PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. 



CLEANLINESS. 



To keep the body in a cleanly condition is the 

 third important requisite for the preservation of 

 health. This becomes necessary, in consequence 

 of a very important natural process which is con- 

 stantly going on near and upon the surface of the 

 body. 



The process in question is that of perspiration. 

 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 imper- 

 ceptibly minute and wonderfully numerous. From 

 two to six pounds of this secretion are 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 remainder passing off by the 

 bowels, kidneys, and lungs. To promote the free 

 egress of this fluid is of the utmost importance to 

 health ; for when it is suppressed, disease is ready 

 to fall upon some of the other organs concerned 

 in the discharge of waste. 



One of the most notable checks which perspira- 

 tion 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 of the 

 other organs of waste, whichever is in him the 

 weakest, or in the internal lining of some part of 

 the body, all of which is sympathetic with the con- 

 dition of the skin. A result of the nature of that 

 last described is usually recognised as a cold or 

 catarrh. We are not at present called on particu- 

 larly to notice such effects of checked perspiration, 

 but shall allude to others of a less perceptible, 

 though not less dangerous nature. 



The fluid alluded to is composed, besides water, 

 of certain salts and animal matters, which, being 

 solid, do not pass away in vapour, as does the 

 watery part of the compound, but rest on the sur- 

 face where they have been discharged. There, if 

 not removed by some artificial means, they form a 

 layer of hard stuff, and unavoidably impede the 

 egress of the current perspiration. By cleanliness 

 is merely meant the taking proper means to pre- 

 vent this or any other extraneous matter from 

 accumulating on the surface, to the production of 

 certain hurtful consequences. 



Ablution or washing is the best means ol attain- 

 ing this end ; and accordingly it is well for us to 

 wash or bathe the body frequently. Many leave 

 by far the greater part of their bodies unwashed, 

 except, perhaps, on rare occasions, thinking it 

 enough if the parts exposed to common view be in 

 decent trim. If the object of cleaning were solely 

 to preserve fair appearances, this might be suffi- 

 cient ; but the great end, it must be clearly seen, 

 is to keep the skin in a fit state for its peculiar and 

 very important functions. Frequent change of the 

 clothing next to the skin is of course a great aid to 

 cleanliness, and may partly be esteemed as a sub- 

 stitute for bathing, seeing that the clothes absorb 

 much of the impurities, and, when changed, carry 

 off what they have absorbed. But still this will 

 not serve the end nearly so well as frequent 

 ablution of the whole person. Any one neglecting 

 this will be convinced of the fact on going into a 

 bath and using the flesh-brush in cleansing his 

 body. The quantity of scurf and impurity which 



he will then remove, from a body which has 

 changes of linen even once a day, will surprise 

 him. 



Considering the importance of personal cleanli- 

 ness for health, it becomes a great duty of muni- 

 cipal rulers to afford every encouragement in their 

 power to the establishment of public baths for the 

 middle and working classes, and to extend and 

 protect all existing facilities for washing clothes, 

 as well as for private supplies of water. Baths 

 should neither be very cold nor very warm, but in 

 an agreeable medium ; and they should never be 

 taken within three hours after a meal. Nature 

 may be said to make a strong pleading for their 

 more general use, in the remarkably pleasing feel- 

 ing which is experienced in the skin after ablution. 



EXERCISE. 



The constitution of external nature shews that 

 man was destined for an active existence, as with- 

 out labour scarcely any of the gifts of Providence 

 are to be .made available. In perfect harmony 

 with this character of the material world, he has 

 been furnished with a muscular and mental system, 

 constructed on the principle of being fitted for 

 exertion, and requiring exertion for a continued 

 healthy existence. Formed as he is, it is not 

 possible for him to abstain from exertion without 

 very hurtful consequences. 



Muscular Exercise. 



With regard to merely bodily exercise, it is to 

 be observed, in the first place, that we have no 

 fewer than four hundred muscles, each designed 

 to serve some particular end in locomotion, or in 

 operating upon external objects. A sound state 

 of body depends very much upon each of these 

 muscles being brought into action in proper cir- 

 cumstances and to a suitable extent. There is 

 even a law, operating within a certain range, by 

 which each muscle will gain in strength and 

 soundness by being brought into a proper degree 

 of activity. 



The process of waste and renovation may be 

 said to be always going on in the body, but it does 

 not go on with permanent steadiness unless the 

 muscular system be exercised. Whenever one of 

 the organs is put into exertion, this process becomes 

 active, and the two operations of which it consists 

 maintain a due proportion to each other. 



It is of the utmost importance to observe that 

 the exercise of any particular limb does little 

 besides improving the strength of that limb ; and 

 that, in order to increase our general strength, the 

 whole frame must be brought into exercise. The 

 blacksmith, by wielding his hammer, increases the 

 muscular volume and strength of his right arm 

 only, or if the rest of his body derives any advantage 

 from his exercise, it is through the general move- 

 ment which the wielding of a hammer occasions. 



That bodily exercise may be truly advantageous, 

 the parts must be in a state of sufficient health 

 to endure the exertion. A system weakened by 

 disease or long inaction must be exercised very 

 sparingly, and brought on to greater efforts very 

 gradually, otherwise the usual effects of over- 

 exercise will follow. In no case must exercise be 

 carried beyond what the parts are capable of 

 bearing with ease ; otherwise, a loss of energy, 



instead of a gain, will be the consequence. 



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