Seasickness and health : a manual for travellers / by Joseph Byrne.

  • Byrne, J. Grandson (Joseph Grandson), 1870-1945.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Seasickness and health : a manual for travellers / by Joseph Byrne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to be more susceptible than others, but Mr. Thomas A. Edison, that colossus of the world of invention, informs me that he has never been susceptible. It is of interest to note that Mr. Edison regards favourably the author’s conclusions as to the causation of seasickness. Professional dancers and singers are very susceptible although Mr. Caruso, the celebrated tenor, states that he has always been immune. Indeed, so common is it for the perfectly strong and healthy to become stricken that the burden of proof rests with those who are immune to show that they are free from defect—especially defects in the internal ear. Susceptibility to seasickness merely implies that the individual is the possessor of ready, alert, balancing mechanisms which are capable of being rudely disordered by the motions of the boat, whereas immunity often means degeneration, from old age, heredity, disease or other cause, of the sensory end-organs of the vestibular nerve within the internal ear. The stricken sufferer need not therefore envy too much that type of individual, usu- ally undersized and puny, who, chanticleer-like, struts the deck puffing his vile-smelling cigarette; nor that other type of person whose general look of well-being inspires the sick with thoughts of hate as in loud voice he proclaims that he “never misses a meal.” It is a fact that persons, of rugged and frail constitu- tions are alike subject to seasickness. Some observers have stated that neurotic individuals are more susceptible than those of coarser fibre, but there are many exceptions to this rule. The most delicate neurotic women are some- times immune, whereas robust, rugged individuals are frequently most susceptible. Professor Mike Murphy, the world-famed trainer, is of the opinion that athletes are less liable to seasickness than others, although he admits that he is by no means sure of