COLUMBIA UBRARIES OFFSITE 
 
 HEALTH SCIENCES STANDARD 
 
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 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 BY 
 
 A. H. GUERNSEY, 
 
 AND 
 
 IREN^IJS P. DAVIS, M.D., 
 
 AUTHOR OP "hygiene FOR GIRLS." 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STEEET. 
 
 1884. 
 
05 ^^ 
 
 COPTEIGHT, 1884, 
 
 Bt d. appleton and company. 
 
C O I*^ T E IJ5" T S 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. — Home SrEEOUNDiNGS . . . . .5 
 
 II. — Privies and Water- Closets . . . 18 
 
 III. — The House Itself . . . . .23 
 
 lY. — The Air we Breathe . . . . 33 
 
 Y. — The Water we Drink . . . . .41 
 
 YI.— The Food we Eat ..... 47 
 
 YII. — LiaHTiNa and Warming. . . . .64 
 
 Yin. — Disinfectants ..... 74 
 
 IX. — The Bedrooms . . . . . .82 
 
 X. — The Clothing we Wear .... 92 
 
 XL — Personal Habits . . . . .106 
 
 XII. — Household Practice . . . . 117 
 
 XIII. — Poisons and Antidotes .... 129 
 
 XIY. — Accidents and Emergencies . . . 148 
 

 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 I. 
 HOME SUEEOUNDINGS. 
 
 The habitual condition of a home should be one of 
 health, and to secure this it is quite as necessary that a 
 due care be had for its surroundings as that the building 
 be properly heated and ventilated, and its inmates supplied 
 with suitable food and clothing, accustomed to correct per- 
 sonal habits, and skillfully treated in case of sickness or 
 accident. 
 
 By the surroundings of a home' are meant all that per- 
 tains to it lying without the building itself. The homes of 
 which we speak may be divided into three general classes, 
 which of necessity vary materially in the character of their 
 surroundings; 
 
 I. OouKTRY Homes. — In this class the builder is pre- 
 sumed to have a considerable quantity of land, so that he 
 has a wide choice in the selection of a site, as well as in the 
 arrangement of all his immediate surroundings. He must 
 do almost everything for himself, and may do it as he 
 pleases, without much regard for his neighbors. But, if 
 they can not essentially discommode him, they can do very 
 little to aid him. He must, for example, find his own 
 
6 EEALTE AT SOME. 
 
 spring, or dig his own well, build his own cistern, and 
 make his own system of drains. If the water for domestic 
 purposes must be obtained from a natural spring, the selec- 
 tion of a site for the house, and all the arrangements of 
 the homestead, will be in no small measure shaped by this. 
 The spring should be on a higher level than the outlet of 
 any drain leading from the house or barn. If possible, it 
 should be on a higher level than the foundation of either 
 house or barn, to avoid 'the chance of organic matter from 
 these places percolating through the soil into it, though, to 
 place a house on low or marshy ground in order to effect 
 this, is to incur one evil in avoiding another. 
 
 The natural drainage of the ground, always an impor- 
 tant feature in the surroundings of a home, is more im- 
 portant in connection with a country home than with any 
 other, because, while much can be done by artificial drain- 
 age, any system adequate to supply a natural lack in this 
 particular must be more extensive than usually comes 
 within the means of the individual householder. Natural 
 drainage depends chiefly on the slope of the surface and 
 the character of the subsoil. The most desirable subsoil 
 on this account is a porous one, as sand or gi'avel — such a 
 subsoil as farmers call *'leachy." The worst is clay. 
 
 For farming purposes the relative desirability of these 
 different soils is nearly reversed, so that it often happens 
 that the spot chosen above all for its fertility is the very 
 worst in point of health. It seems as if the primal curse 
 had not only sowed the fertile fields with thorns and this- 
 tles, but had also shadowed with sickness the homes of the 
 tillers of those fields in proportion to their fertility. The 
 sterile hills of New England are in general more healthful 
 than the fertile valleys of the Middle States, the savannas 
 of the South, or the prairies of the "West. 
 
 Commencing in middle New Jersey, and extending 
 southward near the Atlantic coast, is an extensive tract 
 
HOME SURROUNDINGS. 7 
 
 commonly known as ^'^The Pines/' on account of the tim- 
 ber by which it is mainly coyered. The inhabitants of 
 this region, who try to live by farming, are wretchedly 
 poor, and their domestic animals are small, thin, and hun- 
 gry-looking, but the region is notably healthful. This fact 
 is often attributed to the exhalations from the pine-trees, 
 and possibly with some reason, though it is noteworthy 
 that the land, while most of it is low and leyel, and much 
 of it swampy, is nearly all sand or gravel. Here and there 
 are small spots having a clay subsoil, and on these malarial 
 disorders abound, from which the surrounding districts are 
 comparatively free. 
 
 The best site is a hill-side, with a southern or a western 
 exposure, rather than a northern or an eastern one. The 
 hill-side, besides other advantages, furnishes facilities for 
 carrying off the drainage of the house and its appurte- 
 nances. It would seem hardly necessary to say that barns 
 and other out-buildings, cattle-yards, etc., should always be 
 a little down the hill from the house, were it not for the 
 fact that these are sometimes seen on the higher part of 
 the premises. 
 
 Supposing, however, that the location is already chosen, 
 and the house and principal out-buildings are erected, there 
 are many circumstances relating to the surroundings that 
 require attention. 
 
 An excellent suggestion relative to a house built on a 
 hill-side is made in ^^ Building a Home," one of Appletons' 
 ''Home Books." It is that a trench should be dug, about 
 ten or fifteen feet above the house, four feet wide, and deep 
 enough to be lower than the cellar-bottom. It should be 
 about twice the length of the house, so that its ends may 
 project some distance beyond the line of the wall of the 
 house on each side, and it should run obliquely down the 
 hill, so that its lower end will reach a point as low as the 
 upper wall of the house. This trench is to be filled with 
 
8 EEALTE AT EOME. 
 
 round or broken stones, the larger ones at the bottom. It 
 may then be covered over. Its use is to prevent any drain- 
 age from the upper part of the hill from reaching the 
 foundation of the house. If the soil in which the trench 
 is dug is sandy or gravelly, and free from springs or streams 
 of water, it will answer its purpose tolerably without any 
 outlet, as the water that collects in it will percolate through 
 the porous soil beneath the cellar-bottom. If, however, the 
 soil is clayey or wet, it will be necessary to make a suffi- 
 cient drain from the lower end of the trench to conduct off 
 the water, and discharge it at some point below the house. 
 
 The latter precaution is a very important one, whatever 
 the nature of the soil, if there is above the house another 
 house, a barn, or any other source of drainage more objec- 
 tionable than rain-water. 
 
 The growth of vegetation outside of a house is generally 
 favorable to health, as in the process various noxious mate- 
 rials are taken from the air and the soil to form new and 
 healthful combinations in the plant. The decay of vegeta- 
 tion, however, is exceedingly detrimental to health. For 
 this reason it is very important in the neighborhood of 
 dwellings to remove accumulations of fallen leaves, rank 
 growths of grass, etc., before they have time to decay. 
 
 It has been very generally supposed that the cause of 
 malaria exists principally in the rapid decay of the rank 
 and succulent vegetation common to swamps. Certain it 
 is that malarial diseases abound on newly-worked soils con- 
 taining much vegetable matter to decay, and especially in 
 situations where heat and moisture, the conditions most 
 favorable to such decay, exist. Equally certain is it that 
 with the progress of agricultural industry these diseases 
 commonly diminish ; that, when repeated turnings of the 
 soil and successive removals of crops have lessened and 
 changed the accumulated vegetable mold of centuries, 
 when the swamps themselves are drained and mowed, and 
 
HOME SURROUNDINGS. 9 
 
 even the leaves fallen by the road-side are raked up and 
 carted away, in many localities they almost or quite disap- 
 pear. 
 
 The vicinity of streams or other small bodies of water 
 is sometimes unhealthful, but not always. The water in 
 itself is advantageous on many accounts, provided it is not 
 stagnant or loaded with impurities. A stagnant pool in the 
 neighborhood of a house should be drained, or the house 
 should be deserted. The danger to health from streams 
 and ponds not stagnant arises principally from two causes. 
 One is the decaying organic matter coming from the various 
 drains, swamps, and other undesirable sources that swell the 
 volume of the water, or from impurities incidentally intro- 
 duced into the main stream or pond. The other cause is 
 the occasional ebb and flow of the water upon its banks. 
 There is much organic matter in the mud at the bottom of 
 nearly every pond or considerable stream. This matter can 
 do little or no harm while it is covered by running water, 
 but, on the contrary, is useful in supplying food to certain 
 fishes and plants, by which means it is gradually removed. 
 If the water recedes, however, and leaves this mud exposed 
 to the warm rays of the sun, decomposition of its organic 
 matter is hastened, while the noxious particles, instead of 
 furnishing needful food to plants or fishes, float out into 
 the air to poison human beings. 
 
 Again, if the water overflows its usual boundaries, it 
 stops the outflow of many natural and artificial drains, 
 forms pools of stagnant water along its borders, and occa- 
 sions the death and decay of much vegetation. 
 
 For these reasons a pond or stream that varies much in 
 height at different seasons, especially if it has a muddy 
 bottom, IS far more unsafe than one that remains always 
 at about the same level. Indeed, it will sometimes be a 
 decidedly healthful proceeding to convert a swampy place 
 into a pond by means of a dam, and thus drown 
 
10 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 *' All the infections that the sun sucks up 
 From bogs, fens, flats." 
 
 It is necessary, howeyer, to be sure that the water-sup- 
 ply is sufficient to keep the pond always full and to preyent 
 stagnation. The end sought will be more readily attained 
 if the pond is stocked with fish or water-fowl, or both, as 
 these will do much in remoying the organic matter that 
 might otherwise be harmful. Swans are said to be pecul- 
 iarly useful in this way. ^ 
 
 A few trees are desirable about a house, but too many 
 are an injury. Many country houses are rendered yery un- 
 healthful by being too much shaded. The trees should be 
 so arranged that there may be a free circulation of air about 
 the house, and that the sun may shine directly on eyery 
 possible part of its exterior for at least an hour at some 
 time during the day. 
 
 II. Village ajtd Subuebak Homes. — In this class 
 the occupant has less space at his control, and must be ruled 
 yery much by what his neighbors haye done or haye the 
 right of doing. But, on the other hand, neighbors may 
 unite to do many things of use to all, but which no one of 
 them could do singly. Thus, for example, a group of 
 neighbors, acting either for themselyes or through municipal 
 organizations, may erect water- works, which, at a cost small 
 for each member, shall furnish an abundant and unfailing 
 supply of this prime necessity of life. 
 
 The considerations relatiye to the surroundings of a 
 country home are in many respects applicable to a yillage 
 home. The points of similarity are sufficiently obyious, 
 but there are some yarying conditions worth noting. 
 
 There is comparatiyely little choice in the location of 
 the house relatiye to the character of the soil, the slope of 
 the surface, or the points of the compass. In regard to the 
 last particular, indeed, a choice may be insisted on if de- 
 sired, for there is no absolute necessity that a house shall 
 
SOME SUER0UBDING8. 11 
 
 face the street, or eyen that its walls shall stand parallel 
 and at right angles with the street, and frequently comfort 
 and health will be subserved by a different arrangement. 
 Yet it is generally found most convenient to build a village 
 house with reference to the direction of the street rather 
 than of the prevailing winds and the sun, in consequence 
 of which the arrangement of tree-screens sometimes becomes 
 more important than it would otherwise be. For this pur- 
 pose various evergreens are eminently desirable, because 
 their foliage remains through the winter, when it is most 
 serviceable in protecting from wind. As shade-trees, of 
 deciduous varieties, those only should be chosen whose 
 natural home is on dry uplands. Willow, soft maple, and 
 some other species and varieties that naturally seek wet 
 places, are often jireferred on account of their rapid growth, 
 but, if these stand within fifty feet of any water-reservoir, 
 such as a well or cistern, their roots are almost certain to 
 break their way into it sooner or later, in spite of all pre- 
 cautions. Consequently, one can rarely plant these about a 
 village home without damage to himself or his neighbor. 
 
 Although by associated enterprise a village may be much 
 better drained than a farm of equal extent is likely to be, 
 yet it often happens that for want of public spirit, or by 
 reason of natural difficulties such as flatness of surface and 
 insufficiency of water-fall, the problem of drainage is gravely 
 comphcated. In such cases the danger from insufficient 
 drainage is greater than on a farm, in proportion as the 
 sources of sewage are multiplied. 
 
 When for any reason there is no adequate system of 
 drainage common to the village, the householder is often 
 unable to drain his lot at all, because he can not go beyond 
 it. Occasionally a stream at the foot of the garden may 
 furnish him the needed outlet. If the stream is not of 
 considerable size and rapid current, however, he should not, 
 in respect to his neighbors, discharge into it anything more 
 
12 HEALTH AT HOME, 
 
 than the surplus water from the clouds falling upon or flow- 
 ing through his soil. 
 
 In such circumstances a cesspool is needed. A cesspool 
 is — if such a thing may be — ^a necessary evil. It is better 
 than the slimy pool in the grass at the end of an open 
 drain and within sight and scent of the kitchen-windows, 
 that forms the only vent for the waste water of too many 
 houses. At least a cesspool may be better than this, but it 
 may also be worse. 
 
 The commonest form of cesspool is a bottomless barrel, 
 buried, with waste-pipe entering it. This is a yery imper- 
 fect arrangement, and in many cases it becomes a noisome 
 and poisonous affair, pestilential gases forming in it and 
 escaping through the waste-pipe into the house, or transud- 
 ing through the covering soil. Such gases are formed more 
 or less in every cesspool by the decomposition of its con- 
 tents. To prevent harm from this, it is needful that the 
 cesspool be lined on the sides and top with cement, or in 
 some other way made quite impervious to water and gas, 
 that every drain or waste pipe entering it be provided with 
 an efficient trap, and that it be ventilated from the top. If 
 the last precaution is neglected, the gas not only becomes 
 more dangerous by concentration, but it is liable to be 
 formed in such quantities that its pressure will displace the 
 water in the trap and it will flow through the waste-pipe 
 into the house. If the cesspool is made of proper materials 
 and the traps are good, sufficient ventilation may be had by 
 means of a wooden or metal pipe running to the top of a 
 house or bam, a flag-staff, tree, or any other object that 
 will support it to a height above the level of the air ordi- 
 narily breathed by human beings. The gas, then, as fast 
 as it is formed, rises through the pipe to the upper stratum 
 of air, where it is immediately diluted and floats harmlessly 
 away. 
 
 If for want of ownership or any other reason it is im- 
 
HOME SURROUNDINGS, 13 
 
 possible to have sucli a cesspool, and tlie ordinary kind must 
 be used, a few precautions will greatly lessen its danger : 
 1. No waste-pipe connected with it should on any account 
 enter the house. If desired, the waste-pipe from the kitchen 
 sink may open above an open hopper or trough placed out- 
 side of the house and connected by pipe or drain with the 
 cesspool, but no close connection should be made. 2. The 
 cesspool should be somewhat deeply buried in dry, porous 
 soil, and the surface covered with sod. Two or three feet 
 of dry earth above a cesspool will absorb and disinfect a 
 great part of its gas, and the growing grass will aid in this 
 process. 3. The hopper or trough leading to the cesspool 
 should receive daily a liberal allowance of some good disin- 
 fectant, such as chloride of lime or copperas. These pre- 
 cautions will not entirely avert the danger caused by an 
 imperfect cesspool, but they will go far toward doing so. 
 
 It should be a settled principle from the beginning that 
 no cesspool is to be made or tolerated, except in soil that is 
 naturally dry and porous to the requisite depth. If the soil 
 is wet or not freely pervious, a cistern or reservoir may be 
 made in place of a cesspool, cemented on the bottom as 
 well as the sides and top, and provided with ventilating- 
 pipe and thoroughly- trapped waste-pipe as recommended 
 for the cesspool, and also with an exhaust-pipe running 
 from the bottom to some point above the surface of the 
 ground, where it must be closed by an air-tight screw-cap. 
 The contents may then be removed at regular frequent 
 intervals, in air-tight tanks constructed for the purpose, by 
 connecting with the exhaust-pipe. But, unless ample facili- 
 ties exist for such removal, the reservoir should not be 
 built. In such case it is better to throw the waste water 
 upon the surface of the ground and let it take its chances 
 of removal by evaporation, absorption, and other processes 
 of nature, than to collect it in cistern or cesspool. 
 
 In a few villages, notably in some sea-side resorts, where 
 
14 EEALTE AT HOME. 
 
 the ground is low and nearly level, and the only outlet for 
 drainage is the ocean or some other large body of water, 
 extensiye systems of sewerage are undertaken, while the 
 facilities for the discharge of sewage are insufficient. The 
 absence of current allows the accumulation of sewage in the 
 water near the sewer's mouth, to the detriment of the sur- 
 rounding air, and twice daily the tide flows in through the 
 sewer, stopping its outlet and forcing its gas into every 
 house that has connection with it. If a sufficient head of 
 running water can be obtained to thoroughly flush the 
 sewers at certain hours each day, chosen Avith reference to 
 the tides, the evil can be largely abated, though even then 
 great circumspection will be necessary ; and, if this water 
 can not be had, the sewers will be worse than useless, and 
 should be voted a public nuisance. 
 
 The more thickly populated such a place is, the greater 
 is the danger from this source. The means provided by 
 nature for the disposal of waste matters thrown upon or 
 mingled with the soil are insufficient for populous districts ; 
 therefore, where these means are chiefly to be relied on for 
 want of running water or of sufficient fall for drainage, a 
 closely-built village can not be a healthful one, however 
 well kept it may be. In such circumstances the house to 
 be chosen should be as far from others as practicable, and it 
 certainly ought not to stand within a hundred feet of any. 
 
