Spas and sensibilities: Darwin at malvern

Abstract

In 1842 when Captain Richard Claridge first described a new form of hydrotherapy to British patients1 there were only two places in England that could be visited in order to see what the system offered.2 Ten years later, however, despite scandals about the dramatic death of at least one aristocratic patient, 3 there were 24 water-cure establishments in Britain and Ireland, many of which were famous enough to be known simply by the owner's name, 4 and the water-cure had become an extraordinary social phenomenon noisily discussed in Punch5 and other prominent. © 1990, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.