A Box From An Old Singer
The Hammam Selama & Icilma Water
by mystery-thriller author Mark David, imaginator of The Elements
You can sign up for the occasional Elements newsletter, follow Mark David on Twitter @authorMarkDavid. You can read more about his fiction on The Elements homepage or here on medium.
Once I came across a corner shop. It was the kind of corner shop built in another century with the kind of steps descending to dusty basements, basements full of cobwebs — and much, much more. Junk, some people might call it. Bric-a-brac, others. Artifacts of fading ages, I could be tempted to say. In this instance being an old Singer sewing machine, in perfect condition.
Atherton cleared his throat. ‘I’m not sure how you are going to take this all in. I will do my best. Soap, Adam.’
The sewing machine itself, such a wonderful piece of Victorian-age engineering was removed and dispatched to the junk yard. Such a stupid thing to do. It was a beautiful object and I bitterly regret I did so. Yes, the wisdom of years and I hate myself for doing that, being a glorious relic of human endeavor, of the kind that gave birth to nations if one thinks of The Mahatma.
You see, it wasn’t the sewing machine I wanted, but the cast-iron stand. This was something that could be useful, I could make something out of it. Now, that cast iron stand is in the garden, and twenty years later I still haven’t been put to any use at all, still waiting for the day when it will be made into a table…
So the Singer sewing machine, anno world war 1, has long since been trashed. What I am left with is this box, used to contain all the threads and needles in a little drawer at the base of the machine. Now, this little box lay for many years dormant in a box in my office, being a piece of history mostly forgotten. It was pretty. It was my precious and I coveted it for the shape, the size, the style of writing upon and light shone forth… you get the picture.
‘This soap box is all that is left of Cornelius Lindhardt.’
On the front it said, Natures secret, Icilma Soap, purest and silkiest, with ‘Paris 1900’ and the words Hygiène and Beauté at the bottom.
In the top left corner there was a little sign badge surrounding the uses for the soap; sea bathing, nursery, chilbins and gout. Adam didn’t have the faintest idea what Chilbins were.
162 ALGERIA AND TUNISIA.
HAMMAM SELAMA (Near Oran.)
Two hours by train from Oran on the Oran-Arzeu-Sa’ida Railway, and at 21/2 miles from the station of Port — aux — Poules (55 kilom.), much frequented in summer, are the baths of Selama, overlooking the Mediterranean. The “ spring “ was discovered when boring for petroleum at a depth of 900 feet, and the pressure at the mouth of the well is equal to 80 s.p. on the steam gauge. The water is highly mineralised, warm, and beautifully clear ; the carbonic acid gas mixed with it causes it to rise in a sparkling jet of 12 to 40 feet above the ground.
Then came the day when I wondered more about it. What was this box, actually? Okay, it said soap. I never read all the text on the box, but it had something to do with Icilma, a word I had never heard before. It was a nice word and light shone forth from that too, just hear it: ICILMA.
Now, the story this little box has generated is wonderful. Because it reinvents something lost to us. Icilma was the name of the water coming from the spring he hit upon in Algeria, when Englishman Stephen Armitage drilled for petroleum in Algeria in 1898 using a rig imported from Canada.
‘No explanation, no leads. We have no idea how he came by it and where it came. Or, if it belonged to Eddie at all.’ Adam said.
The water has been proved to be very beneficial for gout, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema, throat, kidney, stomach, and intestine troubles. Attached to the baths is a small hotel, very comfortable, and quiet. Pension terms, 10 f. a day, and no extras.
The place where the water came from, was named the Hammam Selama, close to the shore of the Mediteranean, to the small ex-Roman town of Portus Paulus, then named Portes-aux-Poules. And so I set to searching the web, looking for more information on this unusual, fascinating, and I am totally sure, absolutely forgotten little corner of history. It was my box, my precious, and it was becoming even more so by the year.