 In a village built on a hill-side and not fully sewered or 
 drained, the houses near the foot of the hill are not suitable 
 for human habitation. If through ignorance or necessity 
 some live there, let those who live above give them sym- 
 pathy and access to their wells at all times, and quinine and 
 beef-tea when needed. 
 
 III. City Homes. — In this class many of the essential 
 conditions are quite different from those that have been 
 considered. The closeness of the houses to one another 
 affords much protection from wind, and renders the warm- 
 
HOME 8U2R0UITDrNGS. 15 
 
 ing of tlie houses mucli easier and more regular. More 
 attention is commonly paid to draining, sewering, and the 
 removal of garbage than in rural places, and thus the 
 danger of unwholesome emanations from the soil is reduced 
 to a minimum. On the other hand, the air of cities is 
 notoriously impure from the constant addition to it of the 
 products of teeming animal life, and of many industries. 
 In all these respects certainly, different cities yary greatly. 
 In some there is such neglect of general sanitary engineer- 
 ing that the mortality rate is high, and certain diseases 
 which are almost or quite unknown in less populous places 
 haye their permanent or periodical home there. Bat in 
 other cities, naturally no better in position, where the pub- 
 lic sanitary arrangements are better, these diseases find no 
 abiding-place, and the general health is as good as, or eyen 
 better than, among the same classes of people in the sur- 
 rounding country. 
 
 The mortality tables of a great city like iN'ew York or 
 Philadelphia are not a good test of its healthfulness as a 
 place of residence, especially if, as in the case of the former 
 city, it is a princij^al port of entry for the country at large, 
 or, like either, a railroad center and waiting-place for trav- 
 elers. These lists are much swelled by deaths of immi- 
 grants and other travelers, who do not properly belong to 
 the city's population, and who, moreover, necessarily do 
 not average as high in strength and vitality as people who 
 live comfortably at home, free from the vicissitudes, irregu- 
 larities, and dangers of travel. The varied industries and 
 mechanical appliances of the city offer many casualties to 
 swell the death-rate, which yet do not affect the healthful- 
 ness of a city home. Every added revolution of the wheels 
 of trade crushes out some human life. Every new applica- 
 tion of steam to mechanism dooms some artisans to violent 
 death. Every opening facility for rapid travel opens to 
 some souls the gate of eternity. The casualties of a city 
 
16 HEALTH AT SOME. 
 
 bear some relation to the height of its buildings, for every 
 foot of increase in their average height means a geo- 
 metrically increasing number of the builders hurled into 
 the grave. When to this is added that the city is the natu- 
 ral and final resort of a multitude of persons whose habits 
 are vicious and degraded, and most of whom die early in 
 consequence of these habits, it is readily seen that the city's 
 total death-rate is not a correct basis for an estimate of its 
 healthfulness as a dwelling-place. 
 
 Moreover, cities at all approximating in size to the two 
 mentioned are large enough to include districts widely dif- 
 ferent in their influence upon health, so that it frequently 
 happens that while one part is very unhealthful another 
 part of the same city is quite the reverse. This is notably 
 true of the city of New York. While a residence in some 
 portions of it is very prejudicial to health, other parts are 
 probably as free from unwholesome influences as any of the 
 health resorts within fifty miles of it, and certainly much 
 freer than many of them. The reasons for this difference 
 are to be found partly in the degree of attention paid 
 to the surroundings in different parts of the city, partly 
 to the presence or absence in certain neighborhoods of 
 deleterious industries, such as extensive butchering, rag- 
 sorting, certain manufactures and the like, and partly to 
 differences in the character and contour of the ground, for, 
 notwithstanding any improvements that can be made, the 
 original character of a soil still has some influence, and, 
 while art can do much for a naturally bad soil or location, 
 it can do more for a naturally good one. 
 
 All houses built upon newly "made" ground should be 
 carefully shunned, no matter how desirable in other respects. 
 This ground is "made" by filling in some sunken lots, fre- 
 quently, if not usually, with the sweepings of the streets 
 and the multifarious contents of ash-barrels, not only in- 
 cluding ashes and cinders, floor-sweepings and various off- 
 
HOME SUEEOUFDINGS. 17 
 
 scourings, but also often containing a dangerous amount of 
 decomposed and decomposing vegetable and animal organic 
 matter. The foul gases generated from these will make 
 their way upward into the air. Nothing which man can do 
 will prevent them from penetrating into a house built upon 
 such ground, poisoning the air of kitchen and parlor, of 
 dining-room and bedchamber. Not a few of the most pa- 
 latial mansions among us are from this cause as unhealthy 
 as are the fever- wards of a hospital. Even if the filling in 
 were of clean ashes and wholesome earth, time must elapse 
 before the site is fit for a dwelling-house. No structure 
 designed for human habitation should be begun upon even 
 the best *^made ground" within less than two years after 
 the filling-in has been completed. 
 
 Wide streets and large yards are conducive to health 
 because they afford more circulation of air and more sun- 
 light than narrow streets and small yards. Conversely, 
 houses built back to back, or with any similar extreme 
 economy of ground-space, are highly objectionable. Sta- 
 tistics show that, in tenement-houses many stories in height, 
 diphtheria and many other diseases are more common and 
 more fatal in the lower stories than in the upper ones, and 
 these proportions are in regular ratio and constant, so that 
 the nearer to the sky one lives the better is his health. The 
 causes of this curious fact are the greater purity of the 
 upper air among these swarming human hives, and the 
 greater quantity of sunlight that reaches the upper parts of 
 the tall and closely-built houses. In a large degree the 
 same conditions affect the fashionable ''flat" or apartment- 
 houses. As a matter of health the top flats are to be pre- 
 ferred, and the larger the building and the smaller the 
 adjoining yard or court the stronger will be this preference. 
 
II. 
 PRIVIES AND WATEE-CLOSETS. 
 
 "Water is undoubtedly the most conyenient yehicle for 
 the removal of excreta from a dwelling, provided that the 
 conditions admit of its use for that purpose. The chief of 
 these are that there shall be an unfailing supply, delivered 
 from a sufficient head, and that there is a river or lake or 
 the ocean to serve as a receptacle. These conditions are 
 rarely to be found except in large cities ; and in some of 
 these there is the grave objection that the receiving streams 
 become polluted, because they are not sufficient to carry off 
 the immense quantities of foul matter poured into them. 
 The defilement of the Thames, near London, is a case in 
 point. 
 
 Add to this that the plumbing apparatus necessarily 
 involved in the water-closet is so complicated in design, and 
 not unfrequently so faulty in construction, as to often defeat 
 its purpose ; unless, indeed, the purpose of the plumber 
 was to secure for himself a constant supply of fat jobs in. 
 the way of repairs. "What with traps and valves, siphons 
 and plungers, cranks and levers, elevators and depressors, 
 and, not seldom, careless users, the whole apparatus is con- 
 tinually getting out of order, to the infinite disgust and no 
 small pecuniary loss of the householder. 
 
 The manner in which the water-closet is connected with 
 the sewer is of vital importance, as the entrance of sewer- 
 gas by this means into the house is an exceedingly fruitful 
 
PBIYIES AND WATER-CLOSETS. 19 
 
 source of disease. The usual connection is through a waste- 
 pipe, proyided with a simple ^* trap" a foot or so below the 
 receiving-pan. This trap is no more nor less than a bend 
 in the pipe, something like the letter S laid horizontally. 
 The theory of its working is that it will remain always full 
 of water, and, the entire diameter of the pipe being thus 
 filled for several inches, no gas can pass up from the sewer, 
 while whatever flows into the pipe from above forces the 
 contents of the trap onward only to occupy the same posi- 
 tion until it yields in its turn to another inflow. The prac- 
 tical working, however, is apt to differ from the theoretical 
 in two important particulars : 1. If there is not abundance 
 of water — and sometimes if there is — the trap retains 
 enough matter other than water to be offensive and inju- 
 rious. 2. Various causes sometimes produce unusual press- 
 ure of gas within the sewer, especially if the latter is of 
 considerable extent, and, in such circumstances, the gas is 
 liable to force its way through the water in the trap. 
 
 Another danger in connection with water-closets is that 
 of untrapped waste-pipes from wash-basins, bath-tubs, and 
 wash-tubs, entering water-closet waste-pipes or sewers with 
 which the latter are connected. All such pipes should be 
 thoroughly trapped, and even then they may become 
 avenues of danger from unusual pressure of gas, as already 
 indicated, if not from the contents of the traps them- 
 selves. 
 
 It is a measure of safety to have a small pipe connected 
 with the main waste-pipe of the house and running up to 
 the roof, the upper end being open. This serves as a vent 
 to the gas forced in from the sewer, and prevents it bub- 
 bling through the traps. 
 
 Wherever a water-closet is in use, the utmost care should 
 be observed that the plumber's work is thoroughly well 
 done, and always kept in perfect order, and that nothing 
 except liquids should ever be thrown into it. Any solid 
 
20 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 matter, rags, garbage, and the like, may yery likely accumu- 
 late at some point and choke ujo the waste-pipe. 
 
 It hardly need be said that in this apartment the utmost 
 cleanliness is indispensable. Whatever other apartment of 
 the house is overlooked upon ^^cleaning-day," this one 
 should never be neglected. 
 
 It should always be built against at least one outer wall, 
 and have a window' opening to the air outside, and this 
 should never be closed except in case of a storm. The door 
 should always be kept shut, and there should be no other 
 opening into a hall or any other room in the house. The 
 best covering for the floor is a stout oil-cloth, fitting tightly 
 to the walls all around, and firmly laid down. There 
 should be no carpet of any kind. 
 
 The ^'dry earth," or, better still, the ^'charcoal closet," 
 is capable of application everywhere ; and, though at its 
 best inferior to the ^^water-closet" at its possible best, is 
 superior to the latter as very commonly found. Its efficacy 
 rests upon the fact that earth thoroughly dried, when 
 thrown upon human excreta, does not merely cover, but 
 forms a compost free from all odor, and having no delete- 
 rious properties. Care must be observed as to the kind of 
 earth which is used. Chalky or sandy soil will not answer 
 the purpose. Clays, especially those adapted for brick- 
 making, and loams, are to be chosen. The advantages of 
 charcoal over dry earth are that by it the excreta are more 
 readily deodorized, and putrefactive changes are held in 
 check for a time practically unlimited ; and also that a 
 much less quantity of charcoal than of earth is required. 
 
 The dry-earth closet, or the charcoal-closet, in its sim- 
 plest form, consists merely of a pail or glazed earthen ves- 
 sel placed under the privy-seat, a box to hold the earth or 
 charcoal, and a hand-scoop to throw it into the pail. An 
 improvement upon this is to have the earth or charcoal 
 placed in a hopper, so that by a simple mechanism it will be 
 
PRIVIES AND WATER-CLOSETS. 21 
 
 automatically sifted oyer the contents of the pail. A pound 
 and a half of earth, or a quarter as much charcoal, is suffi- 
 cient for each time of using. 
 
 In any case a dry-earth or charcoal commode should be 
 considered an indisi^ensable requisite for a sick-chamber 
 when the invalid is unable to leave the room. 
 
 If there is a priyy outside of the house, it should be 
 so placed that comfortable and convenient access may be 
 had to it at all seasons and in every kind of weather. The 
 pathway should be very carefully made and kept, and well 
 screened from the prevailing winds of winter. The struct- 
 ure itself should be substantial, perfectly weather-tight, 
 well ventilated and lighted, and shaded by trees or in some 
 other way from the summer sun. It may seem that these 
 provisions for mere personal comfort bear small relation to 
 health, but the want of them does much to foster a habit 
 of neglect that is the despair of physicians. 
 
 Privies are sometimes placed over small streams of water, 
 which are thus converted into open sewers. This is ob- 
 viously uncleanly and unhealthful, and should never be 
 tolerated. Another and even worse plan is to make what 
 is called a well-privy — that is, one of which the vault is 
 dug down until water is reached. This water, of course, 
 as in other wells, comes from some subterranean stream, 
 and as it finds its way into the vault it finds its way out, 
 carrying with it much foul and poisonous material to other 
 wells or springs, no one knows where. Besides this, well- 
 privies are not as easily disinfected, nor are they generally 
 as often cleaned, as others, consequently they are more 
 dangerous to health. 
 
 Perhaps the best arrangement for a privy is a shallow 
 vault with a door behind or at one side, and fitted with a 
 box or drawer of wood or metal that can be drawn out 
 through the door and carried away to be emptied and 
 cleaned every week or two, or as often as may be necessary. 
 
22 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 If dry earth or ctiarcoal is constantly used in connection 
 with this arrangement, as already described, the plan is as 
 nearly perfect as anything of the kind can well be. The 
 next best plan is to use the dry earth or charcoal without 
 the drawer. The yault must then be somewhat deeper, for 
 without the drawer it can not be emptied in warm weather 
 without oifense unless the earth is used more freely and 
 more carefully than will generally be the case . Of course 
 every yault should be emptied every spring and fall, and in 
 the mean time should be kept thoroughly disinfected with 
 dry earth or by other means. 
 
 A spot that is naturally wet, or that receives the surplus 
 of rainfalls, is not a suitable place for a privy. It will be 
 difficult to empty, and practically impossible to keep disin- 
 fected. If on a hill-side, the defect may sometimes be 
 remedied by a drain above, similar to the one recommended 
 for the protection of the cellar of a house built on a hill- 
 side. If this can not be done, the only safe plan is to line 
 the yault with some water-proof material, or to have no 
 yault, but simply a movable box or drawer above the sur- 
 face of the ground. 
 
III. 
 THE HOUSE ITSELF. 
 
 Stoke, brick, and wood are the materials chiefly used 
 in this country for the construction of houses. Of either 
 of these a perfectly healthful house may be built. On the 
 other hand, it is possible to construct of either a house that 
 will almost inevitably induce illness among its inmates. 
 
 One of the first conditions of healthfulness in a house 
 in most climates is imperviousness of the walls to moisture. 
 Some yarieties of stone are porous and some others are 
 stratified in such a manner that water readily finds its way 
 through them. Fortunately, such stone is not durable 
 when exposed to the weather, and therefore is not much 
 used for building ; but it is used sometimes, with the cer- 
 tain consequence of damp walls. 
 
 Bricks are freely permeable to water, and a house built 
 of them is sure to be damp unless it is painted on the out- 
 side. It is no uncommon thing after a rain-storm of two 
 or three days' continuance, to find the inner surface of a 
 brick wall coyered with drops of water as with sweat, or to 
 find on it large patches that are appreciably wet to the eye 
 and hand, although there is no crack in the wall or roof 
 through which the rain might enter. This effect is often 
 more noticeable in country than in city houses, because the 
 latter are very commonly built m continuous rows, so that, 
 except at the ends of the rows, only the front and rear 
 walls of the houses are exposed to the weather, and as such 
 
24: HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 houses are, for economy of space and material, nearly 
 always made very long from front to rear, and very narrow, 
 the surface so exposed is very small in proportion to the 
 volume of dry, heated air within the house. This propor- 
 tion is still further increased in the majority of cases by 
 the fact that the sources of heat and dryness of the air are 
 more numerous and more extensive in the ordmary city 
 house than in the ordinary country house. 
 
 In both city and country, however, the moisture ab- 
 sorbed by brick walls is a common cause of illness. It is a 
 cause that may readily be prevented by painting the outer 
 surface of the bricks. It may be held as a universal rule 
 in relation to health that, in any region where the air is 
 sufficiently moist to produce occasional rains, no brick 
 house is fit for human habitation unless its outside is thor- 
 oughly painted. 
 
 From an architectural point of view the painting of a 
 brick house is commonly regarded as a barbarism, and so it 
 is if the object be to make the bricks represent stone or 
 anything else than what they are, since true art is always 
 opposed to shams. But, since true art has always for its 
 basis the most perfect adaptation of means to end, and 
 since the purpose of a brick house, as of any other, un- 
 doubtedly is to afford comfortable and healthful protection 
 from the weather, a brick house painted in a manner not 
 to belie the bricks and mortar is really more artistic than 
 one built of the finest Philadelphia pressed brick and un- 
 painted. 
 
 The healthfulness of a wooden house, as compared with 
 one of brick or stone, is very commonly considered as de- 
 pendent chiefly on the relative heat-conducting properties 
 of the different materials. It is sometimes said by architects 
 and builders that wood is a quicker conductor of heat 
 than brick or stone, and that therefore wooden houses are 
 warmer in summer and colder in winter than those built of 
 
THE HOUSE ITSELF, 25 
 
 the other materials. The fact is, that stone and brick are 
 more rapid conductors of heat than wood, although between 
 hard wood, brick, and some varieties of stone, there is not 
 a great deal of difference. The principal reason of the dif- 
 ference in temperature between houses built of these differ- 
 ent materials, but otherwise subject to similar conditions, is 
 to be found in the relative thickness of the walls. In the 
 case of wood the outer wall has usually a thickness of from 
 half an inch to two inches, to which sometimes is added a 
 lining of brick four inches in thickness, and sometimes 
 not. If brick is the principal material, the thickness must 
 be from eight to twelve inches ; and if stone, from eighteen 
 to twenty-four. By reason of these differences a stone 
 house is longer in getting heated, and also longer in cooling, 
 than a brick one, and the latter longer than a wooden one. 
 Hence, sudden changes in the temperature of the outside 
 air are more sensibly felt in a wooden house than in either 
 of the others. But the same cause sometimes renders a 
 stone or brick house uncomfortably, and therefore un- 
 healthfully, warm during half a summer night, where a 
 wooden house would have been comfortably cool within an 
 hour after sunset. 
 
