DOMESTIC ECONOMY, HYGIENE, DIETETICS. 



413 



same hair can be made over several times, and 

 so made to do many years' service. Straw 

 mattresses are seldom used except for putting 

 under hair or feather beds ; where used for a 

 top mattress, the straw is generally mixed with 

 moss or cotton. For the cheaper kinds of beds 

 the material called " excelsior " is superior to 

 any other. 



Spring's add greatly to the comfort of a bed, 

 and they can be had now in any style and at 

 almost any price. Their cost is but little more 

 than that of an under mattress, which can then 

 be dispensed with. But the ' ' spring mattress ' ' 

 should never be used ; it almost inevitably 

 becomes the harbor of bedbugs and other ver- 

 min which cannot be got at without destroy- 

 ing the mattress. The " woven-wire mattress, " 

 a recent invention, is probably the most perfect 

 apparatus of the kind ever devised, and though 

 expensive, will stand many years of ordinary 

 use. The only objection to it we have heard 

 is that when used long by heavy people it is 

 liable to " sag." 



Pillows are seldom made of any other 

 material than feathers, though hair, sponge, 

 or chipped cork is occasionally used. Feather 

 pillows should never be stuffed very full, as 

 this gives them a hardness and inelasticity 

 which is peculiarly disagreeable and also in- 

 jurious. In Buying them it is best to choose 

 the feathers first and have them made up to 

 suit ; select goose or chicken feathers of the 

 softest and most downy kind. Hair pillows 

 are cooler than feather, though not so soft 

 and yielding. They are recommended for per- 

 sons with a tendency to fullness in the head, 

 and for all young children. It is necessary to 

 make them lower than those made of feathers. 

 An excellent pillow for invalids or feeble per- 

 sons is sold at the drug stores in the shape 

 of an india-rubber sack, which can be inflated 

 with air to any desired degree of flexibility. 



Sheets were formerly almost universally 

 made of linen, but experience has proved that 

 cotton is much better. Linen in any shape, 

 when brought into contact with the skin, con- 

 ducts away the heat of the body very rapidly. 

 In winter in our climate linen sheets are 

 scarcely endurable on account of their cold- 

 ness ; and, being comparatively impervious to 

 air, and therefore confining perspiration, are 

 inferior at all times to cotton. 



The best material for sheets is ' ' Russian 

 sheeting " ; it will last twice as long as any 

 other, and though .yellow at first, will soon 

 bleach. It is a mistake to make sheets exactly 

 to fit the bed. They should be about a yard 

 larger each way than the bed. 



Pillow Cases of linen are very pleasant 

 to the head, and may be appropriately used 



with cotton sheets. They are a luxury at best,, 

 however, rumpling easily and requiring more 

 frequent change than cleanliness alone would 

 call for. A popular method of arrangement is 

 to make the pillow cases of cotton and cover 

 the pillows during the day, while they are not 

 in use, with linen " shams " simple squares 

 of linen which may be tastefully ornamented. 



STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS. 



Stimulants, such as wine, beer, whisky, rum, 

 gin, brandy, etc., are not to be classed as food 

 for the human system. 



Stimulants exalt nervous action temporarily, 

 and compel the wheels to revolve rapidly ; 

 but they supply no threads to either the woof 

 or warp, and, sooner or later, break the shuttle. 



The man who has eaten one pound of beef 

 daily, for one year, does not find it necessary, 

 in order to obtain the same effect, to eat two 

 pounds daily for the next year ; but he who 

 drinks one pint of whisky daily for one year, 

 must take two pints daily the second year to 

 obtain the same effect. 



Any article of food or of drink, the use of 

 which creates the necessity for larger quanti- 

 ties, and at shorter intervals, in order to attain 

 the same mental and physical elevation, by 

 that fact proves itself pernicious. 



Stimulants may be employed as medicines, 

 to encourage digestion temporarily, to sustain 

 life until nourishment can be introduced ; or, 

 in declining life, to enliven an existence which 

 nature has limited, but which she will not 

 longer attempt to repair or prolong. 



Stimulants, habitually used, cause indiges- 

 tion, inflammation of the stomach, disease of 

 the liver, of the kidneys, and of the bladder, 

 chronic diarrhoea, piles, neuralgia, nervous 

 tremors, paralysis, insanity, idiocy, rheuma- 

 tism, gout, dropsy, sore eyes, eruptions, car- 

 buncles, boils, tubercles on the nose, ulcers on 

 the legs. They fill the almshouses, dispen- 

 saries, and prisons ; they supply the gallows 

 with most of its victims, and occasion, directly 

 or indirectly, one half of all the poverty, suf- 

 fering, and sadness which clouds this world. 



It is no proof because a man grows fat, and 

 his face becomes red under the use of stimu- 

 lants, that he is improving in health. 



Cholera, and all other pestilential diseases, 

 make their first visits to those who use, habitu- 

 ally, stimulating drinks. 



Dirt, debauchery, disease, and death are links 

 of the same chain. 



If stimulants must be used by those ' ' who, 

 being well, would wish to be better," no doubt 

 ales and wines are to be preferred to alcoholic 

 drinks. 



Coffee and tea a.re Codified stimulants, whose 



