THE SKIN. 229 



posed to some changes of air most of the time while it is 

 worn, and a portion, at least, of the excretions is dissipated. 

 But as the body, while sleeping, continues in one place, and 

 with no change of air through the night, the bed-clothing 

 loses none of the animal excretions, and there they remain 

 in the morning. The bed, therefore, should be opened, its 

 several parts separated, and the mattress, the feather-bed, and 

 the under-bed, should be laid apart one from another, and 

 the sheets, blankets, and all the other bedding hung on chairs 

 or other things which will allow the air to reach both their 

 surfaces. And thus should the chamber be left, and the bed 

 be aired for some hours each day, with a window open, how- 

 ever cold the air. 



553. It is an uncomfortable as well as an unhealthful cus- 

 tom to use the single cabin of canal boats for day as well 

 as for night room. There all the work of life is carried on. 

 There the passengers sit and eat during the day, and sleep 

 during the night. To prepare for lodging, the beds are fixed 

 to the walls by means of hooks and ropes, every evening; 

 and, in the morning, in order to make room for the break- 

 fast table, these beds are all taken down and packed in aa 

 small a compass as possible ; without opportunity of airing, 

 or any means of purification, they are closely compressed 

 through the day, until they are needed again at night. In 

 addition to the unavoidable excretions of the present night, 

 these beds retain the accumulated excretions of several 

 nights, and perhaps of successive passengers during a 

 whole trip. 



554. Some dwellings of the poor in cities present the 

 same seeming necessity of piling the beds and the night 

 clothes into one close heap, to allow room for the day opera- 

 tions of the family. Press-beds and sofa-beds in sitting- 

 rooms, which are shut up immediately after being left in the 

 morning, are liable to the same objection. They have no 

 opportunity of being aired, and the foul excretions of the 

 night are retained during the day, to irritate the skin of the 

 lodger when he returns. 



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