 Another and more important consideration regarding 
 the healthfulness of wooden houses is the liability of the 
 wood to rot. There is this liability to some extent in all 
 houses, for all have some wood-work, but there is compara- 
 tively little rotting of the inside wood-work, provided the 
 inside of the house is dry and well aired. 
 
 The so-called ^'^ balloon-frame" houses that have latterly 
 become so numerous at sea-side resorts and in all other 
 places where money is to be made by building on contract 
 at the lowest possible cost, or by building with the pros^DCct 
 of immediate sale, are necessarily unhealthful. The slight 
 frame is covered with boards generally unsound and un- 
 seasoned, just sufficient to afford support to the sheathing- 
 
 2 
 
26 EBALTE AT SOMR 
 
 paper wticli is then nailed on, and on wliich dependence is 
 placed to stay the wind that would otherwise pass through 
 the joints and cracks of the wall almost as through a sieye. 
 This, again, is covered by yery thin clapboards, oyerlapping 
 each other by a fraction of an inch. 
 
 Many of these houses are handsome, and apparently 
 comfortable. In a driying storm, howeyer, the rain finds 
 its way under the edges of the clapboards, or eyen soaks 
 through them, and wets the paper. Once wet, the paper 
 will often remain so for weeks, or eyen months, at a time, 
 causing damp walls, mold, a musty smell, and rotten boards 
 and timbers. Of course, this eyil is greater at the sea- 
 side, where the storms are more seyere and the rain and 
 mist more penetrating than in inland districts, and 
 where yery many of the houses are occupied only for a 
 few weeks in summer, and during the rest of the year 
 are unwarmed and unyentilated. Many cases of so-called 
 malarial feyer are due to a residence of a few weeks, for 
 the purpose of health, in one of these badly-constructed 
 houses. 
 
 The roof is one of the most important parts of a house, 
 and the one most likely to call for repairs. Its purpose is 
 not merely to shut out the upper story from the exterior 
 air, for which a perfectly flat roof would do as well as any 
 other. Its main purpose is to shed off rain and snow ; and 
 its pitch must be sufficient for this. In those parts of our 
 country where heayy snows are unknown, the pitch may be 
 very moderate. In those parts where the snow-fall is heavy, 
 the pitch should not be less than 45° from the horizontal. 
 The angle at the ridge will thus be 90°, or a right angle. 
 The snow will slide down this decline about as fast as it 
 falls, so that there will be no leaky roofs from this cause. 
 The framework should be as light as is consistent with the 
 requisite strength. For the roofing, the old-fashioned 
 curying tile is probably the best material ; metals — tin. 
 
TEE HOUSE ITSELF. 27 
 
 zinc, lead, or galvanized iron — tlie worst. Between these lie 
 slate and shingles. 
 
 A shingle roof is not advisable in a city honse, because 
 it is liable to be set on fire by the sparks and cinders from 
 a neighboring conflagration. The same objection applies, 
 in a less degree, to its use in a village or suburban home, 
 where, however, it is not inadmissible. If the shingles 
 be soaked in oil for two or three days before they are laid, 
 and receive a coating of oil directly after, to be repeated 
 every few years, such a roof will remain sound for genera- 
 tions. The slate or shingles should be most carefully laid, 
 with a good overlap, and securely fastened. In no other 
 part of the house is poor material and poor workmanship 
 so bad economy. If the roof is faulty, the whole house 
 is bad, and nothing can make it good. 
 
 Windows are the eyes of the house ; through them 
 comes all the light which it receives. Light — sunlight, 
 that is — is in itself an effective hygienic and curative agent. 
 Florence Nightingale says : ^^ Second only to fresh air in 
 importance for the sick is light. Not merely daylight, but 
 direct sunlight, is necessary to speedy recovery, except in a 
 small number of cases. There are endless instances where 
 in dark wards, or wards with only a northern exposure, or 
 wards with borrowed light, even when properly ventilated, 
 the sick could not, by any means, be made speedily to 
 recover." 
 
 Dr. Richardson, a high authority, says : ^^ The mind 
 saddens in a home that is not flushed with light, and when 
 the mind is saddened the whole physical powers soon suffer. 
 The heart beats languidly, the blood flows slowly, the 
 breathing is imperfect, the oxidization of the blood is re- 
 duced, and the conditions are laid for the development of 
 many wearisome and unnecessary constitutional failures 
 and sufferings. Sunlight is also of itself useful to health 
 in a direct manner. It favors nutrition ; favors the nerv- 
 
28 HEALTB AT HOME. 
 
 ous functions ; sustains, chemically or ptiysicallj, the 
 healthy state of the blood. In every point of yiew sunlight 
 stands prominent as an agent of health. In sickness and 
 in health, in infancy, youth, middle age, old age, in all 
 seasons, for the benefit of the mind and the welfare of the 
 body, sunlight is the bearer and the sustainer of health." 
 
 Every house should have windows large enough, nu- 
 merous enough, and so placed as to afford the possibility 
 of abundant light to every room, and every corner of it. 
 There is little danger of going too far in this direction. 
 If on a bright summer day the light should be too intense, 
 it is easy to moderate it ; but it is not easy to increase it 
 or introduce it when you have done your worst in trying 
 to shut it out. 
 
 In England there is, or was, a special tax upon win- 
 dows, and so builders began to put in as few of them as 
 possible. Artists also find, or think they find, a special 
 beauty in small windows, overhanging window-brows, 
 quaint-looking little dormer-windows, and all that sort of 
 thing, which characterize the so-called ^' Queen Anne style." 
 We will not quarrel with them so long as they confine 
 themselves to sketching these buildings and extolling their 
 picturesqueness, although to our minds every arrangement 
 of an object which prevents it from fulfilling its proper 
 uses is a deformity. But we do protest against architects 
 putting up buildings for ns to live in from which sunlight 
 is excluded. The sunlight may indeed fade our carpets, 
 but surely this is a lesser evil than that the want of it 
 should blanch the cheeks of our children. 
 
 Having, then, abundant windows, let them be freely 
 opened to the sunlight during a portion of each day in the 
 year. An hour or two in every twenty-four is none too 
 long for the sun to look directly into every room which 
 we would have in a healthful condition, and more than this 
 is desirable except in the very hottest summer weather^ 
 
THE HOUSE ITSELF. 29 
 
 especially in. bedrooms, kitchens, sitting-rooms, and all 
 other apartments where people remain for several hours at 
 a time. 
 
 If the house has been built without consideration of this 
 need, so that it contains rooms into the windows of which 
 the direct rays of the sun never or rarely enter, these rooms 
 should be as freely lighted by reflected or diffused rays as 
 possible. The walls and wood-work of such a room should 
 be white or of some very light color. The carpet and fur- 
 niture should also be light. By this means the light which 
 does enter is so reflected from every side as to produce 
 something, though little, of the effect of direct sunlight. 
 Sometimes, indeed, it is possible to so adjust a screen of 
 white muslin or other suitable material outside of the win- 
 dow, or a system of mirrors inside of it, as to immediately 
 reflect the sun's rays throughout the room. If this can be 
 done, it is not a matter to be lightly neglected. 
 
 A striking illustration of the healthful effects of sun- 
 light is furnished by the record of a winter spent by a ship's 
 company in the Arctic regions. Scurvy appeared among 
 the men, and was aggravated by want of sunlight. Several 
 of the crew died, and at length most of the survivors lay 
 down in the forecastle, absolutely dying of darkness. The 
 day when the sun should, for a few moments, rise above the 
 horizon, was at hand, but the poor fellows in the forecastle 
 were too weak to come on deck to look upon it, nor did they 
 believe its light would ever bless their eyes again. The 
 weary horror of dark weeks and months through which 
 they had waited was for them the very shadow of the grave, 
 and silent, sullen, despairing, they waited the end. The 
 commander of the expedition, however, appreciating the 
 curative influence of sunlight, arranged a series of mirrors 
 with mathematical precision so that the very first ray of the 
 rising sun should be reflected down into the forecastle, and 
 notified the dying men exactly at what moment they were 
 
30 HEALTH AT HOME, 
 
 to look for it. When tliat moment came, and suddenly 
 through the gloom of the death-chamber flashed the sun- 
 light, and lay in a bright band ujoon the wall, some of the 
 rough, hard men laughed like children, some wept, some 
 shouted — all were delirious with joy. For a few moments 
 only the golden glory rested on the wall, and then passed 
 away. But the next day it returned for a longer stay. 
 And there was life in the light. Erom the day when it 
 first shone there were no more deaths, and no new cases 
 of sickness, and as day by day its stay gi'ew longer, the sick 
 gained strength and health, until soon no name was left 
 upon the sick-list. 
 
 The stairs of a house require attention in a sanitary 
 point of view, for the climbing a badly planned stairway is 
 irksome to all, and decidedly injurious to many, especially 
 to most women. The pitch should not be too stee]3 or the 
 rise too high. A rise of six inches and a breadth of step of 
 eleyen inches are about the best measurement. Curyed lines 
 are objectionable in any except very large stairways. The 
 squarer the stairway is, the better it is. Winding stairways, 
 in which the steps radiate, and are broader at one end than 
 at the other, are bad in every way. They occasion quite 
 unnecessary tumbles, with the concomitant bruised shins, 
 sprained ankles, and broken bones. 
 
 It sometimes happens that. In sj)ite of perfect outer 
 walls and roof, the plastering of a house will always be 
 slightly damp in rainy weather. The dampness may be 
 sufficient to be plainly seen or felt, or it may be just suffi- 
 cient to cause wall-paper to blister and peel off, and to 
 make the plaster itself gradually scale and crumble. Of 
 course, such houses are unhealthful. They are quite com- 
 mon near the sea-shore, and we are frequently told that 
 the effect is due to the sea-salt i» the air. This may be in 
 part true, but probably in most cases the cause lies more 
 largely in the sea-salt in the sand with which the plaster 
 
TEE EOUSE ITSELF. 31 
 
 was Blade. For this reason sand from the sea-shore or from 
 the surface of the ground within a few miles of the sea — 
 that is to say within the area visited by '' sea-air," should 
 never he used for making plaster or mortar for a dwelling- 
 house. Masons will tell us that such sand is " not sharp 
 enough " to make good mortar. In other localities, where 
 sand that is not very " sharp " is sometimes for economical 
 reasons used in building, it would be well to see whether 
 its want of "sharpness " does not mean that it holds some 
 impurity that will cause the mortar made from it to absorb 
 moisture. 
 
 The painting and papering of a house often have a rela- 
 tion to the health of its inmates. For the outside, it mat- 
 ters little, in a sanitary point of view, what is the color or 
 the material of the paint. If the object of the painting be 
 to protect from the weather, it is important to use materi- 
 als that will give a good body, and that will not readily 
 scale off. Also it is well to remember that a white or light 
 colored house will be cooler in summer than a dark one, 
 because the former will reflect and the latter absorb much 
 of the sun's heat. If the house is of wood, oiling will an- 
 swer the purpose of protection as well as painting or even 
 better. Aside from these considerations, questions of taste 
 and of economy should govern the matter. 
 
 For the inside of the house, however, there is more tO: 
 be said on this point. Most of the materials used in paint- 
 ing are more or less injurious to health, and many of them 
 are highly poisonous. The lead and zinc paints in com- 
 mon use are decidedly so. When applied mixed with oil, 
 these paints form a surface that soon acquires an almost 
 metallic hardness and coherence, and has little or no effect 
 upon the air of a room. Before this point is reached, how-v 
 ever, they affect the air very sensibly. The smell of fresh 
 paint indicates the presence in the air, not only of the vola- 
 tile parts of the oils that have been used in painting, but also 
 
32 EEALTH AT EOMR 
 
 of particles of the coloring-matter itself, albeit tliese par- 
 ticles are in general nearly or quite inodorous. It is there- 
 fore yery detrimental to health to occupy a painted room so 
 long as the odor of the paint or of the oil can be perceived. 
 
 The case is quite different as regards wall-paper and kal- 
 somine. The coloring materials of these never become so 
 coherent as do oil-paints, consequently if they are poison- 
 ous the air of a room decorated with them must always be 
 nnhealthful. For some years the injurious effects of ar- 
 senical colors thus used have been clearly recognized, and 
 certain shades of green have been therefore condemned. It 
 should be generally known, however, that arsenic is a com- 
 mon factor in the production of some other colors, notably 
 of some shades of gray which are now quite fashionable in 
 wall-papers and kalsomine. Indeed, most wall-papers and 
 kalsomines contain substances that are more or less injuri- 
 ous, even if they are free from arsenic. This matter has 
 not yet been fully investigated, but it is doubtless true that 
 many headaches, disorders of digestion, and various vague 
 ailments are caused by occupying papered and kalsomined 
 rooms, where there is no arsenical poisoning, and where the 
 true cause is not even suspected. 
 
 Another objection to wall-paper is that the paste with 
 which it is put on is liable sometimes to ferment and give 
 opportunity to unhealthy fungous growths. Besides, the 
 paper being porous and remaining in place for years, fre- 
 quently absorbs the germs of certain diseases, and so be- 
 comes a spreader of infection. 
 
 It is better that the walls throusrhout the interior of 
 the house should be painted in oil, or else that they should 
 be simply whitewashed. If neither of these plans is consid- 
 ered practicable, it becomes more important than ever that 
 the circulation of air should be abundant and constant. 
 
THE AIE WE BEEATHE. 
 
 The air is composed of two gases, nitrogen and oxygen, 
 in the proportion of 77 parts by weight of the former to 
 33 of the latter, with a small quantity of carbonic acid, a 
 mere trace of ammonia, and an extremely variable propor- 
 tion of water in the form of invisible vapor. In some 
 places and at some times air is liable to contain various 
 other gases, as impurities derived from various sources, but 
 those which have been named are constant elements of it. 
 The carbonic acid and the ammonia may, indeed, be con- 
 sidered as impurities, though their sources are so wide- 
 spread that they are never absent, and it is only with 
 respect to the use of the air for breathing that they can be 
 regarded as impurities, for in some other uses they are a 
 necessary part of it. The watery vapor, on the other hand, 
 is in no sense an impurity, as some portion of it is necessary 
 to make air fit for respiration as well as for other uses. 
 
 For our present purposes the main use of the nitrogen 
 of the air is to dilute the oxygen so as to render the whole 
 fit for breathing by the human lungs. Decrease the pro- 
 portion of nitrogen in a certain ratio, and we have the 
 elements of nitrous oxide ('^laughing-gas"), which may be 
 breathed for a short time, but would soon wear out the 
 system by the increased action which it occasions. De- 
 crease the nitrogen still further, and the result is the pro- 
 portions of the two gases that form nitric acid, which will 
 
34 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 eat into the flesh like fire^ and will devour almost every 
 metal excej^t gold. Decrease the ratio of oxygen, and we 
 diminish its adai^tability to breathing. When the diminu- 
 tion of oxygen reaches a certain point, the air becomes 
 wholly unfit for fulfilling its functions in the human econo- 
 my, and death ensues, more or less speedily according to 
 the ratio of this diminution. 
 
 One great — we may say the great — problem of securing 
 a healthy home is to make such provision that the atmos- 
 phere within the house shall always be very nearly in its 
 normal condition. That is, practically, that the air vitiated 
 by- having i3arted with a j)ortion of its oxygen by passing 
 into and out of the human system, or otherwise, shall be 
 driven off, and its place taken by pure air from without. 
 
 When the air from the house (more or less vitiated) has 
 been expelled, it ceases to be injurious except in extraordi- 
 nary cases ; for all gases have a strong tendency to commingle, 
 and the quantity thrown out is usually so small, when com- 
 pared with that into which it is thrown, that its noxious 
 power is imperceptible. There are indeed some kinds of 
 manufactures, the waste products of which vitiate the air 
 through a wide circuit — it may be for miles ; but such a 
 site will be sedulously avoided by any one who has a healthy 
 home in view, just as he would avoid the vicinity of a ma- 
 larial swamp. 
 
 The special function of the act of breathing is to keep 
 the blood constantly supplied with its due amount of oxy- 
 gen. Day and night, sleeping or waking, the chest alter- 
 nately contracts and expands some twenty times a minute, 
 drawing in at each inhalation about half a pint of air, 
 which at each exhalation is expelled in an altered condition. 
 
 Physiologists call this atmosi^heric ebb and flow the 
 "tidal air." But the air is not wholly expelled from the 
 system. About 100 cubic inches remain in the bronchial 
 tubes and in the millions of air-cells within the lungs. 
 
THE AIR WE BREATHE. 35 
 
 This *^ residuary air'' has been deprived of a portion of its 
 oxygen, giving it up to the blood and receiving therefrom 
 in return carbonic acid. The blood in its j^assage through 
 the system gives to the various tissues of the body most of 
 the oxygen which it had received in the lungs, and takes 
 from them carbonic acid ; and when at last it is collected 
 in the pulmonary artery, has a dark-purplish hue instead 
 of the bright scarlet with which it began its rounds. It is 
 poured into the right side of the heart — or rather the right 
 heart — whose strong contractions force it through innu- 
 merable capillary tubes distributed throughout the lungs, 
 where it receives a fresh supply of oxygen, parts with its 
 carbonic acid, is poured into the left heart, whence it is sent 
 again through the aorta and its myriad branching arteries 
 to every part of the system in one unceasing round. This 
 round begins at the moment of birth, and continues until 
 the last instant of life. The first and the last earthly act 
 of a human being is to breathe. 
 
