272 COORDINATION AND SENSATION 



HYGIENE OF THE SKIN 



Much of the hygiene of the skin is included in the 

 problems of keeping it warm and clean. It is kept warm 

 by clothing ; bathing is the method of keeping it clean. 



Clothing should be warm and loose-fitting. Woolen 

 fabrics are to be preferred in winter to cotton because, 

 being poorer conductors of heat, they afford better pro- 

 tection from the cold. But wool fails to absorb the per- 

 spiration rapidly from the skin and to pass it to the 

 outside where it is evaporated. This, together with its 

 tendency to irritate, makes woolen clothing somewhat 

 objectionable for wearing next to the skin. This objec- 

 tion, however, is obviated by woolen underwear which is 

 lined by a thin weaving of cotton. 



Bathing. The solid material from the perspiration, 

 which is left on the skin, together with the oil from the 

 oil glands and the dirt from the outside, tends to close up 

 the pores and develop offensive odors. Keeping the skin 

 clean is, for these reasons, necessary from both a health 

 and a social standpoint. While one should always keep 

 clean, the frequency of the bath will depend upon the 

 season, the occupation of the individual, and the nature and 

 amount of the perspiration. As to the kind of bath to 

 be taken and the precautions to be observed, no specific 

 rules can be laid down. These must be determined by 



and, chilled to the bone, some imbibed freely while others refused to drink. Those 

 who drank soon felt comfortable and went to sleep in their improvised shelter ; 

 those who did not drink felt very uncomfortable throughout the night and could 

 get no sleep, but in the morning they were alive and able to struggle back to camp, 

 while their companions who had used alcohol were frozen to death. . . . This, if 

 true, was of course an extreme case : but it accords with the universal experience 

 of arctic travelers and of lumbermen and hunters in the northern woods, that the 

 use of alcohol during exposure to cold, although contributing greatly to one's 

 comfort for the time being, is generally followed by undesirable or dangerous 

 results." HOUGH AND SEDGWICK: The Elements of Hygiene and Sanitation. 



