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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/76117-0.txt b/76117-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2f6b6b --- /dev/null +++ b/76117-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1310 @@ + +*** 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 *** diff --git a/76117-h/76117-h.htm b/76117-h/76117-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6eb5427 --- /dev/null +++ b/76117-h/76117-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1855 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta charset="utf-8" > +<title>The Swimming Baths of London | Project Gutenberg</title> +<link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" > + +<style> +div.section { + max-width: 32em; 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+ display: inline; + visibility: visible; + position: absolute; + left: 1%; + } + div.section { + margin: 8em auto; + } +} + +/* overrides for epub */ +body.x-ebookmaker { + margin-left: 2%; + margin-right: 2%; +} +.x-ebookmaker span.pagenum, .x-ebookmaker hr.ww { + display: none; + visibility: hidden; +} + +/* for full-page vertically centred: print and epub */ +/* requires "vh" unit which at the current time ebookmaker strips out + but PG will no longer accept html that ebookmaker flags with "ERROR" + Reinstate commented-out code once the css3 values get beyond just CR status */ +@media print { + .fp { + display: flex; /* https://www.w3.org/TR/css-flexbox-1/ */ + justify-content: center; + /* height: 100vh; */ /* https://www.w3.org/TR/css-values-3/ */ + page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; + } + .fp3 { + display: flex; /* https://www.w3.org/TR/css-flexbox-1/ */ + justify-content: center; + /* height: 33vh; */ /* https://www.w3.org/TR/css-values-3/ */ +} + .vcenter { + width: 100%; + margin-top: auto; + margin-bottom: auto; + } +} +.x-ebookmaker .fp { + display: flex; + justify-content: center; + /* height: 100vh; */ + page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; +} +.x-ebookmaker .fp3 { + display: flex; + justify-content: center; + /* height: 33vh; */ +} +.x-ebookmaker .vcenter { + width: 100%; + margin-top: auto; + margin-bottom: auto; +} +.x-ebookmaker div.section { + margin: 4em auto; +} + +</style> +</head> + +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76117 ***</div> + + +<hr class="ww" > + + + +<div class="section fp"> +<div> +<div class="fp3"> +<div class="vcenter"> +<h1 title="The Swimming Baths of London"><a id="png.01" href="#png.01"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>1<span class="ns">]<br + ></span></span></a><small>THE</small><br + >SWIMMING BATHS<br + ><small class="allsc">OF</small><br + >LONDON.</h1> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="fp3"> +<div class="vcenter"> +<p class="author ctr"><small class="allsc">BY</small><br + >R. E. DUDGEON, M.D.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="fp3"> +<div class="vcenter"> +<div class="published">LONDON:<br + ><span class="sprd">HENRY TURNER AND C</span>O.,<br + ><small>77, FLEET STREET, E.C.</small><br + ><span class="minihr">1870</span>.<br + ><small><i>Price Sixpence.</i></small> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> + + + +<div class="section fp"> +<div class="vcenter"> +<div class="ctr"><a id="png.02" href="#png.02"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>2<span class="ns">]<br + ></span></span></a><div class="ctr">PRINTED BY J. E. ADLARD, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<div class="section"> +<h2 title="The Swimming Baths of London"><a id="png.03" href="#png.03"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>3<span class="ns">]<br + ></span></span></a><small>THE</small><br + >SWIMMING BATHS OF LONDON.</h2> + +<hr class="h2hr"> + +<p><span class="smc">Swimming</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.04" href="#png.04"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>4<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.05" href="#png.05"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>5<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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, <i lang="la">mutatis mutandis</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.06" href="#png.06"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>6<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="fn1"></a><a title="Go to footnote 1" + href="#Footnote1" class="fnanchor"><span + class="ns">[Footnote </span>1<span class="ns">] + </span></a></p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.07" href="#png.07"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>7<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a><cite>Lancet</cite> 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.<a id="fn2"></a><a title="Go to footnote 2" + href="#Footnote2" class="fnanchor"><span + class="ns">[Footnote </span>2<span class="ns">] + </span></a> 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 +<a id="png.08" href="#png.08"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>8<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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 <span class="nw">to do.</span></p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.09" href="#png.09"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>9<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <cite>Peerless Pool</cite> 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.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><cite>Old Roman Bath</cite>, 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 +<a id="png.10" href="#png.10"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>10<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>Old Royal Bath</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><cite>Coldbath</cite>, 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, +<a id="png.11" href="#png.11"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>11<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>Camden Swimming Bath</cite>, 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.