HOME HYGIENE. 



357 



upward. Dr. Forbes has given a more com- 

 plicated division, viz., cold, cool, temperate, 

 tepid, warm, and hot ; it is evident that such 

 divisions are purely arbitrary, and can easily be 

 multiplied until there are as many divisions as 

 there are degrees upon the scale. The four di- 

 visions first named will be found to answer 

 every practical purpose, since in reality all 

 baths are relatively cold or hot according to 

 the sensations of the bather, if he be in health ; 

 but even in health there is considerable varia- 

 tion in the temperature of the skin, and a still 

 greater range in disease. A bath the water of 

 which is 22 below the temperature of the skin 

 may fairly be considered a cold bath, although 

 as high as 75 Fahr. The cold baths used by 

 the Romans were not usually of a very low 

 temperature, as appears from Vitruvius, the 

 " chill " being taken off by the fires beneath 

 the bath-room. 



The first effect of a plunge into a cold bath 

 is that of a shock to the system ; the skin hard- 

 ens and contracts, and the minute blood-vessels, 

 being compressed, are diminished in size ; to 

 this stage succeeds that of reaction, a stimu- 

 lant impression upon the cutaneous nerves the 

 blood-vessels again dilate, a general glow ap- 

 pears upon the surface of the body, and this 

 reaction continues for a longer or shorter pe- 

 riod, according to the degree of temperature 

 of the water in which the body was im- 

 mersed. If the immersion be long-continued, 

 and the stage of reaction passed, a general 

 feeling of chilliness comes on, the lips become 

 blue, the teeth may chatter, and the skin 

 again contracts, leaving little hillocks around 

 the point of insertion of the hairs. This ap- 

 pearance is commonly known as "goose-flesh." 



Sea-bathing is a cold bath in mineral waters ; 

 it differs from the ordinary cold bath only in 

 being more stimulant; the "shock" and the 

 " reaction " are each more distinct than in a 

 cold fresh-water bath. In surf -bathing there 

 is a mechanical force added by the action of 

 the waves, which still heightens the shock and 

 the reaction. 



A certain amount of exercise, as preliminary 

 to a cold bath in fresh or salt water, is benefi- 

 cial ; in fact, if the heat of the body be great at 

 the time of the plunge, the shock will be less 

 marked and the reaction will be more lasting. 

 The practice of waiting to "cool off" before 

 taking the plunge in the sea is a bad one, and 

 founded neither on experience nor reason. 

 The ancients always used the cold bath imme- 

 diately after coming from the hot, as a means 

 of contracting the open pores, and preventing 

 the bather from taking cold. 



Delicate persons, invalids, and children under 

 ten years of age, should not use the cold bath 

 except by advice of a physician, and no bath 

 should be taken immediately after a full rneal, 

 nor should it be prolonged. It may be added 

 that, immediately upon quitting the bath, the 

 skin should be rubbed with a towel until a 

 ruddy, healthful glow is produced, and the bath 



can not be refreshing unless this shall have been 

 accomplished. Persons taking sea-baths should 

 be guided by this rule, and the not uncommon 

 habit of taking repeated baths within a few 

 hours of each other, or that of spending the 

 interval between the rapidly recurring baths 

 in wet garments, can not be too pointedly con- 

 demned. Nature has shown her abhorrence 

 of such practices, as is well attested by the 

 blue lips, the shivering, and the bleached ap- 

 pearance of those following them. 



The shower-bath, when used with cold water, 

 is objectionable, and should only be taken in 

 accordance with the advice of a physician. 



Warm baths, as may be inferred from the 

 statements made concerning cold baths, are at 

 first stimulating and then relaxing in their ten- 

 dency. They have been employed from time 

 immemorial as a means of refreshing the body 

 after fatigue, as well as for the power of solution 

 of the various substances obtaining a lodgment 

 on the skin, which power is greater in hot 

 than in cold water. The oily secretion usually 

 present on the skin is almost insoluble in cold 

 water, but soluble in hot water. The debris 

 of the epidermis, the saline products from the 

 evaporation of the perspiration, and the impuri- 

 ties collected from without the body, are more 

 easily removed. Invalids and delicate persons 

 can bathe in warm or tepid water without injury, 

 providing the skin be sponged with cold water 

 immediately afterward, and then rubbed with 

 the towel. Fleshy persons can reduce much of 

 their superfluous weight by the protracted use 

 of the warm bath, and it follows that persons 

 naturally thin should not remain long in the 

 water, but that their bath should be limited to 

 that necessary for cleanliness. It should be re- 

 membered that thousands live without the 

 bath, and to all appearance are reasonably 

 healthy, and that, however valuable it may be 

 as a factor in the problem of how to live long 

 and comfortably, it is not an absolutely indis- 

 pensable one. 



Whatever form of bath be used, it is proper 

 that it should be followed by the application of 

 a warm oil. It is difficult to give a satisfactory 

 reason why this practice should have been 

 omitted after having been used by all nations 

 for countless ages. The particular oil to be 

 used may be according to individual preference, 

 but olive-oil, which can easily be perfumed, 

 would appear to be the least objectionable. 



In the use of soap there is great danger of 

 obtaining soap manufactured from diseased ani- 

 mal fat on the one hand, or of being so strongly 

 alkaline as to affect the epidermis on the other. 

 These difficulties are best avoided by the selec- 

 tion of soap made from olive-oil, the white cas- 

 tile soap being taken as the type. The con- 

 struction of the bath-room and its appliances 

 will be discussed under the head CONSTRUC- 

 TION OF DWELLINGS. 



CONSTRUCTION OF DWELLINGS. 1. Selection 

 of a Site. The selection of a healthful site for 

 the building of a city has been deemed of the 



