THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPEDIA. 



At all periods of life it is most desirable to avoid exposure to veiy low 

 temperatures, especially for any considerable length of time. To sit long 

 in cold school-rooms, or work-rooms, with the whole body, and especially 

 the feet, in a chilled condition, is very unfavourable to the health of 

 young people. 



Clothing should be in proportion to the temperature of the climate and 

 the season of the year ; and where there are such abrupt transitions from 

 heat to cold as in our country, it is not safe ever to go very thinly clad, 

 as we may in that case be exposed to a sudden chill before we can effect 

 the proper change of dress. Very fatal effects often result to ladies from 

 incautiously stepping out of heated rooms in the imperfect clothing which 

 they ludicrously style full-dress ; all such injuries might be avoided by 

 putting on a sufficiency of shawls, and allowing themselves a little time 

 in the lobby to cool. The under-clothing in this country should be in- 

 variably of flannel, which is remarkably well calculated to preserve uni- 

 formity of temperature, as well as to produce a healthy irritation in the 

 skin. 



Wet clothes applied to any part of the body, when it is in an inactive 

 state, have an instantaneous effect in reducing the temperature, this being 

 an unavoidable effect of the process of evaporation which then takes 

 place. Hence it is extremely dangerous to sit upon damp ground, or to 

 remain at rest a single minute with wetted feet, or any other part 

 of the body invested in damp garments. Dampness in the house in 

 which we live has the same effect, and is equally dangerous. The 

 chill produced by evaporation from the wetted surface checks the 

 perspiration, and sends the blood inward to the vital parts, where it 

 tends to produce inflammatory disease. 



GENEKAL OBSEKVATTONS, 



The fundamental principle of all efforts to improve and preserve health 

 has been thus stated: "Man, as an organized being, is subject to organic 

 laws, as much as the inanimate bodies which surround him are to laws 

 mechanical and chemical ; and we can as little escape the consequences of 

 neglect or violation of those natural laws, which affect organic life through 

 the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the exercise we take, as a stone 

 projected from the hand, or a shot from the mouth of a cannon, can place 

 itself beyond the bounds of gravitation." It may be added, that " all 

 human science, all the arts of civilized man, consist of discoveries made 

 by us of the laws impressed upon nature by the Author of the universe,, 



