Harriet Wheelock / Wednesday 20 January 2016 The Health Resort of Davos This week the annual World Economic Forum is being held in the small town of Davos, high up in the beautiful Swiss Alps. But, did you know in the 19th Century that Davos was a famous health resort recommended by physicians? 168 years ago, the German physician Alexander Spengler arrived in Davos and, unintentionally, initiated the rise of Davos as an internationally health resort, holiday and conference town. It was all thanks to his discovery of the healing Davos air. Spengler quickly noticed that the village residents of Davos were extremely healthy and never suffered from tuberculosis (TB). Spengler speculated that the high mountain climate was responsible for the absence of consumption and published these findings to the medical community worldwide. Because of this, Davos gained a reputation for being the place to ‘cure’ TB, with the first Davos hostel opened to welcome recuperating guests in 1860. Spengler established a health spa for TB sufferers, which primarily consisted of sleeping on the Terraces in the open air, or in a cow barn with drinking Veltliner wine! This method promoted healing, with patients from around the world travelled to Davos for its unconventional healing methods. One famous patient was the author Robert Louis Stevenson, who stayed while recovering from TB. Here in the Heritage Centre we have two nineteenth century books hailing Davos as a health resort, written by visitors to the town. Both books were donated to RCPI by Fellows of the College: Davos as a Health Resort, written in 1906 by several doctors, was presented to our library by the family of Sir Hawtrey Benson. This book has some beautiful colour illustrations of the local fauna, the scenery of Davos, and the construction of the town. The second book, Davos-Platz, was donated by Dr Thomas Wrigley Grimshaw, the Registrar General for Ireland. It’s our earliest book on Davos, written in 1878, the author, Mrs. Elizabeth MacMorland, who appears to have been a former patient, mentioned in her book that 'when in a critical state of health, we were led by accident to the Alpine Valley'. The book describes how to treat patients using the mountain air, the highlights of Davos and the geography of the area. It also includes chapters on how to send patients to Davos without spreading sickness to others while travelling, and the prices of the journey to the town, by horse and carriage. If you want to find out more about these, or other items, in our collections contact us at heritagecentre@rcpi.ie. Ruth McCann Library Intern