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Hygienic Physiology

J >> Joel Dorman Steele >> Hygienic Physiology




During the operation of a Turkish bath, the novice is often astonished at
the amount of effete matter eliminated from the pores of the skin. "A
surprising quantity of scarfskin, which no washing could remove, peels
off, especially if a glove of camel's-hair or goat's-hair be used, as they
are in the East, where also the soles of the feet are scraped with pumice.
The deposit of this skin of only a week's date, when collected, is often
as large as one's fist. Much more solid matter is contained in the
perspiration of those who take the bath for the first time, or after a
long interval. Nothing escapes through the skin, save what is noxious if
retained. This bath should never be used in case of advanced lung
diseases, great debility, acute inflammations, or persons who labor under
any form of heart disease; but I think its influence is directly curative
in rheumatic, gouty, and scrofulous affections, some skin diseases, and
the earlier stages of feverish colds and ague. It is said to have calming
effects in the treatment of insanity, and the use of it was suggested from
the heavy smell the skin of persons thus afflicted often has."--MAPOTHER'S
_Lectures on Public Health_.

A somewhat heroic bath, used in Siberia to drive away a threatened fever,
consists of a thorough parboiling, within an inch or two of a steaming
furnace, after which the subject is "drubbed and flogged for about half an
hour with a bundle of birch twigs, leaf and all." A douche of cold water
is then dashed over the exhausted bather, when he is ready to be put into
bed.

_Sea Bathing_.--Before the age of seven years, and after fifty-five,
sea baths should be used with the greatest caution. All persons
unaccustomed to sea bathing should begin with a warm or tepid bath, in
doors, proceeding by degrees to the cold indoor bath, and then to the open
sea.

The sea bath should be taken, if possible, when the sun is shining, when
the water has been warmed by contact with the heated sands, and never
during the digestion of the principal meal, or late in the evening.
Immediately on plunging into the water, which need not, except in persons
of full habit, cover the head, brisk motion of some kind should be used.
Those who can swim should do so; those who can not, should make as much
exertion of the limbs as possible, or rub the body with their hands. The
delicate, and particularly those who are recovering from illness, should
remove from the bath _as soon as the glow arrives;_ or, if that be
not felt at all, then after _one_ plunge.

_Danger in Bathing when Overheated_.--It is unwise to bathe when
copious perspiration has continued for an hour or more, unless the heat of
the weather be excessive, or the sweating has been induced by loading with
clothes, rather than by exertion. When much perspiration has been produced
by muscular exercise, it is unsafe to bathe, because the body is so
fatigued and exhausted, that the reaction can not be insured, and the
effect may be to congest the internal organs, and notably the nerve
centers. The latter gives cramp. If the weather be chilly, or there be a
cold wind, so that the body may be rapidly cooled at the surface while
undressing, it is not safe to bathe. Under such conditions, the further
chill of immersion in cold water will take place at the precise moment at
which the reaction consequent upon the chill of exposure by undressing
ought to take place, and this second chill will not only delay or
altogether prevent the reaction, but will convert the bath from a mere
stimulant to a depressant, ending in the abstraction of a large amount of
animal heat and congestion of the internal organs and nerve centers. The
aim must be to avoid two chills, and to make sure that the body is in such
a condition as to secure a quick reaction on emerging from the water,
without relying too much on the possible effect of friction by rubbing.
The actual temperature of the water does not affect the question so much
as its relative temperature in comparison with that of the surrounding
air. It ought to be much lower than that of the air. These maxims receive
a striking reenforcement from the case of a young soldier who a few days
ago plunged into the river near Manchester, England, after having heated
himself by rowing. He was immediately taken with cramps, and was drowned.
When taken out, his body was found "twisted," and the vessels of his head
showed every evidence of congestion.--_Popular Science Monthly,
September, 1883_.