 The act of breathing is the one which must be kept up 
 constantly and continuously as the prime condition of life. 
 We may live without eating for days, perhaps sometimes 
 for weeks. We may live for hours, perhaps sometimes for 
 days, without drinking. But we can live for only a very 
 few minutes without breathing. So essential is this func- 
 tion that its exercise is placed mainly beyond the control of 
 the will ; at most we can suspend or somewhat modify it 
 for a short time. We eat or drink by an act of the volition ; 
 we breathe without at all willing it. When the man has 
 absolutely ceased to breathe, he is dead. 
 
 Now, it is essential to the proper function of breathing 
 that the inhaled air shall be measurably pure. To what- 
 ever extent it is vitiated — that is, lacks its due proj)ortion 
 of oxygen or contains any noxious material — ^just in that 
 proportion must the function of breathing be imperfectly 
 performed. 
 
36 EEALTE AT HOME. 
 
 The eyil effects of breathing a vitiated atmosphere are 
 manifold, even though in the outset we scarcely notice 
 them, or by long habit become only partially sensible of 
 them. In general terms, it lowers the whole tone of the 
 system, although within certain limits this lowering is not 
 perceptible from day to day, or week to week ; but, from 
 season to season, the person is sensibly in worse health than 
 in the same season the year before. 
 
 There are other means of vitiating the air of an unven- 
 tilated room than the mere breathing it over and over 
 again. Among these are the heating of it by the ordinary 
 furnaces or by close stoves ; and more esjoecially the light- 
 ing by gas. An ordinary gas-burner will consume four 
 times as much oxygen, and consequently generate four 
 times as much carbonic acid, as will a single person by 
 breathing. There can not well be a more unhealthy and 
 debilitating place than a close hall packed with auditors, 
 and lighted by numerous jets of gas. K^o wonder that 
 many a preacher or lecturer finds himself addressing an au- 
 dience growing more and more unsympathetic or sleej^y. 
 
 The object of ventilation is to keep the air of a building 
 or apartment in its normal condition. This normal condi- 
 tion is affected in two ways : 1. By the abstraction of a 
 portion of its elements ; 2. By the introduction of ingredi- 
 ents positively injurious. Both these modes of vitiation oc- 
 cur in the case of inhabited rooms. From the pure outside 
 morning air, enter an ill-ventilated bedroom which has 
 been occupied through the night, and you will at once be- 
 come aware of a disagreeable sensation. The air appears 
 to be ^' close," and there is also an odor more or less offen- 
 sive. The '^ closeness" arises from the partial absence of 
 oxygen and the presence of a considerable quantity of car- 
 bonic acid. The foul smell has a quite different cause (for 
 carbonic acid is absolutely inodorous) ; it arises from exha- 
 lations from the body and other sources, and varies in in- 
 
THE AIR WE BREATHE. 37 
 
 tensity according to the nature and amount of these exha- 
 lations. 
 
 An adult, in health, breathes about twenty times a min- 
 ute, inhaling and exhaling at each respiration about half a 
 pint of air — say eleven gallons an hour. Each of these 
 half-pints of air is successively so far deoxygenized and 
 loaded with carbonic acid as to be in itself unfit for further 
 breathing. But these eleven gallons of air are by no means 
 sufficient to maintain life for an hour. From an air-tight 
 vessel of this caj)acity filled with pure air, let a tube pass to 
 the mouth of a person ; close the nostrils, and let him 
 breathe only by the mouth, through this tube, back and 
 forth into the vessel. At each respiration, after a few min- 
 utes, the breathing will become more and more impaired, 
 and, probably long before the hour has expired, the experi- 
 menter will be dead, unless the experiment has been aban- 
 doned. He would die from suffocation, just as he might be 
 suffocated by strangling or drowning. 
 
 Practically, the amount of air, originally pure, required 
 to maintain life, is five or six times as great as this — say a 
 hogshead, or about sixty gallons, an hour. In the experi- 
 ment above suggested, substitute a hogshead for a cask, and 
 the person might breathe for a full hour, although more 
 and more imperfectly from minute to minute toward the 
 last of the hour ; that is, while the air in the hogshead 
 became more and more vitiated from minute to minute, it 
 would not at the end of sixty minutes have reached that 
 extreme of vitiation which would render it absolutely in- 
 capable of sustaining life. 
 
 The processes of ventilation depend mainly upon the 
 convective principle by which heat is conveyed and dissemi- 
 nated through a volume of water, air, or gases. And this 
 requires that there should be a difference between the tem- 
 perature of the outer atmosphere and that within the room 
 to be ventilated. Theoretically it is of no consequence 
 
88 JSEALTB AT ROME. 
 
 wliicli is the colder, and therefore the heavier. The colder 
 air will always drive out the warmer, provided there is any 
 means by which the warmer air can escape ; not otherwise. 
 Thus, in a room provided with an adequate outlet, if the 
 air within be colder than that without, the current consist- 
 ing of cold air will be outivarcl until an equality of tem- 
 perature is reached, when the current will cease. 
 
 But practically the air within a room is almost in- 
 variably warmer than that without, and so the current 
 of fresh air will be imoard, provided, as before, that 
 there be a sufficient outlet by which the warmer air can 
 escape. 
 
 There is no difficulty in providing means for the inlet 
 of the colder air from without. There is indeed some 
 question whether it is best to admit it at the tojD or the 
 bottom of the room, or at some point intermediate between 
 them. If it is admitted at the bottom (which in itself 
 appears to present the most advantages), an opening of 
 proper size is made in the outer wall ; from this outer open- 
 ing a pipe runs under the floor, through which it opens at 
 some desirable point — underneath the stove if there be one 
 in the room. If the cold air is to be admitted near the 
 top of the room, a partial opening of the window by let- 
 ting the upper sash down an inch or two is as good as any 
 other possible method. 
 
 But some reasons have been adduced for admitting the 
 air at a jooint between the top and the bottom of the room. 
 A very good authority says : '* A substitute for the sash- 
 ventilating plan is to introduce into the room one or more 
 of the so-called ^Tobin's tubes.' These tubes pierce the 
 outer wall horizontally about waist-high, and upon reach- 
 ing the interior turn upward at a right angle, discharging 
 fresh air into the room some two or three feet from the 
 ceiling. The air ascends, and is distributed gently and 
 without draught throughout the room. There are many 
 
TBE AIR WE BREATEE, 39 
 
 devices for concealing tlie tubes, or giving tliem an orna- 
 mental aspect," 
 
 But most of the advantages of the Tobin's tubes may be 
 secured by a slight modification of the ordinary mode of 
 window- ventilation. Lower the upper sash about ten inches, 
 and fill the opening at the top with a tightly fitting board. 
 A space of about an inch thick, and as long as the width 
 of the window, is thus left between the panes of the upper 
 and the lower sash. Through this will flow an inward 
 ascending current of cold air, which will diffuse itself 
 throughout the room, while it is at the same time gradually 
 sinking by its own comparative weight to the floor. This 
 modification is especially adapted for use during the night 
 in sleeping-rooms, since, should a storm arise, no rain can 
 enter the apartment by it, as might be the case were the 
 opening above the sash left unclosed. In the morning the 
 board should usually be removed, the lower sash raised and 
 the upper one lowered, for a more thorough "airing" of 
 the room. 
 
 If an apartment be without a chimney-flue (which 
 should never be the case when it can possibly be prevented), 
 something may still be done by means of a ventilator open- 
 ing, directly or indirectly, near the ceiling, into the outer 
 air. Better than nothing at all is a mere transom- window 
 over the door, opening into a cool hall. When the sash of 
 the transom (which swings upon pivots) is inclined outward 
 and upward, a current of air will be created on each side — 
 the warm air of the room passing out on the upper side, 
 the cooler air from the hall flowing in upon the lower side. 
 If, however, the air of the hall is warmer than that of the 
 room, and is vitiated by exhalations from the kitchen or 
 otherwise, this transom is worse than useless; for the air 
 which comes in is more impure than that which goes out 
 and is replaced by it. 
 
 In very many cases it is impossible to make use of any 
 
40 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 means for ventilation other than the doors and windows 
 and the chimneys. Usually these can be made to serve 
 a very good j^iirpose, although their positions and other 
 conditions vary so greatly in different cases that it is im- 
 possible to lay down any strict rules for their use. Common 
 sense in the application of the principles already brought 
 to view is required. It should always be remembered that 
 a single opening is not enough in ordinary circumstances. 
 It is better that there should be several, and that they 
 should be at different heights. Thus, a window oj^ened a 
 little way at top and bottom is commonly more effective 
 than a window opened to twice the extent at either top or 
 bottom. If, however, the temperature within the room is 
 the same as that outside, there will be neither incoming 
 nor outgoing current unless advantage can be taken of a 
 breeze or of some artificial movement of the air, and in 
 the absence of these it becomes necessary to throw the win- 
 dow wide open at either top or bottom and trust to the 
 law of diffusion of gases for preserving the purity of the 
 air. 
 
 If there is a fire in an open fireplace or grate, or in a 
 stove that has a direct and powerful draught, air will be 
 drawn from the room so rapidly to feed the fire that the 
 outer air will rush in abundantly through any opening 
 that may exist, and frequently when the fire is brisk enough 
 air will thus find its way through the joints of the doors 
 and windows even while these are closed. For this reason 
 it is often possible by building a light fire to ventilate in a 
 few minutes a room that has been shut uj) a long time and 
 smells close and musty, and, if the fire bums with a free 
 draught and is not continued too long, the air of the room 
 is sometimes decidedly cooler after than before the opera- 
 tion. 
 
THE WATER WE DRINK. 
 
 Next in immediate importance to pure air is water. 
 Water dissolves or takes up, to a greater or less degree, 
 almost eyery substance with which, it comes in contact. 
 Rain-water is perhaps its purest natural form. But in its 
 passage through the atmosphere it carries with it some am- 
 monia and more or less of the minute animal and yegetable 
 organisms floating in the air. These are often present in 
 such quantities that their decomposition renders rain-water 
 more or less putrid after it has stood some time. More- 
 over, in thickly populated districts, and in the neighborhood 
 of many manufactories, the rain in its descent absorbs va- 
 rious impurities from the air. It is also liable to acquire 
 organic matter from leaves and other substances on the 
 roofs from which it is commonly collected, and in some 
 cases from the materials of the roofs themselves. From 
 these causes the water of cisterns frequently becomes offen- 
 sive and unfit for drinking. Even though these impurities 
 are not obvious to any sense, they are always to be guarded 
 against, for water may be perfectly clear, colorless, and 
 sparkling, with no unpleasant taste or odor, and yet contain 
 a dangerous amount of organic matter. There is a very 
 simple test for this : Pat into a clear, colorless, glass- 
 stoppered bottle, a pint of the suspected water, with a few 
 grains of white lump-sugar ; expose the bottle to the day- 
 light in the window of a warm room. If within a week or 
 
42 HEALTH AT HOME, 
 
 ten days the water becomes turbid, there is organic pollu- 
 tion of some sort, and it is almost certainly unfit for drink- 
 ing, as it is. 
 
 If water has any taste or smell, it should always be 
 boiled before drinking. It is well to filter it also. In fact, 
 it is a wise precaution to filter all drinking-water, even 
 though it be not thought necessary to boil it. There is no 
 end to the number and size of the filters offered for sale. 
 In lack of any of these, one which will answer every prac- 
 tical purpose may be readily extemporized anywhere. 
 Take a common unglazed earthen flower-pot of large size ; 
 coyer the hole in the bottom with a bit of clean flannel ; 
 put in three inches of grayel, and as much of white sand, 
 and oyer this four inches of charcoal ; pour in the water at 
 the top, and let it filter through the hole in the bottom into 
 a glass or earthen yessel below, and what with the antiseptic 
 quality of the charcoal, and the mechanical filtering power 
 of the sand and grayel, the water will come out i)ure and 
 innocuous. The charcoal in time will become clogged with 
 the impurities, and should be cleansed by heating it upon 
 a shovel oyer a hot fire. The sand and gravel must also be 
 cleaned or renewed from time to time. This simple and 
 inexpensive filtering, and the boiling of all suspected water, 
 will be a great safeguard against such diseases as typhoid 
 fever, cholera, and dysentery, which are to a considerable 
 extent propagated by drinking-water. 
 
 The water of lakes and large ponds is generally nearly 
 as pure as rain-water ; often purer than that of springs and 
 wells, for the reason that, while these natural reservoirs 
 derive most of their water from underground streams which 
 are more or less affected by the soil or the rocky strata 
 through which they pass, lakes receive also no small amount 
 of rain-water directly from the clouds, which is nearly pure. 
 The same is true of the water of large rivers, except that 
 it contains in suspension considerable quantities of mud, 
 
THE WATER WE DRINK, 43 
 
 wliicli is deposited as earthy sediment when the water is 
 allowed to stand for a while in a suitable yessel. The water 
 thus clarified is usually excellent ; that of some large rivers, 
 as the Mississipi^i and the Nile, pre-eminently so, as is 
 vouched for by all voyagers upon those streams. 
 
 The water supplied from lakes, ponds, and rivers is that 
 which is generally supplied to large cities by means of pub- 
 lic water- works. Under proper conditions it is unexcep- 
 tionable except that in summer it is usually too warm to 
 be agreeable for drinking ; but this defect is remedied by 
 the addition of ice. With us this icing is usually carried 
 too far. The temperature of our ice-water is usually sev- 
 eral degrees lower than it should be, in a sanitary point of 
 view. The best temperature is that of the water from a 
 cool spring or deep well, and this will range through several 
 degrees as indicated by the thermometer. Moreover, the 
 ice itself not unfrequently contains more or less of impuri- 
 ties from various sources ; hence it is advisable that the 
 vessel for holding ice-water should consist of two cylinders, 
 one within the other, and not communicating with each 
 other, so that the ice and water do not come in contact. 
 The ice is placed in the inner cylinder, the water in the 
 outer one. If the relative size of these is judiciously pro- 
 portioned, the water will be kept at a proper temperature, 
 and a considerable saving will be made in the quantity of 
 ice required. 
 
 But, if the water of rivers flows through a densely peo- 
 pled region, especially a manufacturing one, or through or 
 near large cities, it is invariably more or less polluted by 
 the refuse of the manufactories, and the various impurities 
 from dwellings, barn-yards, stables, etc., for which the river 
 furnishes the readiest means of drainage. The water should 
 always be taken from a point above any of these polluting 
 sources ; and stringent legal provision should be made that 
 BO such injurious establishments shall be so placed that 
 
44: HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 their drainage may enter the river above tlie point of sup- 
 ply- ' 
 
 Moreover, it happens sometimes that the water in ponds 
 
 and reservoirs is affected by what appears to iis to be a 
 spontaneous growth of microscopic vegetation, in such 
 quantities as to seriously imjoair its purity. This evil, usu- 
 ally temporary in its duration, may be obviated by boiling 
 the water before it is used. This will effectually destroy 
 the dangerous vitality of the vegetable growth ; and a sub- 
 sequent filtering will render the water perfectly salubrious. 
 
 The water of springs and wells is always somewhat 
 modified by the character of the soil or rocky strata through 
 which it percolates. If the neighboring rock is of granitic 
 formation, the water takes np very little from it, and is con- 
 sequently very nearly in its natural state. If the rock be 
 limestone or magnesian, the water will be largely, and often 
 injuriously, impregnated with these minerals. If the soil 
 be alkaline, the water will often be utterly unfit for drink- 
 ing by man or beast. The water of wells is essentially the 
 same as that of the S23rings of the region, only it is more 
 likely to be polluted by admixtures from Avithout — the 
 drainings of dwellings, barns, manufactories, and the like. 
 
 Water containing carbonate or sulphate of lime in solu- 
 tion is called " hard." That which is free from these salts 
 is said to be '^ soft." In many parts of this and other coun- 
 tries these substances are so abundant in the earth that all 
 the water of the region is hard except rain-water. Peo]Dle 
 who are accustomed to drinking hard water do not generally 
 find it unhealthy, but it is apt, when drunk freely by those 
 who are unaccustomed to it, to cause diarrhoea. Its mod- 
 erate use for a few days will generally overcome this tend- 
 ency. If the hardness of water is due principally to the 
 presence of carbonate of lime, it may be made soft by boil- 
 ing, the carbonate of lime being thus made to adhere to the 
 bottom and sides of the vessel. 
 
TSE WATER WE DRINK, 45 
 
 Tlie use of lead pipes to convey water is a very com- 
 mon source of unwliolesomeness in the latter. The pres- 
 ence of lead in the water is scarcely perceptible to the taste, 
 and its effects are not usually manifested at once, but the 
 poison introduced from day to day accumulates in the sys- 
 tem, and after a time the sudden occurrence of ^^ painter's 
 colic " or of the peculiar form of paralysis due to lead-poi- 
 soning shows the mischief that has been done. Lead pi23es, 
 when used to convey drinking-water, should always be lined 
 with block- tin. If this is not possible, the water, whenever 
 drawn, should be allowed to run until all that has been for 
 any time at rest within the lead pipe is discharged, before 
 any is saved for drinking. 
 
 Supposing we have secured reasonably pure and whole- 
 some water, the quantity that we ought to drink demands 
 some consideration. In ordinary circumstances, however, 
 this is perhaps a matter of less importance than some have 
 supposed, provided always that we drink enough to supply 
 the daily waste through the various excretions. In general, 
 thirst is a good guide, though when very thirsty it is well 
 to drink slowly and with intervals, for thirst depends not 
 on the absence of water from the stomach, but on the want 
 of it in the blood and bodily tissues, so that we must not 
 only swallow it but wait for it to be absorbed before thirst 
 will be fully allayed, and if we do not so wait we are liable 
 to swallow more than is needed. There is no great harm 
 in this if we are well and strong, and the water is not too 
 cold, for the superfluous water will very soon be discharged 
 by the skin and kidneys, but until it is so discharged it will 
 cause us discomfort. 
 
