Sevastopol

SEVASTOPOL as a therapeutic location gained particularly wide fame and began to attract patients starting in 1914, when the Clinical Institute of Physical Methods of Treatment was opened here at the initiative of Professor A. E. Shcherbak. In 1921, the Institute was recognized as having national importance and was named after I. M. Sechenov. The resort factors of S. and its surroundings are: climate, sea air, sea bathing, brine, mud, and grape therapy. The climate of S. is warm coastal, of moderate humidity. Average air temperature: winter +3.1°C, spring +10.2°C, summer +22.3°C, autumn +13.5°C. Relative humidity 60-65%. The amount of precipitation is small—from 325 to 350 mm per year. Spring usually begins in mid-February. Hot summer begins in May, however, thanks to breezes, the open and forestless S. is well ventilated with fresh and clean air, and even on hot days, neither heat nor stuffiness is felt. The best time of year is autumn—warm, even, and dry, resembling August in the central regions. In S. and its surroundings, aero- and heliotherapy are widely applied, as well as sea bathing, especially in the surrounding areas where there are good beaches. Sea bathing begins from mid-July and continues until the end of October. A great convenience of Sevastopol bathing is that it is at the boulevard, in a closed bay, which is why waves are very rare; water temperature during the day fluctuates only within the range of 0.50°C to 1.0°C. In S., kil (syn. keffekelit, mylyanka) is very common—a gray clay (magnesium aluminosilicate), which with water forms a plastic dough, and with a large amount of water—a colloidal emulsion that quickly washes dirt and fat from the body and hair. According to observations of local physicians, kil proved useful in many chronic skin diseases: ichthyosis, prurigo, dry eczema, etc. The Sechenov Institute, in addition to its therapeutic work, conducts scientific research on the application of physical methods of treatment in the southern climate in combination with special resort factors. In terms of its size, equipment, volume, and nature of scientific work, it is the largest physiotherapy institute in the USSR and one of the best in Europe. Built in the 'Renaissance' style from white Inkerman stone, it is located in the central part of the city right on the shore of the Black Sea, next to the biological station of the Academy of Sciences. The Institute has the following well-equipped departments and institutions: balneological, mud therapy, hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, photo-thermotherapy, radioemanatorium, a site for sun and air baths, inhalatorium, mechanotherapy department, manual massage department, and X-ray room, chemical-bacteriological laboratory. For conducting scientific work, there are special laboratories equipped with the latest instruments for physiological, physical, biochemical, and pathohistological research, a vivarium, facilities for photo and cinema filming, a library-reading room and a museum. The Institute also conducts scientific-pedagogical work, organizing regular courses on physiotherapy for doctors and middle medical personnel, mainly from the resorts of Crimea, as assigned by the People's Commissariat of Health. At the Institute there is a clinic with 40 beds and a Stalin sanatorium with 300 beds. The Institute operates year-round and serves, in addition to inpatients, a large number of outpatients. For treatment in S., the following are indicated: diseases of joints, bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments; gynecological diseases; diseases of the nervous system, organs of blood and lymph circulation, respiratory organs of non-tuberculous nature, metabolic diseases, diseases of the digestive tract, urinary organs, endocrine apparatus, consequences of gonorrhea and syphilis, diseases of the ear, throat and nose, eye diseases. Patients coming for treatment to the Institute, in addition to the aforementioned sanatorium and clinic, are accommodated in hotels, rest houses and private apartments in S. and its surroundings. S. is also a transit point for the main mass of patients and vacationers arriving from the north, heading to the sanatoriums and health resorts of the Southern coast of Crimea both by sea and along the Sevastopol-Yalta highway. S. is a very picturesque and historically interesting city. From the surroundings of S., the most interesting are: Balaklava—a seaside climatic station, 16 km from S.; Chersonese—3 km from S. on the shore of Quarantine Bay; ruins of an ancient city and an archaeological museum; St. George's Monastery—13 km from S., a seaside climatic station; Omega—a dacha settlement 87 km from S. with a good sandy beach and a salty mud lake; Pesochaya Bay—37 km from S. with a convenient sandy beach for bathing; Uchkuyevka, on the northern side of Sevastopol Bay, 3 km from the city—a narrow pebble beach; Lyubimovka—a beach near the new settlement, 6 km from the city on the northern side; Batiliman—a climatic station beyond Cape Aya, closer to Baidary.

L. Goldfayl.