_Bather's Cramp_.--Cramp is a painful and tonic muscular spasm. It
may occur in any part of the body, but it is especially apt to take place
in the lower extremities, and in its milder forms it is limited to a
single muscle. The pain is severe, and the contracted muscles are hard and
exquisitely tender. In a few minutes the spasm and pain cease, leaving a
local sensation of fatigue and soreness. When cramp affects only one
extremity, no swimmer or bather endowed with average presence of mind need
drown; but when cramp seizes the whole of the voluntary muscular system,
as it probably does in the worst cases, nothing in the absence of prompt
and efficient extraneous assistance can save the individual from drowning.
[Footnote: Even this is often unavailable, as in the case of the Cornell
University postgraduate drowned in Hall Creek, Ithaca, June 10, 1888. In
this instance the day was hot and oppressive, and the victim sank soon
after entering the water. "His companions at once hastened to his relief,
and recovered his body in a few minutes. Professor Wilder, of the
University, was hurriedly summoned, and every possible method was resorted
to in order to induce respiration, but the vital spark had fled. An attack
of cramps is supposed to have been the cause of drowning."] Prolongation
of muscular exertion, as in continued swimming, and forcible and sudden
muscular exertion, as in swimming with very vigorous and rapid strokes,
are efficient and frequent causes of cramp. These muscular conditions,
however, usually give rise only to the slighter and more localized forms.
Serious cramp is a peril which menaces most persons with highly developed
muscles. Its most powerful and most avoidable cause is the sudden
immersion of the body, when its surface is highly heated, in water of a
relatively low temperature.--_Popular Science News._

_Protection of the Ear in Sea Bathing_.--Special attention should be
paid by bathers to the exclusion of salt water from the mouth and ears.
Many cases of inflammation of the ear, followed by severe and lasting
trouble, even to deafness, are chargeable to the neglect of this
precaution. Incoming waves should never be received in the face or the
ears, and the sea water which enters the ears when floating or diving
should be wiped out by soft cotton; indeed, the best plan is to plug the
openings of the ears with cotton, which is to be kept there during the
bath.--_Science_.

_How one who Knows not how to Swim can Escape Drowning_.--It is well
for every one to learn the art of swimming, yet it is a knowledge
possessed by comparatively few people. Mr. Henry MacCormac, a writer in
_Nature_, gives some common sense instructions that, if heeded, may
be of great service to those persons who, not knowing how to swim, may
find themselves accidentally precipitated into the water. We condense from
his article, adding some directions, as follows:

In order to escape drowning, it is necessary only to do as the brute does,
namely, to walk or tread the water. The brute has no advantage over man in
regard to his relative weight, and yet the man perishes while the brute
survives. The ignorance of so simple a possibility as that of treading
water strikes me as one of the most singular things in the history of man.
Perhaps something is to be ascribed to the vague meaning which is attached
to the word _Swim_. The dog is wholly incapable of _swimming_ as
a man swims, but nothing is more certain than that a man, without previous
training or instruction, can swim just as a dog swims, and that by so
doing without fear or hesitancy, he will be just as safe as is the dog.
The brute thus circumstanced continues to go on all fours, as if he were
on land, _keeping his head well out of the water_. So with the man
who wishes to save his life and can not otherwise swim. He must strike
alternately, with hand and foot,--_one, two, one, two,_--without
hurry or precipitation, exactly as the brute does. Whether he be provided
with paw or hoof, the beast swims with perfect ease and buoyancy. So, too,
can the human being, if he will, with the further immense advantage of
having a paddle-formed hand, and of being able, when tired, to rest
himself by floating, an act of which the animal has no conception. The
printed direction should be pasted up in all boathouses, on every boat, at
every bathing place, and in every school: _Tread water when you find
yourself out of your depth_. This is all that need be said, unless,
indeed, we add: _Float when you are tired_. To float, one needs only
to turn upon his back, keeping--as always when in the water--the mouth and
chin well up and the lungs full of air.--Every one of us, of whatever age
and however encumbered with clothing, may tread water, even in a breaking
sea, with as much facility as a fourfooted animal. The position of the
water treader is, really, very much safer and better than the sprawling
attitude of the ordinary swimmer. But the chief advantage lies in the fact
that we can tread water without preliminary teaching, whereas, though we
recommend all to learn how to swim, it involves time and pains, entails
considerable fatigue, and is, after all, very seldom adequately acquired.

HINTS ON CLOTHING (p. 67).--_Advantages of Woolen Fabrics_.--Wool is
more irritating than cotton, on account of the stiffness of the hairs with
which it bristles; but the excitation it produces becomes a therapeutic
means whenever the skin needs a stimulant.

