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HOME HYGIENE. 



the careful regulation of diet, the relaxation 

 from business, and change of scene. 



Free public baths are not as common either 

 in Europe or America as they should be. In 

 the city of New York there are only eight ; in 

 Brooklyn three ; in Philadelphia two ; in Bos- 

 ton twenty. There are none in Baltimore, 

 New Orleans, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, 

 or San Francisco. These baths are floating 

 baths for men and boys in one compartment, 

 and for women and girls in the other ; they 

 are usually moored near some of the public 

 docks ; in Boston they are near _the bridges, 

 which are numerous in that city ; in any event, 

 they are necessarily near one or more of the 

 sewer outlets. When intercepting sewers shall 

 have been established for the better purifica- 

 tion of our great harbors, this disadvantage 

 will be obviated. It has been alleged, not 

 without a show of reason, that the absorption 

 of sewage matters, by reason of the immersion 

 of the body in the waters of our harbors, was 

 itself more harmful than the uncleanliness of 

 the bather ; but this is certainly an exaggera- 

 tion ; and, moreover, absorption by the skin is 

 very slow, and the great reduction of the tem- 

 perature of the body consequent upon the 

 saline bath compensates in some measure for 

 the evil. It is not, however, irremediable. 

 Mr. Charles Slagg, C. E., of England, has pro- 

 posed a very ingenious scheme for providing 

 filtered- water swimming-baths in impure riv- 

 ers. He proposes to place floating baths in the 

 current of a river, "and by means of tide- 

 wheels to utilize the motive power of the cur- 

 rent to pump water into the bath from a well 

 into which the river- water enters through a 

 filter in the bottom of the vessel." This 

 scheme is doubtless practicable, but has not 

 been tried in this country, and the writer has 

 seen no account of its having been tried else- 

 where. The public baths have not as yet been 

 heated, nor have any been constructed except 

 floating baths. Dr. Bell suggested some years 

 ago that large manufacturing establishments 

 could easily furnish the necessary facilities for 

 heating the water for public baths. He esti- 

 .nated that the waste water of a five hundred 

 horse-power steam-engine would be sufficient 

 to " furnish baths for twenty-six hundred per- 

 sons daily, at an average temperature of TO to 

 Y5 Fahr." It is not probable that this plan 

 could be made available. Since the city as- 

 sumes the responsibility of providing free pub- 

 lic baths at all, it would seem eminently proper 

 that it should provide them with the necessary 

 appliances for accomplishing their intended 

 purpose. The furnishing of a suitable tank, 

 and a steam-boiler for hot water, would not 

 appear to present an insuperable obstacle. The 

 greatest difficulty consists in obtaining the ne- 

 cessary appropriation from the city treasury. 



Without special discussion of the physiology 

 of the human skin, or particular mention ot 

 the details of its anatomy, it may be stated 

 that all living animals cast off and renew their 



cutaneous appendages in some way. Reptiles 

 cast off the entire skin each year, quadrupeds 

 shed their hair and portions of their epidermis, 

 the " molting " process is more or less con- 

 stant in birds, crustaceans cast off their shells 

 in whole or in part, according to species, and 

 fishes their scales. The epidermis of man, al- 

 though more gradually thrown off, is yet as 

 constantly undergoing that process. The blood 

 circulating through the skin is cooled by indi- 

 rect contact with the air, and it parts with cer- 

 tain of its salts and water by means of the 

 sweat-glands, with which it is numerously sup- 

 plied ; if, then, from any cause the sweat-ducts 

 (pores) become obstructed, a local sore or a 

 general disease is the result: a local sore if but 

 few are obstructed, and general disease in ex- 

 act and definite proportion to the number of 

 glands involved. Numerous experiments have 

 been made by physiologists tending to show 

 the effect of closure of the sweat-ducts upon 

 lower animals, by covering the skin with an 

 impermeable coating, and death was the invari- 

 able result, the duration of life after the coat- 

 ing only varying according to the thorough- 

 ness of the application. Dr. Flint quotes from 

 Laschkewitch the case of a child who was 

 covered with gold-leaf in order to represent an 

 angel in the ceremonies attending the corona- 

 tion of Pope Leo X. This child died a few 

 hours after the coating had been applied. The 

 effect of the closure of a smaller number of 

 sweat-ducts is, as before stated, to produce a 

 local sore, which is manifested in the form of 

 a cutaneous eruption. It follows, then, that 

 the application of water has a general tendency 

 to assist the natural process of throwing off the 

 epidermis, and. by dissolving and carrying off 

 the perspiration, assists in keeping open the 

 pores of the body, which, although not the only 

 drains, are yet highly important ones. So in 

 all ages its use has been accounted a great 

 benefit. There are, however, thousands of hu- 

 man beings who do not bathe, except, perhaps, 

 the hands and face ; such persons are usually 

 of the laboring-classes, whose perspiration is 

 very free, sufficient in quantity to enforce its 

 passage through the ducts, and prevent obstruc- 

 tion. In towns and villages throughout the 

 United States not furnished with a general 

 water-supply, bath-rooms are the exception, 

 and in winter the only bath taken is a sponge 

 or towel bath. In summer the male inhabi- 

 tants of such villages usually seek the nearest 

 lake or watercourse. 



Baths are divided first, according to the me- 

 dium employed, as air, vapor, sand, mud, or 

 chemicals, etc. ; second, a subdivision of the 

 media ; but, as the water-bath only is within 

 the scope of this article, the first need not en- 

 gage our attention. Water-baths are classed 

 as plunge-baths, foot-baths, hip-baths, shower- 

 baths, and sponge-baths ; they are divided into 

 cold baths, 42 to 70 Fahr. ; tepid baths, from 

 72 to 82 Fahr. ; warm baths, from 83 to 98 

 Fahr. ; hot baths, from 99 to 112 Fahr. and 