 The entire quantity of water ordinarily discharged from 
 the body of a healthy man in twenty-four hours is not far 
 from four and a half pounds. This is considerably more 
 than is usually drunk, because a great deal is taken in 
 various kinds of food. Much, however, depends on habit. 
 
4:6 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 Many persons in good health habitually drink and discharge 
 far less than the average quantity of water and watery fluids, 
 while others, seemingly equally healthy, greatly exceed that 
 quantity. Occupation also has a large influence in the mat- 
 ter. Some kinds of labor, carried on in great heat, cause as 
 much perspiration in an hour as commonly occurs in a day, 
 and this must be balanced by drinking an equivalent quan- 
 tity of water, so that it is not unusual for glass-blowers, 
 foundrymen, etc., to drink water at the rate of half a gal- 
 lon or a gallon per hour. 
 
 The quantity necessary, therefore, becomes largely a 
 matter of circumstances and individual habit, and each one 
 must in this respect be in great measure a rule unto himself. 
 
YI. 
 
 THE FOOD WE EAT. 
 
 It follows, from tlie nature of the case, that the food, 
 taken as a whole, must contain, and in due proportions, all 
 the elements which go to make up the body whose waste 
 it has to repair. And it must also be presented in such a 
 form as to render it digestible. A piece of the dry bark of 
 a tree contains in it nearly all of the elements of the human 
 body, but not in a digestible form. It is sometimes eaten 
 under extreme stress of famine ; but it must first be broken 
 into small pieces, and boiled in water to soften the tough 
 fiber and cause the starch-vessels to burst. A fleshless 
 bone contains a large proportion of highly nutritive matter, 
 but in such a form that the digestive fluids can not get at 
 it. A man might take into his stomach bone-dust contain- 
 ing enough nutritive matter to make a full meal, and yet 
 starve to death. Yet, if the bones had been subjected to 
 proper boiling, the nutritive matter would have been ex- 
 tracted, and have become excellent food. 
 
 The various processes of cooking, besides gratifying the 
 palate, soften the food, and thus render it more easy of di- 
 gestion. Some of the best articles for food can be used as 
 such only after they have been cooked. 
 
 The kind of food suitable for one age of life may be 
 wholly unsuitable for another. In an infant the digestive 
 functions are performed so rapidly that he must feed 
 every two hours. The adult need not eat oftener than two 
 
48 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 or three times a day. The infant's food must be of a kind 
 that can be rapidly digested ; at first, milk only. Not one 
 infant in ten would survive many days if he were given 
 only bread, even though soaked in water, to say nothing of 
 yege tables and meat. 
 
 It is an often-mooted question whether man should live 
 on vegetable or animal food, or both, but, as a matter of 
 fact, everybody who can get it eats both animal and vege- 
 table food. The structure of his teeth and digestive organs 
 indicate that man was intended to be an eater of both 
 animals and vegetables. So was he in the first beginnings 
 of his recorded history, so is he now, and so we doubt not he 
 will be while the world stands. The proportions in which 
 he will use these two kinds of food depends much upon 
 circumstances, notably on climate. When both kinds are 
 readily procurable, vegetable food will usually predominate 
 in the diet of the inhabitants of the tropics, animal food 
 in that of the peoples of frigid zones. 
 
 Vegetables, taken collectively, contain in varying pro- 
 portions all the elements contained in the human frame. 
 Wheat probably contains them in the best proportions — 
 unless, indeed, maize may be placed close by its side ; in 
 some respects a little above, in others a little below. 
 
 Wlien wheat is made into flour, a certain portion of its 
 nutritive value is lost. That is to say, a part of its gluten, 
 which is its principal flesh-forming element, and which lies 
 near the surface of the grain, adheres to the hull or skin 
 when it is ground, and so is lost in the bran. By the old 
 method of grinding and bolting, the finer and whiter the 
 flour is made the more gluten is lost. 
 
 These facts of themselves would be suflScient to warrant 
 the theory that bread made of superfine flour would not of 
 itself suffice to maintain human life, since it lacks several 
 of the components of the body. Partial experiments upon 
 man, and complete ones upon animals, fully established 
 
THE FOOD WE EAT. 49 
 
 the theory. It has been found that a dog, fed exclusively 
 upon bread made from superfine flour, will not live more 
 than a month. Though furnished with an abundance of 
 this, it is literally starved to death. The other food which 
 we take, however, contains the elements wanting in white 
 bread, thus supplying the deficiency ; so that for us the 
 whitest of bread is not positively unwholesome. 
 
 Still, taking all things into account, bread made from 
 flour that contains the full proportion of gluten is, on sani- 
 tary grounds, to be preferred. For this reason many have 
 advocated the use of unbolted flour, making the so-called 
 '' Graham - bread," while others recommend the use of 
 " middlings " instead of fine flour. Both of these prepara- 
 tions, however, are less agreeable to most people than fine 
 flour, and they contain more or less indigestible material 
 that irritates some stomachs. Flour made by what is 
 called the ^^new process," however, obviates all these ob- 
 jections, for, while it contains all, or nearly all, the gluten 
 of the wheat, it is perfectly fine, white, and free from 
 bran. It is therefore on all accounts to be preferred, 
 and is well worth the extra price which it costs. Only 
 certain varieties of wheat are capable of being made into 
 flour by this process, and these varieties are rich in gluten. 
 Such is the hard, spring wheat of Minnesota, from which 
 it is said that not only the finest but the most nutritious 
 flour in the world is now made. 
 
 Flour, as it comes from the miller, is sometimes adulter- 
 ated with bean-meal, for rendering the dough more tena- 
 cious when kneaded. Damaged flour is " corrected " by the 
 use of alum and of carbonate of soda — the latter to remove 
 the sourness occasioned by decomposition of the gluten. 
 Bakers not unfrequently add alum to ^^ white bread," in 
 order to make it still whiter ; and alum in any considera- 
 ble quantities acts injuriously upon the digestive organs. 
 
 In the making of bread or biscuit two things are of 
 
50 EEALTE AT HOME. 
 
 paramount importance^ namely, that it shall he light and 
 Bweet. If it is heavy the digestive fluids can not act readily 
 on it, and, while some strong stomachs will digest it with- 
 out much inconvenience, many will only do it painfully 
 and at the expense of wearying effort, that if frequently re- 
 peated must induce disease. If it is sour, it is not only dif- 
 ficult of digestion, but its nutritive value is lessened. The 
 sourness of bread is a certain sign that putrefactive change 
 has commenced in the gluten. This is sometimes due to 
 the fact that the dough or the sponge has stood too long, for 
 this change will always occur when flour is kept moist and 
 warm for a considerable time. Sometimes it is due to the 
 use of "yeast-cakes "or " leaven " made of flour or meal 
 in which the change is already begun. Soda or saleratus 
 is often used to correct such sourness by combination with 
 the acid that has been developed in the dough. It can do 
 this, but it can not restore the decomposed gluten, and if, 
 as frequently happens, it is added in excess of the acid in 
 the bread, it will neutralize some of the acid of the gastric 
 juice in those who eat of it, thereby impairing digestion 
 and frequently causing pain and illness. 
 
 Frequently the lightness of bread is secured by mixing 
 with the flour baking-soda and cream of tartar. The chem- 
 ical action which takes place between these substances when 
 wet, causes the discharge of carbonic-acid gas, which, be- 
 ing confined by the dough, puffs the latter up, or " raises " 
 it. A similar result follows if sour milk or some other 
 acid substance is used instead of the cream of tartar. 
 Bread made in this way may be perfectly healthful if the 
 acid and alkali are used in moderate quantity and in due 
 proportions. In domestic practice, however, the propor- 
 tions are rarely accurately observed, the alkali being usually 
 somewhat in excess. If it is considerably so, the digestive 
 function must suffer. 
 
 All baking-powders are combinations of acid and alkali 
 
THE FOOD WE EAT. 51 
 
 similar to tlie one mentioned. They have the advantage of 
 being generally accurately proportioned, and the disadvan- 
 tage of being very frequently adulterated with substances 
 more or less deleterious. 
 
 ^^ Prepared" or "self-raising" flour is simply flour in 
 which the acid and alkali are already mixed, needing only 
 to be wet in order to develop their action. Such flour, 
 when prepared and sold by responsible parties, is usually 
 perfectly wholesome. 
 
 The starch contained in wheat and in many other vege- 
 tables is in the process of digestion converted into sugar, 
 and as such serves an imj)ortant purjoose in nutrition. 
 When bread is toasted this change in its starch is greatly 
 forwarded, and therefore toast is much more readily di- 
 gested than plain bread. 
 
 Warm bread is somewhat difficult of digestion, partly 
 because it forms a close, adhesive mass, partly because the 
 butter, which is commonly eaten with it in larger quanti- 
 ties than with bread that is not warm, melts and soaks into 
 it, both of these causes interfering with the action of the 
 digestive fluids upon it. 
 
 Of the meats commonly used by us, none are of them- 
 selves other than wholesome. Each has some good qualities 
 to a greater extent than others. Good beef combines 
 probably more of these than any other. Good mutton is 
 not far behind. Every now and then a senseless outcry is 
 raised against pork. So far as this is directed against the 
 flesh of swine fed upon garbage, distillery-slops, and the 
 like, kept in close pens, and forced to wallow in filth, the 
 denunciation is well deserved. But the swine in his natu- 
 ral state is very cleanly in his habits. His wont of "wal- 
 lowing in the mire " is not at all uncleanly. He does so in 
 order to rid himself of certain insect annoyances. The 
 mud only touches his bristles, and comes off when it gets 
 dry. The flesh of corn-fed pork is perfectly wholesome, 
 
52 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 and for several reasons is better adapted than any other for 
 the main meat of those who are engaged in laborious out- 
 door occupations. The lumberman, for example, prefers 
 pork to beef as a regular diet. 
 
 There are those who find a s|)ecial delicacy in venison 
 and the flesh of other game. But probably this arises 
 from the comparative rarity of the meat, and from its 
 being usually eaten under circumstances when the appetite 
 is keen, rather than from any real superiority. Poultry 
 and wild birds are unexceptionable at any time ; but 
 rather by way of change than as a constant diet. They 
 cloy upon the appetite. '^Turkey every day" is what 
 no man can endure. So also with quails and similar small 
 birds. 
 
 Boiling renders meat more digestible than any other 
 mode of cooking, and is more economical, since a less pro- 
 portion of the nutritive matter is lost. It has been esti- 
 mated that, in boiling, beef and mutton lose about 23 per 
 cent of their weight ; in baking, about 31 per cent ; in 
 roasting, about 34 per cent. Some kinds of meat — especially 
 the flesh of young animals — are unsuited for boiling, since 
 they contain a large percentage of gelatine and albumen, 
 which are readily dissolved in hot water, and are conse- 
 quently ^"^ boiled away" and wasted. 
 
 In baking, roasting, and broiling, the heat should be 
 strongest at first, and then diminished ; because the quick 
 heat at the beginning closes the pores of the meat, pre- 
 venting the juices from escaping, and enabling them to per- 
 meate the entire piece. 
 
 In stewing and hashing, the meat is put into a more 
 convenient form for digestion than by any other mode. 
 The minute subdivision requisite for digestion, and which 
 otherwise must be done by the teeth, is to a good degree 
 performed by the cooking. Stews and hashes are therefore 
 especially adapted for those whose teeth, whether from age 
 
THE FOOD WE EAT, 53 
 
 or other cause, are too imperfect to perform properly their 
 work of mastication. 
 
 Fish, as an article of food, holds a somewhat peculiar 
 position. Those who can get only fish for animal food are 
 certainly liable to many diseases. Yet, when alternated 
 with flesh-meat, both are better than either. 
 
 The custom, that when a dinner consists of several 
 courses one of them should be fish, appears to be based 
 upon good sanitary grounds. The rule of the greater part 
 of the Christian Church, which, by proscribing the eating 
 of meat on Fridays, virtually prescribes that of fish, is 
 probably a wiser one than the framers of it knew. It would 
 be well, upon the whole, that fish should be eaten to a 
 much greater extent than it now is in our country, and to 
 quite as great an extent as it is likely to be eaten, even 
 should our schemes of fish-culture accomplish all that is 
 hoped for them. 
 
 Eggs are purely an animal product, as are meat and 
 milk, between which in composition they hold a kind of 
 middle place. The contents of a raw egg consist of about 
 74 parts, by weight, of water, 14 of nitrogenous elements, 
 10 of fatty matter, and 2 of various saline substances. In 
 a sanitary point of view, boiling is the best mode of cook- 
 ing them- Hard-boiled eggs are not so easy of digestion 
 as soft-boiled ones, and are apt to produce constipation in 
 some persons. 
 
 As to the quantity of food required for perfect suste- 
 nance, the best authorities give estimates that differ more 
 in seeming than in fact, when the conditions under which 
 they were made are considered. Dalton says : 
 
 '*The total quantity of food required by man has been 
 variously estimated. It will necessarily vary, indeed, not 
 only with the constitution and habits of the individual, but 
 also with the quality of the food employed ; since some 
 articles, such as corn and meat, contain very much more 
 
54 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 alimentary material in the same bulk than fresh fruits or 
 yegetables. Any estimate, therefore, of the total quantity 
 should state also the kind of food used ; otherwise it will 
 be altogether without yalue. From experiments per- 
 formed while living on an exclusiye diet of bread, fresh 
 meat, and butter, with coffee and water for drink, we haye 
 found that the entire quantity of food required during 
 twenty-four hours by a man in full health, and taking free 
 exercise in the open air, is as follows : 
 
 Meat 16 ounces, or 1*00 pound avoirdupois. 
 
 Bread 19 " " ri9 « 
 
 Butter or fat 3^ " " '22 " 
 
 Water 52 fluid ounces, 3-38 " " 
 
 That is to say, rather less than two and a half pounds of 
 solid food, and rather oyer three pints of liquid food." 
 
 Dr. Letheby estimates that an adult male, engaged in 
 ordinary actiye labor, requires each day about 5 ounces of 
 nitrogenous food (meat, fish, eggs, etc.), and 29 ounces of 
 carbonaceous food (bread, butter, sugar, potatoes, etc.), in 
 the forms in which they are ordinarily used. Those en- 
 gaged in yery laborious work may need half as much more 
 of nitrogenous food, and something more of carbonaceous 
 food ; those engaged in comparatiyely inactiye occupations 
 require considerably less. 
 
 The dietetic scale can in some respects be better arranged 
 by army surgeons than by any others, since soldiers are 
 usually men in the prime of life, and in sound physical 
 condition ; and the estimates are made from such large 
 numbers that indiyidual idiosyncrasies will about balance 
 each other. Dr. Pla}rfair has collated the dietaries fur- 
 nished for soldiers in the Crimean War, the Austro-Italian 
 War, and the ciyil war in' the United States, the general 
 result being that for each day about 8 ounces of nitrogenous 
 and 18 ounces of carbonaceous food were allotted to each 
 
THE FOOD WE EAT. 
 
 55 
 
 soldier. The comparatively small amount of carbonaceous 
 food required is explained by the fact that the yegetables 
 provided were to a great extent *^ desiccated/' that is, de- 
 prived of much of their water. 
 
 These proportions are considerably less than those given 
 by Professor Horsford in his table of the rations of the 
 more important armies of the world when in active service, 
 which is as follows : 
 
 FOOD. 
 
 Flour 
 
 Cornmeal. 
 White 
 
 bread . . . 
 Hardbread 
 Black rye 
 
 bread . . . 
 Fresh beef. 
 Salt beef. . 
 Salt pork. . 
 Potatoes f 
 
 Eice \ 
 
 Barley. . 
 
 Peas I 
 
 Beans . . [ 
 Oatmeal . . 
 Desiccated 
 vegetables 
 
 Cabbage or 
 sauerkraut 
 Coffee, 
 
 green . . 
 Coffee, 
 roasted & 
 ground.. 
 
 Tea 
 
 Brandy. ., 
 Wine.. .. 
 
 Beer 
 
 Tobacco . . 
 
 Sugar 
 
 Vinegar... 
 Lime-juice 
 Mustard . , 
 H or s e- 
 
 radish. . . 
 
 Pepper 
 
 Salt 
 
 a 
 < 
 
 22 oz. or 
 
 20 oz. or 
 
 22 oz. or 
 16 oz. or 
 
 20 oz. or 
 20 oz. or 
 
 12 oz. 
 
 16 oz. 
 3 times 
 
 weekly 
 
 1-6 oz. 
 
 0-64 gill 
 
 or 1 oz. 
 2 times 
 weekly, 
 
 1-6 oz. or 
 
 l-2Soz.or 
 2-4 oz 
 
 2-4 oz. 
 
 0-32 giU. 
 
 0-4 oz. 
 0-6 oz. 
 
 32 oz. 
 4 oz. 
 
 1-65 oz. 
 
 2-30 oz. 
 
 17-160Z, 
 3-10 oz, 
 
 
 24oz. or,16oz.or 
 16 oz. 16 oz 
 
 16oz. or 
 
 16oz.or 
 
 16 oz. 
 
 2 oz. or 
 2oz, 
 
 2oz. 
 1 oz. 
 1 oz. 
 
 0-25 oz. 
 0-5 gill. 
 
 2oz. 
 1 oz. 
 
 0-05 oz. 0-31 oz. 
 0-10 oz. 0-62 oz. 
 
 16oz. or 
 
 16oz. or 
 
 16 oz. 
 
