372 THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



Analysis of Articles of Food in their Natural State. 



CLEANLINESS. 



To keep the body in a cleanly condition is 

 the third important requisite for health. This 

 becomes necessary in consequence of a very 

 important process which is constantly going on 

 near and upon the surface of the body. 



The process in question is that of perspira- 

 tion. The matter here concerned is a watery 

 secretion produced by glands near the surface 

 of the body, and sent up through the skin by 

 channels imperceptibly minute and wonderfully 

 numerous. From one to two pounds of this 

 secretion is believed to exude through these 

 channels, or pores, in the course of twenty-four 

 hours, being, in fact, the chief form taken by 

 what is called the waste of the system, the re- 

 mainder passing off by the bowels, kidneys, 

 and lungs. To promote the egress of this 

 fluid is of great consequence to health ; for, 

 when it is suppressed, disease is apt to fall 

 upon some of the other organs concerned in 

 the discharge of waste. 



One of the most notable checks which per- 

 spiration experiences is that produced by a 

 current of cold air upon the skin, in which 

 case the pores instantly contract and close, 

 and the individual is seized with some ailment 

 either in one or the other of the organs of waste 

 whichever is in him the weakest, or in the in- 

 ternal lining of some part of the body, all of 

 which is sympathetic with the condition of the 

 skin. A result of the nature of that last 

 described is usually recognized as a cold or 

 catarrh. We are not at present called on par- 

 ticularly to notice such effects of checked per- 

 ! spiration, but others of a less immediately 

 hurtful or dangerous nature. 



The fluid alluded to is composed, besides 

 water, of certain salts and animal matters, 

 which, being solid, do not pass away in vapor, 

 as does the watery part of the compound, but 

 rest on the surface where they have been dis- 

 charged. There, if not removed by some arti- 

 ficial means, they form a layer of hard stuff, 