The use of wool is particularly desirable in some countries and under some
conditions of life. Professor Brocchi, a writer well known for his
investigations in malaria, attributes the good health and vigor of the
ancient Romans to their habit of wearing coarse woolen clothes; when they
began to disuse them, and to wear lighter goods and silks, they became
less vigorous and less able to resist the morbid influence of bad air. It
was at about the time the women began to dress in notably fine tissues
that the insalubrity of the Roman air began first to be complained of. "In
the English army and navy," says Dr. Balestra, "the soldiers of garrisons
in unhealthy places are obliged constantly to wear wool next to the skin,
and to cover themselves with sufficient clothing, for protection against
paludine fevers, dysentery, cholera, and other diseases." According to
Patissier, similar measures have been found effectual in preserving the
health of workmen employed on dikes, canals, and ditches, in marshy lands;
while, previous to the employment of these precautions, mortality from
fevers was considerable among them.

Dr. Balestra has proved by direct experiments in marshy regions that thick
and hairy woolen garments arrest in their down a portion of the germs
borne in by the air, which thus reaches the skin filtered and purified.
The ancient Romans wore ample over-garments over their tunics, and never
put them away. It is no less important to be well covered during the
night; and precautions of this kind should be recommended to all who live
in a swampy country. We are sometimes astonished when we see the natives
of particularly warm countries enveloped in woolen, as the Arab in his
burnoose, or the Spanish peasant in his tobacco-colored cloak. Such
materials protect both against the rays of the sun and against the
coolness of the night, and are excellent regulators of heat. It is
dangerously imprudent to travel in southern countries without provision of
warm clothing.--_Revue des Deux Mondes_.

_Weight is not Warmth_.--While speaking of the warmth of clothing for
inclement weather, it would be incorrect not to speak of weight in
relation to warmth. Many persons mistake weight for warmth, and thus
feeble people are actually borne down and weakened by the excess of heavy
clothing which is piled on them. Good woolen or fur fabrics retain the
heat, and yet are light. When fabrics intended for sustaining warmth are
made up of cotton, the mistake of accepting weight for warmth is made. The
same errors are often made in respect to bed coverings, and with the same
results.

_Poisonously Dyed Clothing_.--The introduction of wearing apparel,
socks, stockings, and flannels which have been made, by new processes of
dyeing, to assume a rich red or yellow color, has led to a local disease
of the skin, attended, in rare cases, with slight constitutional symptoms.
This disease is due to the dyestuffs. The chief poisonous dyes are the red
and yellow coralline, substances derived from that series of chemical
bodies which have been obtained of late years from coal tar, and commonly
known as the aniline series.

The coloring principle is extremely active as a local poison. It induces
on the skin a reddish, slightly raised eruption of minute round pimples
which stud the reddened surface, and which, if the irritation be severe
and long-continued, pass into vesicles discharging a thin watery ichor and
producing a superficial sore. The disease is readily curable if the cause
of it be removed, and, as a general rule, it is purely local in character.
I have, however, once seen it pass beyond the local stage. A young
gentleman consulted me for what he considered was a rapidly developed
attack of erysipelas on the chest and back. He was, indeed, covered with
an intensely red rash, and he was affected with nervous symptoms, with
faintness and depression of pulse, of a singular and severe kind. I traced
both the local eruption and the general malady to the effect of the
organic dye in a red woolen chest and back "comforter." On removing the
"comforter" all the symptoms ceased. Similar and even fatal cases have
been known from the wearing of highly colored hose.

_Uncleanliness of Dress_.--Uncleanly attire creates conditions
favorable to disease. Clothing worn too long at a time becomes saturated
with the excretions and exhalations of the body, and, by preventing the
free transpiration from the surface of the skin, induces oppression of the
physical powers and mental inactivity. This observation will be accepted
by most persons as true in respect to underclothing; it is equally true in
regard to those outer garments which are often worn, unremittingly, until
the linings, torn and soiled, are unfit altogether for contact with the
cleaner garments beneath them. Health will not be clothed in dirty
raiment. They who wear such raiment suffer from trains of minor
complaints; from oppression, dullness, headache, nausea, which, though
trifling in themselves, taken one by one, when put together greatly reduce
that standard of perfect health by which the value of life is correctly
and effectively maintained.--RICHARDSON.

