2 Bathing in the Seine and Marne Rivers in Paris and Its
Suburbs Has Recently Become a Health Issue
2.1 Bathing in Paris: Washing and Cooling Off
Local populations have bathed in rivers for centuries for hygienic as well as
symbolic reasons; this activity has progressively evolved toward the ages at the
rate of modernity, according to the social organizations and the evolution of the
social norms. Beginning in the seventeenth century, bathing was a very common
activity for Parisians: many of them, including the popular classes, would wash in
the Seine and Marne rivers and cool off during hot periods [1]. At the Saint Bernard
gate where “Men bathe at the foot [of the gate] during the heat wave; we see them
throw themselves into the water, we see them come out, it’s an amusement,” as La
Bruyère says in Les Caractères.
At the end of the eighteenth century, an increasing number of bathing boats
moored on the banks of the Seine River, allowing people to take a bath in a pierced
bathtub out of sight, thus avoiding social or sexual promiscuity [1]. They were run
by private entrepreneurs and separation of the social classes was the rule [2]. The
least expensive, so-called “quatre-sous” baths, was the most basically laid out.
According to Eugène Briffault [3], the show was not very raucous: “imagine a
band of demons, blackened with coal and smoke, plunging into a bath that one
moment becomes thick and muddy.” In this description, the chronicler’s gaze
attributed the poor quality of the water to its contact with individuals of another
social class and not to the water itself.
The most sophisticated bathing boats offered many services such as a private
cabin, hot water, a restaurant, a massage parlor, and a hairdresser. Beginning in the
1820s, some of them developed swimming pools. All were supplied with water
pumped directly in the Seine River with no filtration device. Comparing two
swimming school boats, Briffault found that the water at Saint-Louis Island was
“pure, clear and healthy because it has not yet crossed the Parisian cesspool” while
the Orsay water was “dirty, cloudy, often foul and unhealthy because it has already
rolled in the filth of the big city.” But this situation was not detrimental to the
reputation of the Deligny baths at Orsay, which were “opulent and majestic.” The
chronicler noted, however, that on days of heavy rains, the pools of Deligny became
muddy and “that it is difficult to swim for a long time in these waters without having
the chest soiled with a muddy deposit and ears plugged” [3]. This is a rare and early
comment regarding bathing and the deterioration of water quality due to urban wet
weather pollution.
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J.-M. Mouchel et al.
Suburbs Has Recently Become a Health Issue
2.1 Bathing in Paris: Washing and Cooling Off
Local populations have bathed in rivers for centuries for hygienic as well as
symbolic reasons; this activity has progressively evolved toward the ages at the
rate of modernity, according to the social organizations and the evolution of the
social norms. Beginning in the seventeenth century, bathing was a very common
activity for Parisians: many of them, including the popular classes, would wash in
the Seine and Marne rivers and cool off during hot periods [1]. At the Saint Bernard
gate where “Men bathe at the foot [of the gate] during the heat wave; we see them
throw themselves into the water, we see them come out, it’s an amusement,” as La
Bruyère says in Les Caractères.
At the end of the eighteenth century, an increasing number of bathing boats
moored on the banks of the Seine River, allowing people to take a bath in a pierced
bathtub out of sight, thus avoiding social or sexual promiscuity [1]. They were run
by private entrepreneurs and separation of the social classes was the rule [2]. The
least expensive, so-called “quatre-sous” baths, was the most basically laid out.
According to Eugène Briffault [3], the show was not very raucous: “imagine a
band of demons, blackened with coal and smoke, plunging into a bath that one
moment becomes thick and muddy.” In this description, the chronicler’s gaze
attributed the poor quality of the water to its contact with individuals of another
social class and not to the water itself.
The most sophisticated bathing boats offered many services such as a private
cabin, hot water, a restaurant, a massage parlor, and a hairdresser. Beginning in the
1820s, some of them developed swimming pools. All were supplied with water
pumped directly in the Seine River with no filtration device. Comparing two
swimming school boats, Briffault found that the water at Saint-Louis Island was
“pure, clear and healthy because it has not yet crossed the Parisian cesspool” while
the Orsay water was “dirty, cloudy, often foul and unhealthy because it has already
rolled in the filth of the big city.” But this situation was not detrimental to the
reputation of the Deligny baths at Orsay, which were “opulent and majestic.” The
chronicler noted, however, that on days of heavy rains, the pools of Deligny became
muddy and “that it is difficult to swim for a long time in these waters without having
the chest soiled with a muddy deposit and ears plugged” [3]. This is a rare and early
comment regarding bathing and the deterioration of water quality due to urban wet
weather pollution.
326
J.-M. Mouchel et al.