THE SKIN AND KIDNEYS III 



will be taken into the blood and be oxidized in the right 

 way. Then the kidneys and skin will always do their work 

 well. This is why you are so often told that you must 

 keep your stomach in good order if you wish to have a 

 fair skin. Paint and powder are merely a kind of dirt; 

 they stop the action of the skin, and bnly make it look 

 worse than ever. 



212. Washing clothes. The waste matters of the skin 

 are rubbed off upon our clothes and bedclothes. These 

 become dirty and must be washed. Air and the sun have 

 great power of destroying waste matters of the body. At 

 night all our clothes should be taken off and put where the 

 air can get at them, and we should sleep in a clean night 

 dress. In the daytime our beds should be aired, and the 

 clothes and blinds opened so that the sunlight can reach 

 the room and destroy the waste matter. 



The water and waste matters of the body, and the water 

 used in washing and bathing, all contain poisonous matter. 

 If it is thrown upon the ground it may soak into the well 

 and poison the drinking water, or its gases may make the 

 air unfit for breathing. The water used by a person who 

 has a catching disease is very dangerous, for the germs of 

 the disease can grow outside the body and cause the dis- 

 ease in the next person who gets the germs. All water 

 and slops ought to be carried away from the house and 

 emptied into a deep hole in the ground. Then the soil 

 will soon kill all the poisonous germs. 



213. What to do with slops. Small families in the 

 country often throw their slops out of the back door, but 

 it is not safe to do this, for some may run into the well and 

 poison the water. A well ought to be dug on ground higher 

 than the kitchen and barn. Hard rock or clay sloping 

 toward the well may carry slops underground into the well 