 4oz. 
 other 
 vegeta- 
 bles. 
 16 oz. 
 
 1-43 0Z. 
 0-43 oz. 
 
 1 oz. 
 
 Frencli. 
 
 22-83 OZ.) or 
 and V 26-43 
 3-52 OZ. ) oz. 
 10-78 oz. or 
 
 8-47 oz. 
 
 2 • 11 oz. or 
 2-11 oz. or 
 
 0-9 oz. 
 
 0'43 gill, or 
 1-75 gill 
 
 Hoz. 
 
 0-9 oz. 
 
 16 oz. or 
 
 32 oz. 
 8 oz. or 
 
 4oz. 
 
 20 oz. or 
 2-C6oz. or 
 4 oz. or 
 8 oz. or 
 8 oz. or 
 5-3 oz. 
 
 gills 
 
 supply 
 
 s a 
 
 16 oz. 
 1 6 oz. or 
 16 oz. or 
 
 16 oz. 
 
 •5 gills. 
 
 1-5 gill. 
 I'l quart 
 
 1-75 gill, 
 quantity 
 imk'wn. 
 
 3-86 gr, 
 3-86 gr. 
 0"75 oz. 
 
 The health of a home dej)ends in no small degree upon 
 
56 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 the kinds of food cliosen, the quality of eacli kind, the 
 proper cooking of it, and the manner in which it is eaten. 
 With ns there is practically no limit to the choice of kinds, 
 and it is very rare that articles of perfectly unexceptionable 
 quality are not to be had. 
 
 It is for many reasons desirable to have yariety in our 
 food ; why else is such a yariety of edibles proyided for us, 
 on the dry land and in air and water ? And there are 
 many ways in which, by cooking, each material may be 
 made into many quite different dishes. The person who 
 said, *'I eat only to liye," said a yery foolish thing. We 
 are so constituted that the proper exercise of eyery bodily 
 function giyes us pleasure ; and the rightful gratification 
 of eyery sense is an innocent gratification. It may some- 
 times be a duty to *^ mortify one's body" for the sake of 
 some higher end ; but to mortify it just for the sake of its 
 being mortified is sheer folly. It is worse than folly ; it 
 is an implied slur upon the Maker and Former of our 
 bodies. There was little saintliness in the action of that 
 old saint who spread an abundant and yaried table for his 
 guests, but made his own dinner of a crust of bread and a 
 radish. 
 
 The good housewife need by no means deyote her days 
 and nights to the study of the profound gastronomical 
 works of famous cooks ; nor need she keep a scrap-book in 
 which to paste the recipes floating about in the news- 
 papers. Her theoretical knowledge of that art which man 
 alone is said to practice can be much more easily acquired. 
 She should, of course, be able to do her own marketing, 
 eyen though she need not always do it in person. She 
 should know from what part of the animal any particular 
 cut is taken, and for what purpose any particular cut is 
 best adapted. She should be quite able to distinguish the 
 body of a young turkey or chicken from that of a yenerable 
 gobbler or ancient chanticleer ; a freshly -caught fish from 
 
THE FOOD WE EAT. 57 
 
 one that lias rested many days in the ice-box, and all that. 
 But, when it comes to the matter of actual cooking, a little 
 volume which she can slip into her pocket is sufficient for 
 all the recipes she needs. It will furnish variety ample 
 enough for all the tastes of a healthy home, and for such 
 delicacies as the wants of a possible invalid may require. 
 
 ISTor need she lay out all her knowledge in the prepara- 
 tion of a single meal. The variety should be that from 
 day to day, not from course to course in one meal. It will 
 be all the better that the bill of fare should not be the 
 same on any two successive days ; nor the same from day 
 to day week after week. If, in compliance with quite gen- 
 eral usage, Friday is ^^ fish-day," there is no good reason 
 why Sunday should always be '^ roast-beef-day," Monday 
 "hash-day," and so on. The husband, when he comes 
 home to dinner, will relish the meal all the more from not 
 knowing of what it is to consist ; still better, if it is quite 
 different from what he expected. A surprise, when not a 
 disagreeable one, is always a pleasant thing. To do this 
 in the best way, she should plan in a general fashion the 
 bill of fare for a month ahead, noting beforehand what 
 articles will be in season from week to week, what supplies 
 she will have in store, and what she must lay in from time 
 to time. 
 
 Very many articles have their special seasons when they 
 are most plentiful, and consequently cheapest ; and they 
 are always in their best condition during this season. The 
 person who chooses to have the first strawberry, the first 
 peach, or the first shad of the season, must make up his 
 mind to pay a very high price for a very poor thing. In a 
 sanitary as well as an economical point of view, he may 
 take to himself the epithet descriptive of the one whose 
 money soon ceases to bear him company. 
 
 Potatoes are always in season, though some varieties are 
 better at one period of the year and some at another, and a 
 
58 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 potato that has not ripened sufi&ciently to cook mealy, or 
 that by "keeping has passed the mealy stage and is watery 
 when cooked, is hardly fit for human food. The best po- 
 tato may be spoiled in cooking, but much depends on using 
 each yariety when it is in its i^rime. With some Tarieties 
 this stage is reached as soon as the potato is fit to be taken 
 from the ground, with others it does not arrive until after 
 the potato has been stored for some months ; with some it 
 lasts only for a few days, with others for months. The 
 potato known as the Early Eose has for several years held 
 precedence on account of remaining in its prime longer 
 than most other yarieties. ]N"early eyery yariety degener- 
 ates, however, after a few years, and new ones are constantly 
 being introduced, so that the choice must vary somewhat 
 from year to year. With us, potatoes are almost as staple 
 an article of food as bread, and take the place of that and 
 of other starchy foods to a very great extent, hence the great 
 importance of haying them always good. They are more 
 digestible boiled or roasted than fried, because when fried 
 they become more or less soaked with grease, rendering them 
 somewhat cohesive and not easily acted on by the digestive 
 fluids in the stomach. The same condition afiects fried 
 foods in general. Fat is a very necessary article of food, 
 notwithstanding much foolish prejudice against it, but the 
 manner of its digestion differs somewhat from that of most 
 other substances, and it is accomplished chiefly through the 
 agency of other fluids than those which are most active in 
 the case of starch, gluten, lean meat, etc.; therefore it is 
 better that the fat should be taken in the form of butter, 
 cream, fat meat, etc., in connection with other food, but 
 not incorporated with the other by frying. 
 
 Sweet-potatoes are much more nutritious than Irish 
 potatoes. Pound for pound, the former contain nearly 
 twice as much available nutriment as the latter. 
 
 Turnips, beets, parsnips, and some other roots contain 
 
THE FOOD WE EAT. 59 
 
 less nutriment than lootatoes, and in a somewhat different 
 form. They are in general very wholesome, however, and 
 afford a pleasant and nseful variety in food. 
 
 Peas and beans are said to contain more nutriment in 
 proportion to their weight than any other vegetables in 
 common use. They are particularly rich in nitrogenous 
 elements, thereby more nearly approaching in character to 
 the flesh of animals than most vegetables do. 
 
 Green vegetables are generally quite wholesome, not- 
 withstanding much that is thoughtlessly said to the con- 
 trary. It is, indeed, sometimes gravely asserted that Na- 
 ture never intended any vegetable to be used for food be- 
 fore it is ripe, and that no unripe or immature food can be 
 wholesome. But Nature certainly intended a large class of 
 animals to live entirely or chiefly on green vegetables, and 
 many of those vegetables which are eaten green by man are 
 utterly unfit for food when they are ripe. For example, 
 no one would think of eating ripe cabbage, spinach, or let- 
 tuce, unless driven by extreme hunger, but all of these in 
 their green state are grateful to both palate and stomach, 
 albeit they are not so quickly digested as some other foods, 
 and are therefore unsuitable in some forms of illness or of 
 feebleness. Perhaps the cucumber is the only vegetable 
 commonly eaten green, of which it may reasonably be said 
 that it would be better not so to eat it ; and, although the 
 cucumber is certainly the product of a vegetable, it is 
 doubtful on which side it should be placed of the line 
 dividing what are known in common parlance as " vegeta- 
 bles " from what are known in common parlance as ^' fruits." 
 Moreover, the much-abused cucumber itself, though not a 
 very useful food, is quite a harmless one to a large pro- 
 portion of people if used with ordinary judgment. One 
 cardinal rule to be observed in the selection of green vege- 
 tables is that they shall not be stale. They are all liable 
 to ferment, and when they are stale this process may have 
 
eO SEALTB AT HOME. 
 
 already begun, or, if not, it is quite likely to begin in the 
 stomach, to the hindrance of digestion. 
 
 Melons contain a great deal of water, some sugar, and a 
 very small proportion of other nutriment. They are, how- 
 ever, exceedingly grateful to most j)ersons, particularly in 
 warm weather, and if ripe and fresh may generally be eaten 
 even in enormous quantities with impunity. This is par- 
 ticularly true of the watermelon. The muskmelon, if eaten 
 largely, is more apt than the watermelon to cause diarrhoea, 
 and during some summers has a decided tendency that 
 way. 
 
 Fruits in general are nutritious and healthful, and their 
 free use should be encouraged. With us they are generally 
 eaten at the latter end of a meal and at the close of the day. 
 Probably the reverse of both of these practices would be 
 better. In warm countries it is common to preface the 
 regular breakfast with oranges or other fruits, and the 
 Spaniards have a proverb, doubtless founded on experience, 
 that ^^fruit is gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead 
 at night." 
 
 Sugar is a vegetable product and a very necessary article 
 of food. It is especially needed by children, and the crav- 
 ing that nearly every child has for sugar and sweet things 
 is not a mere fancy, but the expression of a great physiologi- 
 cal need that ought to be satisfied. It is a popular notion 
 that sugar injures the teeth. As sugar it can not do so, for 
 so long as it remains unchanged by fermentation its tend- 
 ency is to prevent decay. If it ferments in the stomach it 
 may give rise to an acid that will injure the teeth and im- 
 pair digestion, but in a healthy stomach it is not likely to 
 ferment unless taken in excessive quantity or in connection 
 with something else that is in a state of fermentation. 
 
 Very much of the sugar now sold is adulterated with 
 glucose. This is a substance, not at all unwholesome nor 
 in itself objectionable, in chemical composition very closely 
 
THE FOOD WE EAT. 61 
 
 resembling sugar. The principal objection to it is that it 
 is not so sweet as sugar. 
 
 Candies, when made of pure sugar, glucose, and molasses, 
 are perfectly wholesome. Most of the candies sold, howeyer, 
 are adulterated with yarious substances, some of them in- 
 nocent enough, as for instance starch and gum, but many 
 of them more or less injurious. 
 
 Of liquid foods milk is the recognized type, since it 
 contains in itself all the carbonaceous and nitrogenous 
 elements, in a form capable of easy and rapid digestion. 
 Hence it must constitute the almost sole food of infants ; 
 and to a great extent — ^.perhaps the greater the better — 
 that of children. It should also enter largely, in one shape 
 or another, into that of adults. 
 
 The proportions in which the yarious food-elements are 
 contained in the milk of animals of different sj)ecies, and 
 in that of indiyiduals of the same species, yary considerably. 
 As the ayerage result of many analyses it may be said that, 
 in one hundred parts of unadulterated milk, there will be 
 by weight from eighty-four to ninety of water, and from 
 ten to sixteen of solid matter of yarious kinds. Of this solid 
 matter, in the entire quantity, there will be from three to 
 seyen parts of nitrogenous compounds, three to five of su- 
 gar, two to six of fat, with yery minute quantities of the 
 salts of soda, lime, potash, magnesia, iron, etc. These 
 salts, though yery small in quantity, are of great impor- 
 tance in nutrition. The milk of the mother is the natural 
 food of the babe. When from any cause this can not be 
 had, or only had in insufficient quantities, either from the 
 mother herself or from a suitable wet-nurse, a fair sub- 
 stitute may be prepared from pure cow's milk. Woman's 
 milk contains considerably more water and somewhat more 
 sugar and butter than that of the cow ; hence, in preparing 
 cow's milk for the food of the infant, about one third of the 
 quantity of water and a yery little sugar are commonly 
 
62 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 added. A better plan is to skim the cream from milk ttiat 
 has stood for a few hours and is perfectly sweet, and add to 
 one part of this cream "two or three parts of water and a 
 little sugar. Of course, the cream so taken will be more 
 than half milk, and the mixture recommended will yery 
 closely resemble the natural food of infants. It is yery de- 
 sirable, and should be insisted on wheneyer possible, that 
 the sugar to be used shall be sugar of milk and not cane- 
 sugar. The former can be procured at most drug-stores. 
 It is much less liable to ferment in the stomach than the 
 latter. 
 
 Milk is frequently adulterated with water, and some- 
 times, it is said, with chalk and other substances. The 
 lactometer, which is an instrument commonly used to de- 
 tect adulteration of milk by ascertaining its specific grayity, 
 is by no means a certain test, for in the first place the sj)e- 
 cific grayity of milk from different cows varies considerably, 
 and in the second place, if the cream or a part of it be re- 
 moved from any sample of milk, its specific grayity will be 
 increased, and, if water be added to it, its specific gravity 
 will be lessened, so that a sample of milk may be both 
 skimmed and watered, and yet the lactometer will record 
 the weight of purity. 
 
 Yery little impure milk is now sold in ]!^ew York city, on 
 account of the stringency of the law. The sale of skimmed 
 milk there is entirely interdicted, under a heavy penalty, 
 and consequently many peoj^le have gotten the idea that 
 skimmed milk is unwholesome. It is certainly not desira- 
 ble for babies, but for older persons, who take other kinds 
 of food, it is a very healthful drink. 
 
 Tea and coffee are not strictly food, for they supply noth- 
 ing to the tissues of the body, except in the small quantity 
 of milk and sugar sometimes taken with them, but by di- 
 minishing the waste of the system they lessen the quantity 
 of food required. At the same time they cause a slight 
 
TEE FOOL WE EAT. 03 
 
 neryoiis excitement, to be followed by reaction, and this in 
 many persons, when long continued, causes a considerable 
 neryous depression. 
 
 Ground coffee is very generally adulterated, but very 
 rarely with substances that are actually deleterious. The 
 most common adulterant is chiccory, which is perfectly 
 wholesome. 
 
 Teas are almost sure to be adulterated. In this art the 
 Chinese have attained a marvelous degree of skill. Even 
 the varieties of ^' black tea " are mixed with other kinds of 
 leaves. They have also what they call "lie-tea," composed 
 of a little tea-dust and foreign leaves, with more or less of 
 sand, quartz, and magnetic oxide of iron, all made up by 
 means of a solution of starch into little masses in imitation 
 of different kinds of tea. If this lie-tea is used for the 
 adulteration of black tea, it may not be positively injurious ; 
 if used in green tea the masses are usually " faced " with 
 Prussian-blue, indigo, and other poisonous matters^ to give 
 them the desired color. Teas not unfrequently undergo 
 a further process of "doctoring " after they leave the hands 
 of the importer, and before they come to the consumer. 
 
 Of condiments, the only one that is a necessary article 
 of food is salt. That it is necessary has been shown by re- 
 peated experiments, as well as . by its presence as a compo- 
 nent part of every tissue and fluid of the body except the 
 enamel of the teeth. Besides its direct nutritive value, it 
 promotes appetite and digestion, and is reputed to have 
 very decided anti-malarial properties. 
 
 The various spices are used simply to please the palate. 
 By their irritating properties they stimulate the flow of 
 saliva, aud it is possible that in the same way they may 
 promote the flow of other digestive fluids and thus aid in 
 digestion when used in moderate quantities, but when used 
 largely they are apt to irritate the stomach too much, and 
 thus disorder digestion. 
 
VII. 
 
 LIGHTING AND WAEMING. 
 
 The adyantages of gas for public illumination are 
 great and undeniable. For the lighting of private dwell- 
 ings it is in many respects, and to a considerable extent, 
 more conyenient than any other material. But, in a sani- 
 tary point of yiew, it may well be doubted whether its use 
 has not produced more harm than good. 
 
 Not to dwell upon minor eyils — such as the prolonging 
 of working hours far into the night, thus giving to work 
 many hours which properly belong to sleep, and to sleep 
 many hours which belong to work, the actual escape of 
 gas into rooms by the leakage of the pipes, or by careless- 
 ness in shutting off the jets when the light is to be ex- 
 tinguished, and such like "accidents" — the great sanitary 
 evil connected with the use of gas for household lighting 
 arises from the fact of its enormous consumption of oxy- 
 gen. A single gas-burner vitiates, while in operation, as 
 much air as is vitiated by the breathing of several jDcrsons. 
 That is, it takes from the air so much of the oxygen, con- 
 verting it into forms in which it is irrespirable, and thus 
 compels a greatly increased care in ventilation in order to 
 maintain the atmosphere of a room or a house in a state of 
 purity. But it is vain to expect that the use of gas for 
 household illumination will decrease — will not, in fact, 
 increase — unless it should be to a greater or less extent 
 superseded by some of the modes of electric lighting which 
 
LIGHTING AND WARMING. 65 
 
 are now undergoing the processes of experiment and 
 trial. 
 
 The most which we can now do is to obviate, as far 
 as we may, the undeniable eyils attendant upon lighting 
 by gas. One sweeping measure, which would, if practica- 
 ble, go far to this end, has been proposed. We are gravely 
 assured that '^no gas-burner should exist in any room 
 unless a tube of zinc or iron is placed over it to carry off 
 the deleterious products of combustion, and convey them 
 at once into the open air." There are few cases in which 
 this would be practicable even in large buildings ; in ordi- 
 nary household lighting it is wholly out of the question ; 
 as much so as if in our houses we were directed to breathe 
 only through a tube one end of which should be in the 
 mouth and the other in the open air outside of the walls. 
 In either case the products of combustion would be effect- 
 ually carried from the room. Chemists, in their laborato- 
 ries, do this in effect, to get rid of the noxious emanations 
 often evolved in their experiments and operations. But, 
 practically, the air vitiated by gas-combustion, as well as by 
 breathing, must go into the room, and be thence discharged 
 by the ordinary modes of ventilation. 
 