RESPIRATION.

THE VOCAL ORGANS.--_Musical Tones in Speaking_ (p. 76).--Voice is
divided into singing and speaking voice. One differs from the other almost
as much as noises do from musical sounds. In speaking, the sounds are too
short to be easily appreciable, and are not separated by fixed and regular
intervals, like those of singing; they are linked together, generally by
insensible transitions; they are not united by the fixed relations of the
gamut, and can only be noted with difficulty. That it is the short
duration of speaking sounds which distinguished them from those of
singing, is proved by this, that if we prolong the intonation of a
syllable, or utter it like a note, the musical sound becomes evident. So,
if we pronounce all the syllables of a phrase in the same tone, the
speaking voice closely resembles psalm singing. Every one must have
noticed this in hearing schoolboys recite or read in a monotone, and the
analogy is complete when the last two or three syllables are pronounced in
a different tone. Spoken voice is, moreover, always a chant more or less
marked, according to the individual and the sentiment which the words
express....It is related of Gretry, that he amused himself by noting as
exactly as possible the "Bonjour, monsieur!" (Good day, sir!) of the
persons who visited him; and these words expressed by their intonation, in
fact, the most opposite sentiments, in spite of the constant identity of
the literal sense.

_Speech without a Tongue_.--De Jussieu relates that he saw a girl
fifteen years old, in Lisbon, who was born without a tongue, and yet who
spoke so distinctly as not to excite in the minds of those who listened to
her the least suspicion of the absence of that organ.

The Transactions of the Royal Society of London (1742) contain an account
of a woman who had not the slightest vestige of a tongue, but who could,
notwithstanding, drink, eat, and speak as well and as distinctly as any
one, and even articulate the words in singing. Other instances have been
known where individuals, after losing a portion of the tongue by accident
or disease, have again been able to speak after a longer or shorter
period.--LE PILEUR.

_Stimulants and the Voice_.--"The Drinker's Throat" is a recognized
pathological condition, and the Germans have a popular phrase, "He drinks
his throat away." Isambert has pointed out the directly local irritant
effect of both alcohol and tobacco on the throat, and also the mode by
which these agents, on absorption into the system, re-manifest their
presence by predisposing to local pharyngeal inflammations. Dr. Krishaber
affirms: "It is generally admitted that alcoholic beverages and tobacco
irritate the mucous membrane of the throat, directly affect the voice, and
leave on it ineffaceable traces. We hold with equal certainty that tea and
coffee, although not directly affecting the voice, do so indirectly by
acting on the nervous system, and through it the vocal organs, as well as
by, some general nervous derangement not very pronounced, but great enough
to deprive the singer of the full powers and capabilities of his voice."

Dr. Mackenzie says: "The influence of the general health upon the voice is
very marked. Alcohol and tobacco should never be used. The hoarse tones of
the confirmed votary of Bacchus are due to chronic inflammation of the
lining membrane of the larynx; the originally smooth surface being
roughened and thickened by the irritation of alcohol, the vocal cords have
less freedom of movement, and their vibrations are blurred, or rather
muffled, by the unevenness of their contiguous edges."

A young American lady of marked musical gifts once asked Adelina Patti's
advice upon preparing for the stage. She found the great singer wrapped in
furs, although the weather was not severe. After hearing her visitor,
Patti replied: "Are you willing to give up _everything_ for your art?
If you wish to succeed, you must learn to eat moderately, take no
stimulants--not even tea or coffee--keep as regular hours as possible
consistent with your public appearance, and even deny yourself the luxury
of friends. When you hear of a great vocalist giving extravagant wine
suppers, you may be sure that the singer herself takes nothing. To be a
successful _artiste_ you must be married, soul and body, to your
art." Like the young man to whom Christ spake, the young woman "went away
sorrowful," and, balancing the terms, concluded to forego the contest.

