SIWA’S PSEUDO SAUNA

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31381, 29 May 1967, Page 11

SIWA’S PSEUDO SAUNA

Patients Seek Torture Cure In Desert

A STRANGER crossing the desert to Siwa oasis in western Egypt might imagine he had stumbled across some ghastly tragedy. Every day the sands around the life-giving oasis of Siwa are dotted with human heads.

But these travellers were not victims of a nightmarish massacre. The heads, in fact, belong to the bodies of patients who came to ‘Doc’ Setuhi to seek a cure for their complaint 'Doc* Setuhi

The burning-sand cure is the discovery of a toothless old Arab called Moussa Setuhi—known as ‘Doc’— who has built up a remarkable practice at Siwa in the past 20 years. Moussa claims that in the past four years, 000 persons nave been cured of rheumatism due to his unique treatment. He himself suffered from rheumatism but that was before he started taking hot sand baths! The baths were taken in the hottest pert of the desert where the sun's heat was trapped between two rocky outcrops. With his wife mopping his brow, Moussa stayed nuried in the sand for two hours a day over a period of nine days. His rheumatism disappeared—another example of the out*, standing benefits of dryheat Dry heat

Dry heat obviously has nothing to do with steam or water. But because it is dry it is possible to withstand temperatures of 180 degrees or even higher. At first this heat may appear to be intolerable, the human body temperature being only 9MF. (The hottest desert temperature is about 120 F.) The secret is in the low humidity—only 3 per cent The home sauna feels only warm and cozily pleasant for up to half an hour. The time, spent in the sauna is a matter for personal preference, but half an hour is generally favoured.