Travel Essays · Chapter
Health and Mountains explained
The chapter discusses a shift in medical opinion regarding the treatment of invalids, moving from the mild, enervating climates of the Riviera to the bracing, active life of high-altitude mountain sanatoriums, particularly in the Rocky Moun
What happens
The chapter discusses a shift in medical opinion regarding the treatment of invalids, moving from the mild, enervating climates of the Riviera to the bracing, active life of high-altitude mountain sanatoriums, particularly in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. It contrasts the passive resignation of traditional health resorts with the tonic, manly vigor of mountain living, and vividly describes the landscape, weather, and psychological effects of winter in the Alps.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and the Sublime
The chapter vividly describes the overwhelming, almost chaotic beauty of Alpine winter landscapes, emphasizing the sublime power of nature to both invigorate and unsettle the observer.
Mortality and the Passage of Time
The contrast between the passive, deathlike existence in Riviera resorts and the active, life-affirming possibilities of mountain life highlights themes of mortality and the desire to reclaim time.
Freedom vs. Confinement
The invalid's choice to seek the mountains is framed as an act of bold defiance against confinement, offering a sense of agency and self-respect absent in traditional sickroom life.
Key passages
“There has come a change in medical opinion, and a change has followed in the lives of sick folk.”
Medical thinking has shifted, and as a result, the way invalids live has also changed.
Introduces the central thesis of the chapter: a revolution in health care philosophy.
“The invalid is now asked to lodge on wintry Alps; a ruder air shall medicine him; the demon of cold is no longer to be fled from, but bearded in his den.”
Sick people are now advised to stay in the cold Alps, where a harsher climate will heal them, and they must confront the cold rather than avoid it.
Highlights the new, active approach to treatment.
“Instead of the bath-chair, the spade; instead of the regulated walk, rough journeys in the forest, and the pure, rare air of the open mountains for the miasma of the sickroom—these are the changes offered him, with what promise of pleasure and of self-respect, with what a revolution in all his hopes and terrors, none but an invalid can know.”
The invalid exchanges a sedentary, passive life for physical labor and outdoor adventure, offering a transformative sense of purpose and dignity.
Emphasizes the moral and psychological benefits of the mountain regimen.
“A glaring piece of crudity, where everything that is not white is a solecism and defies the judgment of the eyesight; a scene of blinding definition; a parade of daylight, almost scenically vulgar, more than scenically trying, and yet hearty and healthy, making the nerves to tighten and the mouth to smile: such is the winter daytime in the Alps.”
The Alpine winter landscape is harsh and visually overwhelming, with stark contrasts that defy artistic norms, yet it is invigorating and healthful.
Describes the aesthetic and sensory impact of the mountain environment.