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I shall now pass on to a description of the tepid swimming +baths of London, but, before doing so, I will first make a +<a id="png.12" href="#png.12"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>12<span class="ns">] + </span></span></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 +<a id="png.13" href="#png.13"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>13<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>In the absence of any better classification I shall describe +the swimming baths of London in alphabetical order.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><cite>Albany Swimming Bath</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><a id="png.14" href="#png.14"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>14<span class="ns">]<br + ></span></span></a><cite>Alexandra Swimming Bath</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><cite>Bermondsey Swimming Baths</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><cite>City of London Swimming Baths</cite>, Golden Lane, Barbican.—These +<a id="png.15" href="#png.15"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>15<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>Greenwich Swimming Baths.</cite>—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<!-- TN: original reads "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.</p> + +<p><cite>Hammersmith Swimming Bath</cite>, Bridge street, Hammersmith.—This +<a id="png.16" href="#png.16"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>16<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>Kensington Swimming Bath</cite>, 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 +<a id="png.17" href="#png.17"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>17<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>Lambeth Swimming Baths</cite>, 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 <span class="nw">by 17.</span></p> + +<p><cite>Marylebone Swimming Baths</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><a id="png.18" href="#png.18"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>18<span class="ns">]<br + ></span></span></a><cite>Metropolitan Swimming Baths</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><cite>The Wenlock Swimming Bath</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><cite>North London Swimming Baths</cite>, 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 +<a id="png.19" href="#png.19"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>19<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>Poplar Swimming Baths</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><cite>Royal York Swimming Baths</cite>, York Terrace, Regent’s Park.—There +are two swimming baths, one for gentlemen, the other for +ladies.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The ladies’ bath is smaller, 10 yards by 7. Depth 4 ft. 6 in. +<a id="png.20" href="#png.20"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>20<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>St. George’s Swimming Bath</cite>, 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</p> + +<p><cite>St. George’s Swimming Bath</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><cite>St. Giles’ and St. George’s, Bloomsbury, Swimming Baths</cite>, Endell +Street.—The first class bath has an oblong shape, broader at one +<a id="png.21" href="#png.21"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>21<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>St. James’ Swimming Bath</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><cite>St. Margaret’s and St. John’s Swimming Baths</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><cite>St. Pancras Swimming Baths</cite>, King Street, Camden Town.—The +first class bath is 19 yards by 8. The corners of the bath +<a id="png.22" href="#png.22"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>22<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>Tower Hamlets Swimming Baths</cite>, 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.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p><a id="png.23" href="#png.23"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>23<span class="ns">]<br + ></span></span></a>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 4<i>d.</i> for +the 1st class and 2<i>d.</i> for the 2nd class. A few charge 6<i>d.</i> 1st +class, some 3<i>d.</i> 2nd class, and one, the Marylebone, charges +8<i>d.</i> 1st, 4<i>d.</i> 2nd, and 2<i>d.</i> 3rd class. The non-parochial +swimming baths, Kensington and Blackheath, are 1<i>s.</i> each.</p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.24" href="#png.24"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>24<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>The above, as far as I can ascertain, are all the places +expressly constructed for swimming purposes at present +existing in London,<a id="fn3"></a><a title="Go to footnote 3" + href="#Footnote3" class="fnanchor"><span + class="ns">[Footnote </span>3<span class="ns">] + </span></a> 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 +<a id="png.25" href="#png.25"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>25<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.26" href="#png.26"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>26<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><cite>The Serpentine</cite>, 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,<a id="fn4"></a><a title="Go to footnote 4" + href="#Footnote4" class="fnanchor"><span + class="ns">[Footnote </span>4<span class="ns">] + </span></a> 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—<i lang="la">experto credite</i>. It was a fine +<a id="png.27" href="#png.27"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>27<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p><cite>Victoria Park Bathing Lakes.