TUB SKIN. 231 



the comfort of a bath and the discomfort of neglect. This 

 sensibility of the skin of the hands and face is a mere mat- 

 ter of cultivation, and might as well be cultivated in the 

 skin of the other parts which are covered with clothing. 

 But those parts which are not exposed to sight are with 

 most people rarely, and with some never, bathed; and the 

 great majority of mankind leave so much of their surface 

 unwashed and untouched with water, from summer, through 

 the entire cold season, until summer again returns. 



558. The consequence of this negligence of ablution is, 

 that the skin becomes overloaded with the gathered excre- 

 tions of months and years ; it loses its exquisite sensibility ; 

 it is less able to throw off the waste of the body ; the cu- 

 taneous circulation is not so well sustained; the skin is 

 less supple and elastic, and less able to nfaintain the equi- 

 librium of heat; and the whole body is comparatively dull 

 and inactive. In those who are accustomed to take their 

 daily entire bath, the whole skin is soft and elastic ; the 

 cutaneous waste is carried freely away. They are conse- 

 quently enabled to bear the heat and cold, over their whole 

 frani3, with much more ease than others do who wash their 

 hands and face alone; and they enjoy a more acute sensi- 

 bility of skin, a general lightness and buoyancy through 

 their frame. 



559. To maintain the most perfect health of the skin 

 and of the internal organs, the whole surface should be daily 

 cleansed of all its excretions, the oil, the scales of the cu- 

 ticle, and the salts of the perspiration, and also of the other 

 matters which lodge on the body and become mixed with 

 these. No part should be neglected. Water will remove the 

 salts, and soap the oily excretions. Nothing can be substi- 

 tuted for soap. Some have attempted to use wash-powder, 

 and others sometimes use alcohol or spirits ; but none of 

 these combine with the oily matter, or dissolve the others, 

 and cleanse the skin. " Soap," says Dr. Wilson, " renders 

 the cutaneous product of the skin freely miscible with water 

 and hence it is an invaluable agent in purifying the skin. 1 



