to dress themselves in a manner specially
+unfavorable to healthy exercise, and the consequence is that thousands
+fall into ill health which might be averted if their muscular system
+and circulation had only a fair chance. Swimming, which must be
+performed without the restraints of fashionable garments, is of all
+others the kind of exercise from which most advantage may be reaped. To
+most women, also, swimming comes easier than to men. Their bodies are
+generally of less specific gravity, and so float more easily in water,
+whether fresh or salt. This being so they sooner acquire the confidence
+necessary to make good swimmers. Then, as the water sustains the whole
+weight of the body, and as they are no longer restrained by the bands,
+bones and laces of their dress, they are free to bring into full play,
+without fatigue, all those muscles which have hitherto been kept in
+thrall by the milliner’s devices.
+
+As a means of maintaining and even restoring health, then, swimming in
+the open air is of still greater importance to women than to men. But I
+have shown that even in the matter of tepid swimming baths the wants of
+the other sex have been almost totally ignored, for with the exception
+of the little bath in York Terrace and the Wednesday morning’s use of
+the smallest of the Marylebone baths, there is actually no provision
+in London for women’s swimming. As far as regards open-air swimming
+they have been left out of consideration altogether. Now, if open-air
+swimming baths are to be established in London, the interests of
+the softer sex should be considered as much as those of the rougher
+gender. With this view I would give up the Regent’s Park lake to the
+ladies, for which it is already adapted by its inferior depth—4 feet, I
+believe. For the same reason it may perhaps be thought best to make the
+proposed bath in St. James’s Park one for ladies only, and if the bath
+in the Serpentine be only made large enough, there is ample space there
+for all the wants of the male sex at that end of the town.[9] The water
+in Victoria Park in its present condition is, of course, better adapted
+for a men’s bath, but in the event of a women’s bath being required
+there, which I doubt not will be the case, one of the other lakes might
+be given up for the purpose, or a new lake altogether constructed, for
+which there is room enough in the park.
+
+  [9] If it is considered desirable to limit the construction of
+      swimming baths at first to the Serpentine, a ladies’ swimming
+      bath might be made in the portion of it contained in
+      Kensington Gardens.
+
+When women take to swimming, as I have no doubt they will eagerly when
+opportunity offers, they will, of course, have to abandon their useless
+and inconvenient bathing gowns and adopt the dress universally worn by
+their sisters on the continent, or something equally well adapted to
+allow free play to the limbs.
+
+When London sets the example, our provincial towns will soon follow its
+lead, and when once open-air swimming baths become general throughout
+the land, we may hope one day to cease to deserve the reproach—that
+though we live in a sea-surrounded and lake and river-abounding
+country, a much smaller proportion of its inhabitants can swim well
+than is to be found in many continental countries which have none of
+our aquatic advantages.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Note
+
+Apart from one instance of punctuation normalisation, the text
+is presented as printed in the original, including inconsistent
+hyphenation (ironwork/iron-work/iron work, open-air/open air,
+spring-board/spring board, spring-lock/spring lock), period spelling
+(accessaries, asphalte, gaselier, Shakspeare) and northern dialect
+words (wersh, caller).
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76117 ***