HOW SEA BATHING ORIGINATED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 4407, 20 October 1934, Page 4

HOW SEA BATHING ORIGINATED.

“As the weather becomes warmer, sea-bathing will be indulged in by thousands of people. Blit how many people really know the origin of it, although sea bathing is the people’s most popular pastime? In the early sixteenth century v it was the credo of the world of fashion, that, while the body might be washed from time to time until fresh water, salt water was only for sailors, fish, and the mentally unbalanced. In fact, lunatics were the originators of sea bathing, because, in the Middle Ages, doctors, when prescribing for them, suggested salt water as a specific for their complaint. It was about 1770, in England, that sea bathing became popular through a man named Doctor Russell, although a tew courageous souls braved the waves before that time. On the Continent, the Germans were the first to get the seaside habit, and by 1812 France took up the craze. Curious scenes were witnessed at Dieppe, where the bathers were plunged into the water in baskets to protect them from the waves and tides. The really fashionable of France were not won over to this new form of bathing until 1824, when the Duchess d_e Berry learned how to swim and dip in the ocean. Quite a unique piece of pageantry accompanied her immersion. She was led a little way into the water by the Director of the Beach, an elegant person clad in evening dress and white kid gloves, a gun then being fired off to announce that Her Royal Highness was in. The papers of the time issued instructions to would-be bathers, telling them to sit or stand on the shore, taking care that, they were held from behind by the hands. Also, they were advised to wear a woollen shirt, in order to keep the eyes of the curious fro-m seeing too much.” Isn’t this all very interesting. This paragraph comes from “The Aew Idea,” the threepenny weekly paper for Australian and New Zealand women, and there is lots more intriguing reading matter for anyone who buys a copy. It is now on sale at all newsagents—3d,