DOCTOR’S WARNING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 786, 5 October 1929, Page 33

DOCTOR’S WARNING

DON’T DRINK THE BATH WATER HINTS FOR SWIMMERS Don’t duck suddenly, or push a friend in unawares when bathing. Both practices are unwise and should be discouraged, according to two King’s College Hospital medical men, Dr. W. I. Daggett, nose and ear surgeon, and Dr. R. Cove-Smith (the famous England Rugby player), in an article on bathing in a recent issue of the “British Medical Journal.” They advocate that: There should be regular and frequent inspections of all public baths. All swimmers should be compelled to wash with soap under a shower before entering a public bath. The public should be educated as regards correct breathing in the water. Persons with colds, septic nasal conditions, perforated ear-drums, or recurrent inflammatory conditions of the external auditory meatus, should not be allowed in public baths without leave from an aural surgeon. Correct Breathing “It is obvious to those who attend out-patients in any large ear, nose and throat clinic,” the writers point out, “that a great number of acute aural conditions develop as the result of bathing. “The practised swimmer fills his lungs at regular intervals through the widely-opened mouth . . . the inexperienced swimmer fails to regulate his breathing properly, draws the. water into his nose, chokes and swallows; this last action opens up the Eustachian tubes and water is allowed to enter.

“In far too great a proportion of public baths the water is not changed often enough, while scouring of the empty bath is inefficiently carried out,” says the article.

“It is a bad principle that bathers should be allowed to come in straight from the streets and tramp along the sides of the bath in their grimed boots. All this filth must sooner or later find its way into the water.”