</cite>—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 +<a id="png.28" href="#png.28"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>28<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>The lakes in these two parks are the only places in +which the inhabitants of London are permitted to indulge +in open-air bathing.<a id="fn5"></a><a title="Go to footnote 5" + href="#Footnote5" class="fnanchor"><span + class="ns">[Footnote </span>5<span class="ns">] + </span></a> 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;<a id="fn6"></a><a title="Go to footnote 6" + href="#Footnote6" class="fnanchor"><span + class="ns">[Footnote </span>6<span class="ns">] + </span></a> 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.</p> + +<p>While almost every second-rate continental town has +<a id="png.29" href="#png.29"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>29<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.30" href="#png.30"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>30<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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 <i lang="la">de profundis clamavi</i>, “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.<a id="fn7"></a><a title="Go to footnote 7" + href="#Footnote7" class="fnanchor"><span + class="ns">[Footnote </span>7<span class="ns">] + </span></a> +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, +<a id="png.31" href="#png.31"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>31<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The lake in Regent Park is also well adapted for a +<a id="png.32" href="#png.32"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>32<span class="ns">] + </span></span></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.<!-- TN: original has comma --> +However, as it is quite easy to make the structure pretty, +I don’t see why any person should object to a full view <span class="nw">of it.</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="fn8"></a><a title="Go to footnote 8" + href="#Footnote8" class="fnanchor"><span + class="ns">[Footnote </span>8<span class="ns">] + </span></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.33" href="#png.33"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>33<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.34" href="#png.34"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>34<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a id="png.35" href="#png.35"><span class="pagenum x-ebookmaker-drop"><span + class="ns">[</span>35<span class="ns">] + </span></span></a>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.<a id="fn9"></a><a title="Go to footnote 9" + href="#Footnote9" class="fnanchor"><span + class="ns">[Footnote </span>9<span class="ns">] + </span></a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p><small><span class="unjust"><a id="Footnote1"><span class="ns">[Footnote </span + >1<span class="ns">:</span></a> </span>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.<span class="ns">]</span> +<a title="Return to text" href="#fn1" class="fnreturn" + ><i>Return to text</i></a></small></p> + +<p><small><span class="unjust"><a id="Footnote2"><span class="ns">[Footnote </span + >2<span class="ns">:</span></a> </span>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.<span class="ns">]</span> +<a title="Return to text" href="#fn2" class="fnreturn" + ><i>Return to text</i></a></small></p> + +<p><small><span class="unjust"><a id="Footnote3"><span class="ns">[Footnote </span + >3<span class="ns">:</span></a> </span>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.<span class="ns">]</span> +<a title="Return to text" href="#fn3" class="fnreturn" + ><i>Return to text</i></a></small></p> + +<p><small><span class="unjust"><a id="Footnote4"><span class="ns">[Footnote </span + >4<span class="ns">:</span></a> </span>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.<span class="ns">]</span> +<a title="Return to text" href="#fn4" class="fnreturn" + ><i>Return to text</i></a></small></p> + +<p><small><span class="unjust"><a id="Footnote5"><span class="ns">[Footnote </span + >5<span class="ns">:</span></a> </span>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.<span class="ns">]</span> +<a title="Return to text" href="#fn5" class="fnreturn" + ><i>Return to text</i></a></small></p> + +<p><small><span class="unjust"><a id="Footnote6"><span class="ns">[Footnote </span + >6<span class="ns">:</span></a> </span>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.<span class="ns">]</span> +<a title="Return to text" href="#fn6" class="fnreturn" + ><i>Return to text</i></a></small></p> + +<p><small><span class="unjust"><a id="Footnote7"><span class="ns">[Footnote </span + >7<span class="ns">:</span></a> </span>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.<span class="ns">]</span> +<a title="Return to text" href="#fn7" class="fnreturn" + ><i>Return to text</i></a></small></p> + +<p><small><span class="unjust"><a id="Footnote8"><span class="ns">[Footnote </span + >8<span class="ns">:</span></a> </span>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.<span class="ns">]</span> +<a title="Return to text" href="#fn8" class="fnreturn" + ><i>Return to text</i></a></small></p> + +<p><small><span class="unjust"><a id="Footnote9"><span class="ns">[Footnote </span + >9<span class="ns">:</span></a> </span>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.<span class="ns">]</span> +<a title="Return to text" href="#fn9" class="fnreturn" + ><i>Return to text</i></a></small></p> + +</div> + +</div> + + +<div class="section tnote"> +<h2 title="Transcriber's Note">Transcriber’s Note</h2> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="ww" > + + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76117 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/76117-h/images/cover.jpg b/76117-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b012ea3 --- /dev/null +++ b/76117-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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