So I discovered that Icilma the water, was a product of a certain specific thermal spring in Algeria near Portes-aux-Poules:
From the Geological Survey, professional paper, vols 494–494
Many noted thermal springs in Algeria. Several were developed as bathing places during Roman times, and they are still well-patronized resorts. According to Hanriot (ref. 2455), there are 77 groups of mineral springs in Algeria; of these, 64 are classed as thermal.
There are several groups of thermal springs in the mountainous belt that crosses northern Tunisia. The most accessible of these springs were developed in ancient times as bathing resorts and have been in nearly continual use down to the present. Another region of thermal springs is in south-central part of Tunisia, where numerous springs, both thermal and of noral especially by Shat-el-Jerid.
The spring at Hammam Selama is shown in the map above, nr. 12. Just south of the town called back then, Portes-aux-Poules. The town today on the waterfront is all but gone, swallowed by Mers El Hadjdadj near Oran. What I have now, is a reconstructed past, part of a fictive world, recreating in my imagination.
I am still in the process of writing a series of books — fiction, unpublished as yet, involving timelines from the 20th century and here, I senses the possibility of creating something so unique, since it was a rediscovery of a past we wouldn’t even know today. So I went to work. Taking the small box, I invented a historical story out of it, the Hammam Selama becoming a fictive reality, becoming in the process more exuberant, yet capturing the spirit of another age, inhabiting it with characters, deeds and mysteries which is another story. Suffice to say, that this little box was working wonders in my mind. All because of an old Singer in a dingy basement someone wanted to get rid of.
Atherton stood up and walking around to the far side of the room reached up towards a small round metal ring and pulled, a map of Europe, Africa and Asia pulled down before him. He pulled it taught until could he heard a slight click, the released the ring, the map staying in place. He tapped a little to left of the middle of the North African coastline.
‘Algeria. The box is for Icilma soap. It might have something to do with an Englishman who set up shop at some old thermal well in Algeria, near the coast.’ He looked across at Adam with a slightly bemused expression upon that otherwise stern countenency. ‘Icilma is a company based on a spring, here.’ He pointed to a little spot on the map. ‘Just South of a small backwater port called Port-aux-Poules back then. Armitage is the man. Now Eddie was stationed in Jerusalem during the first world war.’ He nodded at the question planted in Adams eyes. ‘Yes, he goes back that far.’ He glanced down at the box. ‘It’s an old box.’ He turned back to the map again. ‘I know this isn’t the sort of thing you usually deal with Johnston…’
Adam didn’t know what to say. This most certainly was not the thing he usually had to deal with. Soap and water.
So I needed a figure from the past, a central figure, a reconstruction of the real man who discovered Icilma sufficing:
Stephen Armitage
In 1894 the news had spread that an Englishman, named Stephen Armitage an oil prospector , had obtained an exploration license in the swamps of Macta. He worked on behalf of a British company and had used a powerful Canadian probe to drill Hammam Selama, five miles south of Port-aux-Poules, at lakeside Mouila. Here, bubbling water had attracted his attention. They were dying earth by blisters and hot bubbles that smelled of sulfur. He discovered that historically, the people of Douar Hassasna came to heal their wounds and boils.
The Nursing Record and Hospital World. March 9, 1901:
ICILMA. We have pleasure in directing attention to the Icilma Preparations, which being prepared from an oxygenised natural water are both safe, and delicious adjuncts of the toilet table. Icilma treats bruises, mosquito and gnat bites, nettlerash, and all irritations to the skin. It is sold in shilling bottles, or, daintily scented, at 2s. It has stood the test of examination at Somerset house, and, as a natural mineral water is exempt from the Patent Medicine Stamp. Icilma Soap is made with this water, and we find it delicious in use.
Nurses should acquaint themselves with this valuable water, as the toilet accessories prepared with it never clog the pores of the skin, but by softening it help help to preserve the natural bloom, it’s cleansing properties dissolve impurities, and give transparency, while it is astringent and antiseptic. Icilma can be obtained from all chemists.
