BATH TUBS A MENACE TO HEALTH.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 163, 15 August 1914, Page 6

BATH TUBS A MENACE TO HEALTH.

SHOWER BATHS TO BE PREFERRED. THE bath tub habit, for so long upheld as a virtue, is now being attacked by medical authorities as little short of- a vice. These strictures do not apply to the individual bath tub, which still holds estimable rank with the individual tooth brush, soap, and towel. But bath tubs that are strictly individual are so few that they really do not enter into the current controversy. In the majority of homes where bath tubs exist at all they are used indiscriminately by all members of the family, and by the occasional guest. It is true that most hotels have rooms with "private bath." But as the great multitude of hotel guests are transient, each of those private baths accommodates a steadj' succession of bathers, who know nothing about each other, and each of whom may have left behind him infectious microbes as souvenirs to be unconsciously appropriated by the next comer. Thus practically all bath tubs are condemned as unsanitary, and under reasonable suspicion of harbouring disease germs. For a long time many medical men have entertained this opinion and have warned their patients against using a bath tub until it lias been thoroughly cleansed with soap and hot water. Finally this warning has received the force and general publicity of an official action. On representations made by Dr Henry Allers, Vice-President of the Board of Health of Harrison, N.J., that body recently voted in favour of abolishing bath tubs, and of urging the installation of shower baths in their place. Here are the principal points of Dr Allers's statement, upon which the Harrison Board of Health based its action: "In making my professional rounds," said Dr Allers, "I have on numerous occasions seen bath tubs which had not been cleaned since they were installed. Take the average user of the bath tub, especially in the larger tenements, and what do we find? Invariably a person gets into the bath and after a thorough scrubbing remains in the tub for some time. The water used in the scrubbing is not let out and the sediment floats on the water, with the result that it again gets into the open pores and there is as much, if not more, dirt on the bodv than there was before the immersion.

"For a practical illustration, just fill a glass Avitli water and sprinkle soriie powder 011 top. Run a lead pencil to the bottom of the glass, take it out again, ■ and note what you find. The powder will adhere to the pencil, and the same thing applies to the person using the bath under the conditions I have described. "The bath tub is unsanitary, and a menace to the public health because a person with a skin disease can infect others through the use of the same tub. This fact cannot be denied.

"I think that you will agree with me that every person practically washes himself in his own dirt when using the tub. If the water was as dirty before entering the tub as it is when leaving it, I doubt if anybody would ever take a bath —at least in that way. "I certainly prefer the shower to the tub bath. The shower accomplishes more than the tub, in that you know and feel that you are clean. Its installation is much cheaper, the shower requiring less lloor space, less time for preparing, and may be regulated ami enjoyed at any temperature."