On the Effect of the North Sea Bath: A Physiological-Chemical Investigation

Beneke, F. W. (Friedrich Wilhelm), 1824-1882Project Gutenberg · United StatesMar 2023

Rating 2.3
Word count
380K words
Chapters
39

Tags

Motivation and Growth Traditional MedicineWellnessChemical AnalysisMedical HistorySea BathingPhysiologyMind Body BalanceHealth ScienceAcademic StudyExperimental Research

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Ueber die Wirkung des Nordsee-Bades: Eine physiologisch-chemische UntersuchungAuthor: Beneke, F. W. (Friedrich Wilhelm), 1824-1882,Language: German, Class: RA: Medicine: Public aspects of medicine, Release Date: Sep 10, 2011

Editor's review

This is a nineteenth-century German medical work devoted to a physiological and chemical study of the effects of North Sea bathing. Its value lies in showing how early modern medicine examined the effects of natural therapies through physiology and chemistry; it is a primary source for understanding sea-bathing therapy, public health, and medical history. The free Project Gutenberg edition makes it easy for researchers to search and cite, and it is suitable as historical source reading for students of medical history, the history of spa culture, and public health history. The text is in German and contains period terminology, so it is difficult for general readers to read directly. Readers should place the author's conclusions in the nineteenth-century medical context and should not treat them as modern clinical guidelines.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. First learn about the background of nineteenth-century sea-bathing therapy, then move on to the main text.
  2. While reading, note the author's experimental methods and approach to chemical analysis.
  3. Distinguish the book's conclusions from modern medical understanding and avoid applying them directly.
  4. Read alongside general histories of medicine to understand the research paradigm of the time.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39

FAQ

Can this book guide sea bathing today? It cannot be used directly as modern health guidance. It is a nineteenth-century physiological and chemical study, and its conclusions are limited by the experimental conditions and medical ideas of the time. Modern sea bathing involves factors such as water temperature, duration, and individual health status, and contemporary medical advice should be followed. This book is better read as material for medical history.
Can I read this book without knowing German? The book is a German text and contains nineteenth-century medical terminology, so reading it directly without German would be very difficult. Translation tools or related Chinese research on medical history can help you grasp its general content, but accurately citing its arguments and experimental details still requires some ability to read German.
What academic field does this book belong to? Judging by how the material is classified, it belongs to the public health side of medicine and also involves physiological and chemical analysis. Its content centers on the effects of North Sea bathing, so it can also be placed within the study of medical history, the history of spa treatment, and public health history, rather than being a modern clinical treatment manual.

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About the author

Beneke, F. W. (Friedrich Wilhelm), 1824-1882 Author · German · 1824–1882

Friedrich Wilhelm Beneke (F. W. Beneke, 1824–1882) was a German physician whose medical writings dealt with such fields as pathology and the theory of constitution. At present only one of his works is held in the collection: Ueber die Wirkung des Nordsee-Bades: Eine physiologisch-chemische Untersuchung, a study of the effects of North Sea bathing on the human body that combines physiological and chemical methods. The book is commonly classified under inspirational growth, yet in content it comes closer to a medical record of observation and experiment on natural spa treatment, reflecting nineteenth-century German medical interest in seawater bathing as a therapy. Public information on his life and academic career is limited, so his person and work can presently be understood only through this work and the brief account above.