ABDOMINAL RESPIRATION (p. 8l).--It has often been stated that the
respiration of woman differs from that of man, in being limited almost
entirely to the chest. In order to investigate this subject
scientifically, Dr. Mays, of Philadelphia, devised an ingenious instrument
for examining the respiration of the native Indian girls in the Lincoln
Institution. The girls had not yet been subjected to the restrictions of
civilized dress. He says:

"In all, I examined the movements of eighty-two chests, and in each case
took an abdominal and a costal tracing. The girls were partly pure and
partly mixed with white blood, and their ages ranged from between ten and
twenty years. Thus there were thirty-three full-blooded Indians, five one
fourth, thirty-five one half, and two three fourths white. _Seventy-
five_ showed a _decided abdominal_ type of breathing, three a
costal type, and three in which both were about even. _Those who showed
the costal type, or a divergence from the abdominal type, came from the
more civilized tribes_, like the Mohawks and Chippewas, and were either
_one half_ or _three fourths white_; while in _no single
instance_ did a full-blooded Indian girl possess this type of
breathing.

"From these observations it obviously follows that, so far as the Indian
is concerned, the abdominal is the original type of respiration in both
male and female, and that the costal type in the civilized female is
developed through the constricting influence of dress around the abdomen.
While these tracings were taken an incident occurred which demonstrated
that abdominal constriction could modify the movements of the thorax
during respiration. At my first visit to the institution I obtained an
exceptional costal type of respiration from a full-blooded Indian girl. At
my next visit I concluded to repeat this observation, and found that,
contrary to my instructions concerning loose clothing, etc., this girl at
my first visit had worn three tight belts around her abdomen. After these
were removed she gave the abdominal type of breathing, which is
characteristic of nearly all the Indian girls."

To us these facts are invaluable. It shows the faulty construction of
modern female dress, which restricts the motion of abdominal respiration.
It explains why, as experience has taught us, it is necessary to restore
this abdominal rhythm, by proper movements, in order permanently to cure
the affections of the lower portion of the trunk. It demonstrates
conclusively that woman's dress, to be injurious, needs only to interfere
with the proper motion of respiration, even though it exercises not the
slightest compression.--_Health Record_.

THE GERM THEORY OF DISEASE (p. 86).--_What are Disease Germs?_--
Microscopical investigation has revealed throughout Nature, in the air, in
water--especially when it contains organic matter, and even within the
bodies of persons and animals, myriads of infinitesimal active organisms
which live, multiply, and die in endless succession. These have been named
_bacteria_ (bacterium, a rod, so called from the general rod shape
first observed), and also _microbes_ (microbe, a small living
object). Some investigators apply the latter term as a general one,
limiting the former to such microbes as are believed to be special disease
producers. The "Germ Theory" teaches that the seeds or _spores_ of
bacteria, floating in the air we breathe or in the water we drink, are
taken into our bodies where, under conditions favorable to their growth,
they develop, multiply, and, each after its own species, produce
distinctive evil results.--Thus, according to this theory, there are
special varieties of microbes that cause, respectively, diphtheria,
erysipelas, scarlatina, cholera, etc.--One of the most common microbes in
nature is the bacterium of putrefaction, found everywhere in decaying
organic matter. [Footnote: This is the microbe found in impure water. If
we take half a glass of spring or river water, and leave it uncovered for
a few days, we shall observe upon it a thin coating of what appears to be
a fine dust. Place, now, a drop of this dusty water under a cover glass,
and examine it under a microscope with a magnifying power of about five
hundred diameters. The revelation is astonishing. "The whole field of the
microscope is in motion; hundreds of bacteria, resembling minute
transparent worms, are swimming in every direction with an undulatory
motion like that of an eel or snake. Some are detached, others united in
pairs, others in chains or chaplets or cylindrical rods....All these forms
represent the different transformations of _Bacterium termo_, or the
microbe of putrefaction. Those which are dead appear as small, rigid, and
immovable rods."--TROUESSART.]

By the species of microbes called ferments all fermented liquors are
artificially produced (see p. 132); these also cause the "rising" of
bread.--These wonderful little existences are thus made to perform an
important part in the economy of Nature. "Nourished at the expense of
putrefying organic matter, they reduce its complex constituents into
soluble mineral substances, which they return to the soil to serve afresh
for the nourishment of similar plants. Thus they clear the surface of the
earth from dead bodies and fecal matter, and from all the useless
substances which are the refuse of life; and thus they unite animals and
plants in an endless chain."--TROUESSART.

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