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84
Bathing in a swimming bath is not like bathing in a pure flowing
stream.
Large out-door swimming baths, unless supplied with running water
or unless the water is frequently changed and the bottom of the lake
cleansed must be a source of danger to the bathers.
It is obviously healthier to bath in water three or four days old which
is kept pure by the addition of Electrolytic fluid, than to bathe in water
which is polluted by the bathers after a few hours' use when the fluid is
not added to the bath.
It is undoubted folly to overlook the very obvious and insidious
dangers of public swimming baths, for it cannot be concealed the
contaminated water of swimming baths may be the cause of many
communicable diseases. There is a strong probability that consumption
may be contracted from the sputum* and emanations and discharges from
the mucous membrane of the nose and mouth of the bathers, for it must
be remembered it is a common occurrence for the bath water to enter the
mouths (and is of course at once expelled into the bath) by at least a
goodly number of bathers who neglect oral hygiene whereby portions of
food accumulate between the teeth; particularly when they may have
diseased and uncleansed teeth. It is possible that involuntary micturition
may take place in the bath through the temperature of the water being
lower than the body, thereby causing the kidneys to act more freely
than usual. Again, in a common bath communicable diseases may be
contracted from the washing of the external parts of the bathers
bodies. Should a bather happen to have had Typhoid Fever and
be a "carrier" of the germ, it is obvious how dangerous becomes his
presence in a public swimming bath. Another discomforting fact is
further presented that during the rainy weather mud finds ready access to
the only too expansive openings in the boots of many children who use
the baths, and here again is a filthy source of pollution. Care is taken by
the attendants to see that all children with dirty feet wash them before
entering the bath, but the cleansing is perfunctory, and all children cannot
even be so treated for the reason that time prevents such a proceeding.
Dust and dirt also get into the bath-water from the hair of the girls who
• For years endeavours have been made to stop the ravages of the White Plague,
the Local Government Board have issued Regulations dealing with Pulmonary Tuberculosis,
the Oaths Act has come into operation, Acts of Parliament have been passed, and
at the present time further legislation is proceeding to prevent consumption. County
Councils and Local Authorities exhibit notices on highways, in public places and in
public conveyances requesting persons not to spit, pointing out the dangers of the filthy
practice, and drawing attention to the penalties for infringement of the bye-laws. In
swimming baths spitting goes on to an enormous extent, and the sputum from one
person may directly enter the mouth and stomach of another. The public shuts its
eyes to this danger, and the reformer is dubbed a faddist when he mentions it.