 No gas-burner, therefore, should be allowed in a room 
 that is not well ventilated, and the number of burners to 
 be allowed in any room should be limited by the size of the 
 room and its facilities for ventilation. That is to say, for 
 each ordinary gas-jet as much fresh air must be supplied 
 as would be needed by three or four persons. 
 
 The flickering of gaslight is a very objectionable feature, 
 especially if it is used for reading or writing. On this 
 account refined kerosene-oil is preferable to gas for these 
 purposes. The higher grades of this oil, commonly known 
 as *^ astral" or ^^ head-light" oil, give a clear, steady light, 
 they are more manageable than gas, and with ordinary care 
 are almost, if not quite, devoid of danger. The lower 
 
QQ HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 gi'ades should never be allowed in the house, since they are 
 almost as explosive as gunpowder and more inflammable, 
 they give very j^ooi' light with an offensive smell, and 
 their sole recommendation of cheapness is largely decep- 
 tive, for they burn much more raj)idly than the highly 
 refined oil. 
 
 Candles are now so little used for general illuminating 
 purposes that their importance is quite secondary. The 
 same general princijoles are applicable to their use as to that 
 of gas or oil. Some lights consume more oxygen in pro- 
 portion to their intensity than others, but practically the 
 amount of fresh air required may be approximately esti- 
 mated by the degree of light. That is to say, the number 
 of candles or lamps necessary to furnish a light as powerful 
 as that of a gas-jet will need about the same amount of 
 ventilation as the latter. 
 
 In reading, one should sit, if possible, with the face 
 turned from the light, allowing it to fall over the shoulder 
 upon the paper. In writing, if the light stands upon the 
 table, this is rarely practicable, and, if it were, would cast 
 the shadow of the hand on the paper. Therefore, in such 
 circumstances it is always best to protect the eyes of the 
 writer by a shade either worn like a visor over the eyes, or 
 else partially covering the lamp in such a way as to inter- 
 pose between the flame and the eyes and yet let the light 
 fall freely upon the paper. It is always better, provided 
 the light is strong enough, that it should come from above, 
 as the eyes are then protected by their natural curtains. 
 
 In tropical regions there is no need to make artificial ar- 
 rangements for warming a dwelling : ISTature has done that 
 in superfluity ; but, as we recede from the equator in either 
 direction, this necessity begins to manifest itself more and 
 more, so that there are within the temperate zones few 
 places in which a fire in the house is not at times desir- 
 able. The farther we go from the equator, the more press- 
 
LIGETING AND WARMING. 67 
 
 ing does this demand b.ecome;, until it is absolutely impera- 
 tive for greater or less portions of the year. 
 
 The original mode of house-warming was doubtless to 
 build a fire in the center of the hut or tent, leaving the 
 smoke to find its way out as best it could after pervading 
 the whole interior ; and this is the method still practiced 
 among savage tribes. Some inventive genius added a 
 chimney for carrying off the smoke. It was found that 
 the chimney not only carried off the smoke, but added 
 greatly to the activity of the fire itself. The primitive 
 mode of warming in time became developed into the great 
 fireplace with its massive andirons, which we know so well 
 by observation or description. 
 
 To be sure, the great fireplace demanded an enormous 
 supply of fuel to produce a tolerable amount of warming. 
 But, so long as fuel was abundant, this was of comparatively 
 little importance, although the mere work of felling the 
 trees, hauling the logs to the wood-pile, cutting and split- 
 ting them into manageable size and shape, formed no 
 inconsiderable part of the year's work. But fortunately 
 this part of the work could be best done — at least on our 
 side of the Atlantic — at a season when the farmer had, or 
 thought he had, little else that he could do. 
 
 The worst of these great chimney-fires was that, be they 
 as large as they might, they only warmed a small part of a 
 large room, while the keen air from without found abun- 
 dant means to enter and hold sway over the rest of the apart- 
 ment. Sitting before the fire, one's face and ribs might be 
 half -roasted, while his neck and back were half -frozen. To 
 go from the fireplace to the door was like passing in an 
 instant from India's coral strand to Greenland's icy mount- 
 ains. Moreover, the chimney itself seemed at times to set 
 itself at work to give an exemplification of *^ the total de- 
 pravity of inanimate things." Sometimes, without any 
 apparent reason, it would not ^^draw" at all, and no per- 
 
68 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 suading of the bellows would keej) the fire burning. 
 Sometimes it would draw the wrong way, sending the 
 smoke down and out into the room in dense clouds, to the 
 no small discomfort of eyes and lungs. It is probable that 
 around these fire-sides more tears have been shed by reason 
 of smoky chimneys than for the loss of friends and kindred. 
 Still, in spite of all drawbacks, the old-fashioned fireplace 
 answered its main purpose — that of warming the room — 
 pretty fairly, except on the yery coldest days ; and as for 
 ventilation, nobody thought of that, or, indeed, had any occa- 
 sion to think of it. So for generation after generation the 
 sons built their fireplaces and chimneys just as their fa- 
 thers had done, quite content to let well enough alone. 
 
 The grate had its origin when coal began to take the 
 place of wood as fuel, and of course in England. The coal 
 would not lie upon the andirons, and so there must be an 
 iron cage to hold it. The open gi'ate shares with the open 
 fireplace the objection that in very cold weather no single 
 grate is sufficient to heat a very large room. In the best- 
 constructed grates more than three quarters of the heat 
 produced goes u^^ the chimney, and is lost for all warming 
 purposes. For those to whom the saving of expense is no 
 object, this defect -may be remedied by having two grates, 
 at opposite ends of the room, which will thus be sufficiently 
 and quite uniformly warmed throughout. Nothing can be 
 more pleasant than a large apartment thus warmed ; and 
 with the provision of means for the admission of fresh air, 
 the chimneys furnish ventilation as perfect as could be 
 asked for. 
 
 The so-called '^Franklin stove "was a great improve- 
 ment upon the common grate. In Franklin's time coal 
 had not begun to be used in this country as fuel. The 
 original Franklin stove was designed solely for burning 
 wood. He rightly inferred that the heating power of a fire 
 of a given size and intensity was just in the ratio of the 
 
LIGHTING AND WARMING. 69 
 
 Keating surface exposed. His stove was simply an open 
 grate with iron sides^ set partly out into the room instead 
 of being built wholly into the chimney. The heating sur- 
 face was thus increased by perhaps a third or a half, aug- 
 menting by so much the useful heating power of a given 
 quantity of fuel burned in it. 
 
 But what we now know as the Franklin stove is a very 
 different thing from that devised by Franklin. A modifi- 
 cation of this, shown at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhi- 
 bition of 1876, and styled ^^The Fire on the Hearth," is 
 one of the best of the improved Franklin stoves. It is an 
 open stove with double sides and back, at some little dis- 
 tance apart. The space between the two casings is open at 
 the bottom, having a perforated iron cover at the top. 
 Fresh air is introduced from without by means of a wooden 
 box-tube opening under the stove. The air rises into the 
 interspace between the casings, where it is warmed by the 
 heat of the stove, and passes up into the room, in gentle 
 currents, through the perforated cover. 
 
 Close stoves are usually found only in rooms as tightly 
 shut up as possible. They indeed effect a considerable sav- 
 ing in fuel, since they expose their entire surface to the 
 air of the room, and so a much less amount of the generated 
 heat goes up the chimney. The heated air rises to the top 
 of the room, where it remains if there is no provision made 
 for its egress. The cold air in the room, and that intro- 
 duced through cracks and crevices or by the occasional 
 opening of the door, sinks to the bottom, and remains there 
 scarcely warmed at all. In the extremely cold climate of 
 Canada, we are told that it is not uncommon to find such 
 a room in which water will freeze on the floor, while at the 
 ceiling the thermometer indicates a temperature of 100°. 
 
 The ceiling of such a room is usually low, so that, when 
 a person stands erect, his head is in an atmosphere uncom- 
 fortably warm, while his feet are in one uncomfortably 
 
70 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 cold. A considerable improyement in the ordinary close 
 stove would be to make the sides double, as in the ^^Fire on 
 the Hearth " just described. The cold air at the floor would 
 then rise into the heated interspace, and being heated there 
 would ascend, thus establishing somewhat of an equilibrium 
 between the temperature at the floor and at the ceiling. 
 
 Two prominent evils are frequently connected with the 
 use of close stoves. One is the excessive drying of the air 
 in the rooms where they are used. This is a common cause 
 of dryness of the lips and throat, thirst, headache, languor, 
 and general malaise, in persons who sit in rooms thus 
 warmed. It can very easily be prevented by keeping a little 
 water in an urn or other vessel on the stove. Many stoves 
 are provided with urns for this purpose. It is only neces- 
 sary that the water should be kept slightly warm to facili- 
 tate evaporation. It should not be hot enough to produce 
 visible steam. 
 
 The other evil is the escape of noxious gases from the 
 stove into the room. This may occur from imperfection 
 of the chimney-draught, from too great length of stove-pii^e, 
 from the closing of dampers to check the activity of the 
 fire, from imperfect joints or cracks in the pipe or in the 
 stove itself, or sometimes, if the stove is of cast-iron, by 
 permeation of the gases through the hot iron. A little 
 observation will commonly determine the cause, and the 
 remedy is then obvious. 
 
 There is always need of greater care in ventilating a 
 room heated by a close stove than in one heated by an open 
 fire. A well- ventilated room, with a faulty stove, may be a 
 tolerably healthful one ; an ill- ventilated room, with the 
 best conceivable stove, miist be an unhealthful one. 
 
 The common hot-air furnace is essentially a large in- 
 closed stove placed in the basement, and having flues lead- 
 ing to the different rooms to be wholly or in part warmed 
 by it. These flues are provided with registers and valves 
 
LIGHTING AND WARMING. 71 
 
 by which the entire amount of heated air may, if wished, 
 be thrown into either of these rooms. A furnace is a very 
 convenient adjunct to the ordinary heating apparatus of a 
 home in our northern latitudes, where, during very cold 
 days, there is not sufficient fire to fully heat the various 
 rooms and passages to a proper temperature. 
 
 A hot-air furnace is, however, by no means an unmixed 
 blessing. The hot air delivered by it is nearly always more 
 or less contaminated with deleterious gases, and in many 
 cases it is much too dry to be suitable for breathing. Be- 
 sides, the mode of diffusing the heat is entirely by convec- 
 tion, the amount radiated from the metal of the register 
 and conducted through the walls from the flues being so 
 small that it may practically be disregarded. The hot air 
 rises at once to the top of the room, and, unless there is 
 some unusual mechanism for distributing it, remains there 
 until it is cooled. In the absence of any considerable ra- 
 diating surface the floor and the lower stratum of air in 
 the room remain cold. In short, the evils of the close 
 stove are intensified by the hot-air furnace. Add to this 
 that the furnace is liable, like any stove, to get out of order 
 and be temporarily unfit for use, in which case a longer 
 time must commonly elapse before repairs can be made 
 than in the case of an ordinary stove, and in the mean time 
 the whole house is cold. If a stove gives out unexpectedly, 
 the want of it usually affects only one or two rooms, and 
 can readily be supplied. 
 
 These considerations have, of late years, produced a 
 wholesome revulsion of feeling against the use of hot-air 
 furnaces, at least as the main dependence for house-warm- 
 ing. In the mean time the improvements in self -feeding 
 stoves render it possible to obtain most of the advantages 
 of furnace-heat with comparatively few of its disadvantages. 
 If a furnace is to be used at all, it is of the utmost impor- 
 tance to provide for a sufficient supply of moisture in the 
 
72 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 air. This can be done by placing sufficient water where the 
 air can get at it. Put water in the room to be heated, and 
 eyen in the interior of the furnace itself, bearing in mind 
 that the quantity of water taken up by eyaporation is in pro- 
 portion to the amount of surface exposed to the air, not to 
 the quantity of water contained in the yessel. Put the 
 water, therefore, into large shallow pans, renewing the sup- 
 ply as often as necessary. Do this judiciously, and one will 
 haye no further occasion to complain of the dryness of the 
 furnace-air. 
 
 There are yarious methods of heating by steam, in 
 themselyes preferable to any which haye been described ; 
 but the size and cost of the necessary apparatus preyent, 
 and probably will preyent, its introduction into ordinary 
 dwellings, and will confine its use to large mansions, pub- 
 lic buildings, manufactories, and the like. 
 
 The proper temperature to be maintained, in all rooms 
 where people sit, is from 65° to 70° Fahrenheit, or about 
 18° to 21° centigrade. Eyery such room should be fur- 
 nished with a thermometer, and this should hang or stand 
 at a considerable distance from the source of heat, and 
 about midway between floor and ceiling. It should not be in 
 contact with the wall, or with any object that is liable to be 
 of a different temperature from the air of the room. The 
 heat should then be regulated strictly by the thermometer. 
 There are occasions, as in certain forms of sickness, when a 
 different temperature is desirable, but these come under the 
 cognizance of the physician, and should always be deter- 
 mined by him. 
 
 It is often said that the temperature of sleeping-rooms 
 should be considerably lower than that of sitting-rooms. 
 It may be so with safety, and perhaps with profit, in many 
 cases. Por those who are strong, howeyer, it is not a mat- 
 ter of much consequence, and for thosfe who are weak the 
 danger from dressing and undressing in a cold room is con- 
 
LIGETma AND WARMmO. 73 
 
 siderable. For tlie latter class of persons, if the bedroom 
 is at all cool, there should be always a warm dressing-room 
 adjoining. 
 
 Probably the chief advantage of a cold bedroom is the 
 absence of the nnhealthful gases and dry air that are fre- 
 quently found in heated rooms. The partial cooling, at 
 night, of a room that has been heated during the day, also 
 tends to purify the air by changing the direction of its 
 currents and by the introduction of a larger quantity. In 
 rooms that are imperfectly ventilated, therefore, it is better 
 that the temperature should be lowered at night, and this 
 rule applies in some degree to other rooms as well as bed- 
 rooms. On this account, ifc is better that such rooms should 
 not be warmed by self -feeding stoves. A preferable arrange- 
 ment is one by which a little fire can be made just before 
 the room is to be used, and then allowed to die out. Such 
 rooms, however, are never fit for sleeping-rooms, and should 
 never be used as such except in the direst necessity. Pro- 
 vided the air in a sleeping-room can be kept reasonably 
 pure, the temperature may be determined entirely by the 
 sense of personal comfort. 
 
 4 
 
VIII. 
 
 DISINFECTANTS. 
 
 DisiKFECTAKTS are certain substances or forces wliicli 
 have the property of nentralizing or destroying contagions 
 and miasms. A contagion is a product of disease^, capable 
 of communicating the disease to a healthy body by actual 
 contact. Such are the yirus of small-pox and that of hy- 
 drophobia, etc. A miasm is an emanation capable of in- 
 ducino' disease in those to whom it is carried in the air or 
 by some other vehicle. The miasms against which disin- 
 fectants are commonly directed are, like contagions, the 
 products of certain diseases, and capable of communicating 
 the same diseases. Both contagions and miasms may be 
 absorbed, and held for a considerable time without losing 
 their virulence, by garments or other porous substances. 
 
 The chemical constitution of contagions and miasms is 
 not known. It is thought to be of organic character, how- 
 ever, and in every known instance seems to be capable of 
 decomposition in much the same manner as organic com- 
 pounds in general. Such decomposition takes place usually 
 by means of oxidation. All agents, therefore, which fayor 
 the combination of oxygen with other substances are disin- 
 fectants, more or less efl&cient in proportion to the activity 
 with which they promote oxidation. 
 
 Another mode of disinfection is by dilution of the poi- 
 sonous principle. The matter containing this principle 
 may become so attenuated, by admixture with air, water. 
 
DISINFECTANTS, 75 
 
 or almost any other substance tlirough which it can be 
 disseminated, as to be practically innocuous, while, con- 
 versely, the danger of infection is always greater in propor- 
 tion to the concentration of infectious material, as exem- 
 plified in many crowded hospitals, ships, prisons, tenement- 
 houses, etc. The practical application of this for home use 
 is that frequent washing of the bodies and clothing of those 
 who are sick of infectious diseases and of those also who 
 are exposed to the infection, and the freest possible ventila- 
 tion, are valuable disinfectant measures. At the same time 
 it must be borne in mind that these measures are but pal- 
 liative, that there are some infections which an ordinary 
 washing will not remove, and that the very steam from a 
 washing or the current of air that has passed over an in- 
 fected object often carries the infection in a sufficiently con- 
 centrated form to reproduce the disease. 
 
 Among Nature's disinfectants are cold and heat, and she 
 often employs these upon a grand scale. Thus malaria, the 
 local cause of yellow fever and of ague, is deprived of its 
 noxious power by a single hard frost. Cholera, however 
 it may have been introduced into temperate regions, usually 
 disappears on the approach of winter. Practically we can 
 make but little use of cold as a disinfectant, while we can 
 make large use of heat. 
 