Stephen Armitage drilled 240 meters deep, and a powerful jet of 25 meters had sprung at 38 °hot. The reputation of the water steam at Selama we said to be miraculous — a word that spread quickly West to Oran. It was claimed it cured skin conditions, inflammation of want it relieved those suffering from rheumatism. Patients flocked from all the villages, venomous insect bites, abrasions that do not healed, for dental decay. The wounded thought that thanks to the reducing power of sulfur, the waters would even accelerate the healing of dislocations or their fractures.
The British Journal of Nursing of August 19, 1905:
One of the minor evils in life, but a very real one is irritation to the skin. To this statement we feel sure that all nurses who reside in the tropics or suffer or who suffered from prickly heat will readily subscribe. If we desire, therefore, to direct the attention of our readers to the properties of Icilma water, a natural African Spring water, which displays remarkable tonic and cleansing properties, and which has the advantage of being non-poisonous. (Blended with beautifying water from the Hammam Selama in Algeria). Not far from Tunis close to the meditteranean coast.
A shrewd businessman, Stephen Armitage at once considered running a spa. He constructed wooden buildings, channelled water. In 1896 he installed bathtubs. He planned to build a hotel. All are encouraged affluence due to the presence of other spas in the area at Hammam Bou Bou Hajar and Hanifia. His efforts were rewarded with recalibration of the railway to Mostaganem, improving comfort and the easier movement of travelers: Tourism was born at Porte-aux-Poules because of the spring Stephen Armitage had discovered at Selama, the water of which he named Icilma.
Icilma
Icilma the name went on to be developed into a whole cosmetics industry across the world, soaps, creams, powder shampoo even, until it faded from existence.
He founded the Icilma Company Ltd in 1898 and based its original lotions, soaps and creams around the inclusion of the mineral water from the springs. As early as 1907 he began selling what we would recognize as a dry shampoo, but which he marketed as ‘hair powder’. He built the Icilma brand through careful marketing. Starting with British doctors selling the idea to nurses.
Point of sale and advertising materials from the 1930's onwards show that Icilma hair powder was sold in sachets, but was otherwise used in a similar way to today’s products – the powder was sprayed on, left for a few minutes, and then brushed out with a stiff brush.
Dry shampoo recently hit the Inside Unilever News Centre as nine Unilever brands are preparing to launch their version of the product by the end of 2012. Dry shampoos work by spraying an ultra-fine powder onto the roots of the hair, which absorbs excess oil and can be brushed out to leave hair refreshed between washes. As the News Centre reported, this is also good news for the environment because it dramatically reduces the amount of water that individuals use. The products, therefore appealed to the day’s consumers, who have busy lifestyles and are sustainability conscious. A cataloguing project taking place in the Archives has found that one Unilever brand was decades ahead of its time.
The quirky cartoon press advertisements show the many benefits that dry shampoo had for 1930's and 40's women – it was quick, convenient, saved women having their permanent waves re-set, and allowed them to accept last minute invitations without needing to be concerned about their appearance.
Icilma was bought by Lever Brothers in 1922 and was one of the companies that were subject to rationalization, as several toiletry manufacturers were owned by Lever Brothers. In 1939 Icilma’s sales team was merged with that of A and F Pears; then in 1953, after the withdrawal of the cosmetics lines, was transferred to Pepsodent. Sadly, declining sales of Icilma shampoo, vanishing cream and tinted foundation cream meant that the business was gradually wound down in the 1950s and in 1966 the Icilma line was discontinued.
As the advertisements show, Icilma had become a household brand, thanks to a British oil man with a nose for business in Algeria. And the box lives on, as an element in an expanding story universe, thanks to a walk in the back streets, in a new universe full of other things in pockets.
‘The dirtiest campaign of the entire miserable episode in human affairs we call the cold war, started with soap… and water.’ Then something extraordinary happened. It happened taking Adam by complete surprise, totally unprepared. Richard Atherton turned around, his face set in the mask of mediocrity.
And then he started to laugh.
by mystery-thriller author Mark David, imaginator of The Elements
You can sign up for the occasional Elements newsletter, follow Mark David on Twitter @authorMarkDavid. You can read more about his fiction on The Elements homepage or here on medium.
