Human Physiology. 



belongs to comfort all the conveniences, and what we can 

 command of the elegancies of home. No show apartments, no 

 rooms kept for company, ostentation, and vanity ; every room 

 and every article of furniture for use. Every window should 

 let in plenty of light and air. It is an economy and comfort, 

 if a well-constructed furnace in the basement can furnish soft, 

 pure air in winter to the whole house. No one should rest 

 content until every one is provided with a clean and comfort- 

 able and proper dwelling. 



For clothing, the same healthy rule. Comfort first, and then 

 as much elegance as we can or care to add ; but no elegance 

 or decoration at the expense of comfort and health; and always 

 cleanliness as the first condition. No garment should be wor 

 at night that is worn in the day. Frequent changes of und>r- 

 clothing, and thorough ventilation of every article. The clothing 

 becomes filled with the emanations of the body, the waste 

 matter of insensible and sensible perspiration. The accumula- 

 tion of this matter becomes foul, offensive, poisonous. Every 

 garment when removed should be shaken, and hung up to air 

 not huddled up in a heap; and the oftener all underclothing is 

 changed the better. In cold, damp climates, woollen under- 

 clothing is preferred to cotton or linen, as more porous, and 

 allowing the waste to pass off more freely, giving also more pro- 

 tection from the effects of rapid changes of temperature. 



The cleanliness of bathing has come to be recognised as a 

 luxury and fashion in the higher classes in England, and it 

 would be a blessed thing if it could spread as rapidly as fashions 

 in bonnets. But one has only to use his nose to perceive that 

 it has not gone far down in the ranks of society. One may not 

 see that his neighbour does not take a daily bath, but one can 

 smell. It would be a curious, and not the least useful, bit of 

 sanitary statistics an official return of the number of persons 

 in the United Kingdom who are washed all over even once a 

 week. A daily bath might be made compulsory by Act of Par- 



