Reasons for establishing a sea bathing infirmary, on the western coast, for the benefit of the poor : addressed to thr governors of medical charities, to the Poor Law guardians, and to the friends of the poor ... : with an appendix, containing the opinions of various eminent medical authorities / by J.K. Walker.

Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reasons for establishing a sea bathing infirmary, on the western coast, for the benefit of the poor : addressed to thr governors of medical charities, to the Poor Law guardians, and to the friends of the poor ... : with an appendix, containing the opinions of various eminent medical authorities / by J.K. Walker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    observed, with feelings of regret, bow many have been dragging on a miserable existence from the destructive ravages of scrofula on the constitution, the effects of which are heightened by want of proper food, clothing, and cleanliness. The experience of medical men of the first rank in their profession, founded on an extensive practice in hospitals, as well as among the higher orders of society, proves that medicine can effect hut little in this distressing complaint. The salutary change however in such patients, which often follows a few weeks residence on the coast, after all other means have failed, sufficiently proves what might be effected by a more extensive application of this mode of treatment, to the poor as well as to the rich. The numerous places on the coast, that now, at each returning summer, vie with each other in tempting the invalid of the interior to try the efficacy of sea air and sea bathing, are solid and convincing proofs of the importance of the offered remedy. The object of the present appeal is to secure to the poor, those benefits which are now almost exclusively enjoyed by the more wealthy. If with all the sur- rounding comforts of life, maladies baffle the earliest and most judicious exertions of medical skill, how wretched must he the condition of the poor, under the pressure of disease, without the prospect of ob- taining the remedy most calculated to give relief. Can there he a doubt about the expediency of pro- moting the establishment of a Sea Bathing Infirmary, LL