 The ancients were well aware that heat was antagonistic 
 to infection ; so they built large fires in the streets to ward 
 off or drive away the plague. Pliny says, " In heat itself 
 there is a certain medicatory virtue.^' The experiments of 
 modern science have more than confirmed the ancient specu- 
 lations. In 1824 Dr. Henry found that the virus of small- 
 pox in clothing was destroyed by exposing the garments to 
 a temperature of from 140° to 200° Fahr. In 1851 Dr. von 
 Busch, of Berlin, made trials of heat in a large hospital of 
 which he had the charge, where an infectious fever was 
 alarmingly prevalent in some of the wards. After trying 
 
76 EEALTE AT HOME. 
 
 in vaiji all the usual methods of fumigation, he caused the 
 patients to be remoyed, and the wards heated to a tempera- 
 ture of 150°. The patients were then brought back, and 
 not a single new case of the fever occurred. 
 
 Similar successful experiments haye been made for ex- 
 tirpating the yirus of yellow feyer in large vessels. The 
 hatches were closed, and superheated steam was introduced 
 into the hold. Good use was also made of superheated 
 steam in New York hospitals during the cholera season of 
 1866. 
 
 Heat is beyond doubt the very best means of disinfec- 
 tion, where it can be thoroughly applied. But in ordinary 
 dwellings the adequate employment of this great disin- 
 fectant must be very limited, and recourse must be had to 
 more conyenient methods, which, while they rarely wholly 
 destroy the noxious element that produces disease, will, to 
 some extent, do away with the conditions favoring its fur- 
 ther increase and dissemination, and thus will effect some 
 good — although probably much less than is generally sup- 
 posed. But it must be borne in mind that mere perfumes, 
 as such, are in no sense disinfectants. They merely hide 
 the presence of noxious effluvia, but do nothing to destroy 
 them. They only replace an unpleasant odor by a pleasant 
 one. 
 
 There are almost innumerable artificial disinfectants, 
 bearing high-sounding names. Some of these have a cer- 
 tain value ; others are worse than useless, because they in- 
 duce a false feeling of security, and thus prevent the use of 
 more appropriate means of disinfection. 
 
 Dr. Eichardson, of London, who is high authority upon 
 sanitary questions, after describing some of what he con- 
 siders the best methods of disinfection, adds emphatically : 
 '^ While these different means of purifying the air are put 
 forward as of immediate service, it should always be remem- 
 bered that they are temporary measures — nothing more. 
 
LISINFECTANTS. Y7 
 
 They are not intended to take tlie place of thorough and 
 efficient ventilation. In fact, in the presence of perfect 
 ventilation of good natural air, they are not required at 
 all ; and, when they are called for, the necessity of better 
 ventilation, as the. permanent remedy, is at once ex- 
 plained." 
 
 Chloride of lime is one of the commonest and most effi- 
 cient disinfectants. It acts as such by giving up its chlo- 
 rine to unite with the hydrogen of organic substances, thus 
 destroying the latter and setting free a portion of fcheir 
 oxygen. This effect will be produced whenever chloride of 
 lime is exposed to the air, and will continue until its chlo- 
 rine is all discharged. In the mean time, the lime com- 
 bines with a portion of the carbonic acid in the atmosphere 
 to form carbonate of lime. When this point has been 
 reached, it is entirely useless for further disinfecting pur- 
 poses ; therefore it is best to procure it only in small quan- 
 tities as desired for immediate use, and, when to be kept 
 for any time, it is necessary to put it up in very closely- 
 stoppered bottles. One advantage of chloride of lime for use 
 in ill-ventilated places is that it not only destroys infection 
 but also purifies the air to some extent by setting free 
 oxygen and absorbing carbonic-acid gas. If it is desired 
 to hasten the action of this disinfectant, vinegar or dilute 
 sulphuric acid may be added to it. 
 
 Sulphate of iron, commonly known as copperas, is an- 
 other common disinfectant, and an excellent one. Its 
 special advantages are that it is very cheap, is safe and easily 
 managed, and is inodorous. It causes the oxidation of all 
 dead organic matter with which it comes in contact. Its 
 own decomposition in ordinary circumstances is not rapid 
 enough to directly affect the atmosphere very greatly, and 
 therefore it is best adapted to the disinfection of liquids 
 and solids with which it can be brought into direct contact, 
 either in its crystalline form or in solution in water. Either 
 
78 EEALTH AT ROME. 
 
 this or tlie cliloride of lime should be used in larger quan- 
 tities than is generally done to get the best effects. 
 
 For the disinfection of sewers and priyies, a pound of 
 the sulphate of iron or chloride of lime, diffused in a gallon 
 of water, will answer for a large amount of foul matter. 
 Eooms which are occupied may be disinfected by jijlacing a 
 little fresh chloride of lime in saucers in convenient places 
 in the room. Articles of clothing which are not yery much 
 contaminated may be disinfected by exposing them to a 
 high temperature, or by boiling them in a solution of per- 
 manganate of potassa, one ounce to three gallons of water. 
 Garments and bedding which haye been greatly contami- 
 nated, especially by small-pox, should, howeyer, inyariably 
 be burned. 
 
 Sulphurous acid, in the form of yapor, is an extremely 
 efficient and prompt disinfectant. It acts, like chlorine, 
 by combination with the hydrogen of organic substances. 
 It is an irrespirable yapor, howeyer, in small quantities 
 causing choking and coughing, and in quantities sufficient 
 for disinfecting purposes being destructiye of all animal 
 life. It is, therefore, incapable of seryice in a room that 
 is occupied, but is inyaluable for the final disinfection of 
 rooms that haye been vacated. It is produced by burning 
 sulphur in the air. The room to be disinfected should 
 have all the windows closed and all doors but one. Then, 
 an iron or earthen pan containing coals of fire being placed 
 in the room, a few small pieces of brimstone or roll-sulphur 
 are scattered upon the coals, and the person who does this 
 immediately leaves the room and closes the last door. In 
 the course of two or three hours, the fire having in the 
 mean time exhausted itself, doors and windows are to be 
 thrown open to admit fresh air, and remove the remaining 
 vapor and the smell of sulphur. 
 
 Furniture, clothing, etc., may be disinfected by being 
 left in the room during this fumigation. It should be re- 
 
DISmFEGTANTS. 79 
 
 membered, howeyer, tliat sulpliurous acid is a powerful 
 bleacher, and that many fabrics will therefore be ruined by 
 its action. 
 
 Of late years carbolic acid (which is obtained by the 
 distillation of coal-tar) has become the most common dis- 
 infectant, and is believed to possess more than any other 
 the property of destroying minute animal and vegetable 
 organisms in the air and elsewhere. But Dr. Eichardson 
 is earnest in his recommendation of iodine, which he con- 
 siders better than any other means for disinfecting the air 
 of water-closets and other small rooms. He also gives a 
 very cheap and simple method of using this disinfectant : 
 
 Get from the apothecary a common chip ointment-box, 
 of about an inch and a half in diameter ; take off the lid of 
 the box, and remove the top of it, so that the ring part 
 only remains ; put into the body of the box two drachms' 
 weight of pure iodine (that is, the metalloid itself, not its 
 tincture or spirituous solution) ; stretch a bit of muslin 
 gauze over the top of the box, and over the muslin press 
 down the ring of the lid, so as to make the muslin taut 
 over the top of the box. Then cut away the loose muslin 
 around the ring, ^^and then, complete and ready for use, 
 you have an iodine deodorizing-box which will last in action 
 for six or eight weeks, even in hot weather. To bring this 
 box into practical application it is only necessary to place 
 it in the closet or on a shelf or any other resting-place. 
 The iodine will volatilize slowly into the air through the 
 muslin gauze, will diffuse itself through the air, which it 
 will deodorize, and after a time communicate freely an 
 odor like that of fresh sea-air. In cases where an instant 
 effect is required, the iodine may be volatilized in a more 
 rapid manner. A little of it may be placed on a plate, and 
 the plate held over a spirit-lamp within the closet for a 
 minute or two. The iodine, diffused by heat, will pass off 
 as a violet-colored vapor, and as it passes through the air 
 
80 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 will exercise a rapid purifying action. The vapor as it 
 cools will condense upon the walls, and there will continue 
 its work of j)urification." 
 
 Dr. Eichardson also devised a very simple means of 
 purifying larger rooms by means of diffusing deodorizing 
 and disinfecting substances through the air in the form of 
 fine spray. The fluid used was made by adding iodine to 
 a solution of the peroxide of hydrogen. The water was 
 also charged with two and a half per cent of sea-salt, and 
 was set aside until it was saturated with the iodine. The 
 fluid was then filtered and placed in a spray-apparatus, by 
 which, when required, it was diffused in the finest state of 
 distribution at the rate of two fluid ounces an hour. In a 
 bedroom or sitting-room of ordinary size, one ounce of the 
 fluid was sufficient to render the air — as tried by the best 
 chemical tests — perfectly pure, and that in the course of ten 
 or twelve minutes. ** The apparatus," says its enthusiastic 
 inventor, ^^was so simple in action that any nurse could put 
 it into operation at once, and could deodorize a room hour 
 by hour on the direction of the medical attendant. In 
 fact, there was produced a sea-atmosphere in the room." 
 
 Every one perceives at once the difference between a 
 pure inland-breeze and a pure sea-breeze. This arises 
 mainly from the fact that the latter contains some admix- 
 ture of salt and a little iodine, l^ow, if one could at will 
 introduce into his city or country bedroom, parlor, or office, 
 the atmosphere of the sea-shore, it could not fail to be of 
 high advantage. Instead of going to the sea -shore, he 
 would practically, for the time being, bring the sea-shore to 
 him. 
 
 A word of caution is necessary in regard to this use of 
 iodine, and it will apply in some degree to the use of chlo- 
 rine and of many other disinfectants. The oxj^gen which 
 is set free by these means is eager for a new combination. 
 This is precisely what makes it valuable as an oxidizer of 
 
DISINFECTANTS, 81 
 
 deleterious organic matter, but it is equally ready to at- 
 tack some other substances, including metals. Therefore 
 metallic fixtures, ornaments, instruments, etc., will be rap- 
 idly rusted in a room where disinfectants of this class arc 
 used, and especially where the iodine volatilizer described 
 by Richardson is in use for weeks together. They should 
 therefore be first removed, or else protected by some coating 
 that will prevent rust. 
 
IX, 
 
 THE BEDEOOMS. 
 
 There are those wlio profess to consider every lionr 
 spent in sleep as so mucb. lost time. For anght we know, 
 the Creator might haye so constituted man that he should 
 not require any regularly returning intervals of repose. 
 But he has not done so. The physical laws which govern 
 our earthly life prescribe sleep ; and it is only by obedi- 
 ence to these physical laws that bodily health can be main- 
 tained. 
 
 The time required for slee^D varies much in different 
 individuals ; more in the same individual at different ages, 
 in different states of health, and at different seasons of the 
 year. Dr. Eichardson says : *^ We require in the cold sea- 
 son of winter, when the nights are long, much more of 
 sleep than we do in the summer. On the longest day in 
 the year, seven hours of sleep is sufficient for most men and 
 women who are in the prime of life. On the shortest day, 
 nine hours of sleep is not overmuch ; and, for those who are 
 weakly, ten or twelve hours may be taken with real advan- 
 tage. In winter, children should always have ten or twelve 
 hours of sleep. It is not idleness to indulge to that extent ; 
 but an actual saving, a storing up of invigorated existence 
 for the future. " 
 
 Perhaps this may hold good for Great Britain, where 
 the longest days and the longest nights are longer than 
 with us ; and where the people are of a somewhat more 
 
TEE BEDROOMS. 83 
 
 phlegmatic temperament. But for us, and in our climate, 
 the estimate is probably somewhat too high, taken as a 
 whole. Infants, indeed, pass almost their whole time for 
 several months in sleep ; old age sometimes demands more 
 sleep than do youth and maturity ; sickness asks for more 
 sleep than health does. Too much sleep is injurious as 
 well as too much eating. Leaving infancy, old age, and 
 sickness out of view, probably eight hours out of the twen- 
 ty-four for sleep is a fair average for men and women in our 
 country, who are in ordinary health and engaged in the 
 ordinary occupations of life. That is, about one third of 
 the time during the most busy period of our life must be 
 given up to sleep. 
 
 Our sleeping hours are exposed to many perils from 
 whicli our waking hours are exempt. When awake we can 
 close the windows if the draught is excessive ; put on more 
 clothing if we are cold ; lay aside some if we are too warm ; 
 replenish the fire if it burns too low, and do innumerable 
 other things which it is desirable should be done. In 
 sleep our actions are withdrawn almost wholly from our own 
 control. Whatever preparations are to be made for health 
 and comfort during sleep must be made while we are 
 awake. Were it not that the vital functions of the lungs 
 and heart go on independent of our volitions, every sleep 
 would be one from which there is no waking — sleep and 
 death would be words of the same import. 
 
 Then, also, the condition of the body and of all its sur- 
 roundings is most unfavorable during the hours specially 
 devoted to sleep — say from midnight to daylight. During 
 these hours the life-giving influence of the sun has been 
 longest withdrawn from us, and the vital processes are at 
 their lowest point. Deaths — especially of those who are 
 suffering from protracted illness — occur far more frequently 
 during these hours than during a like period of any other 
 part of the day. These hours are regarded by all physi- 
 
8^ HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 cians, and others who Laye constant care of the sick, as crit- 
 ical hours. One of our old writers styles them the ^^ hours 
 of Fate." For all of us, and especially for those who are 
 treading the downward slope of life, sleep is deepest and 
 death nearest in these hours of Fat^. 
 
 Imagine a case, which shall not be exceptional, but a 
 fair type of many which are of constant occurrence : A man 
 somewhat declined into the yale of years, but in good or- 
 dinary health for his age, has passed a winter eyening in his 
 parlor, heated to a pleasant summer temperature. At eleyen 
 o'clock he goes to his bedroom, in which a fire has been 
 kept ujo. This is still burning, although it is beginning to 
 wax low. But the room is yet warm ; so he does not re- 
 plenish the fuel, but lies down to rest, and soon falls into 
 sound sleep. Four or fiye hours elapse, during which a 
 great change has been gradually going on in the room. 
 The fire in the grate has burned out and the temperature 
 within has sunk almost as low as that without — say thirty 
 or forty degrees lower than it had been. The sleeper lies 
 unconscious of all this. Perhaps the bedclothing may be 
 sufficient to preyent him from feeling cold. But he has 
 been receiying cold air into his lungs, long accustomed only 
 to the inhalation of warm air. The minute blood-yessels of 
 the lungs are more or less paralyzed by the unwonted cold air. 
 They become congested, and this congestion may result in a 
 bronchial irritation and obstruction, which constitutes one 
 of the most fatal diseases incident to aged people, and which 
 manifests itself most especially when winter comes on. 
 
 Now, had the sleeper been awake during these few 
 hours, nothing of the kind would haye happened. He 
 would haye replenished the fire in due time, and would 
 thus haye kept up a uniform temperature through the 
 night. Uniformity of temperature during all the hours of 
 sleep is, for a person not in robust health, of much more 
 consequence than mere warmth. 
 
TEE BEDROOMS. 85 
 
 Any sudden change of temperature involves the chief 
 hazard. The best temperature for a sleeping-room is that 
 of from 60° to 65°, perhaps a little higher for enfeebled per- 
 sons. But, even for these, a uniform cold atmosphere is 
 better than one in which there is frequent and marked fluc- 
 tuation. The temperature of a warmed room varies con- 
 siderably in different parts ; the thermometer should be 
 placed at the head of the bed, about two feet above the 
 pillow. 
 
 Since so many of the most important hours of the day 
 are passed in the bedroom, and since those hours are be- 
 set with so many dangers peculiar to themselves — dangers 
 from which the occupant, while asleep, has no means of 
 protecting himself — it behooves that the utmost precaution 
 and care should be taken to reduce these possible dangers 
 to the lowest actual point, and to ward off, as far as may 
 be, the evils of those which will still remain. Assuming 
 that due ventilation has been provided, and that the heat- 
 ing apparatus, if any, is properly constructed, we pass to 
 the consideration of sundry points, each in itself of perhaps 
 minor consequence, but amounting in the aggregate to 
 very much. 
 
 The relative importance of the bedroom is greatly en- 
 hanced when, as is generally the case, it is used for many 
 other purposes besides sleeping. In most houses the bed- 
 room serves also as a dressing-room arid a private sitting- 
 room. Every person, however social, wishes for more or 
 less hours of solitude ; and every one has at times some- 
 thing to do which can best be done in private ; and the 
 bedroom is the natural place for these purposes. The boys 
 will study their school-lessons there ; the girls will do 
 their stitching and mending and write their letters there. 
 So that, what with all these uses, not much less than half 
 of the twenty-four hours of the day will be spent, at least 
 by the female members of the family, in the bedroom. Its 
 
86 BEALTS AT SOME. 
 
 location and arrangement are therefore of the first impor- 
 tance. The pleasantest and sunniest rooms in the upper 
 part of the house should be devoted to this purpose. A 
 basement bedroom is never to be tolerated on any account, 
 nor should one exist on the first floor unless there is under 
 it a high and dry basement. 
 
 The floor of a bedroom can not be too good, and the 
 best floor is one of wood, well seasoned, smooth, carefully 
 fitted and properly laid ; not painted, but stained, if de- 
 sired, to a light oak color. If, however, as is most likely, 
 the floor is not good enough for this use, it may be covered 
 with oil-cloth or straw-matting. Each of these materials 
 presents some special advantages, and they about balance 
 each other. 
 
 Oil-cloth is impermeable by water or dust, is easily 
 swept and cleaned, and very durable, so that it hardly needs 
 to be taken up until quite worn out. It should therefore 
 be accurately fitted to every line, angle, and turning of the 
 walls of the room, well laid, and securely nailed down. It 
 should be of some one color, agreeable to the eye in itself or 
 in connection with that of the walls and ceiling. If these, 
 as is to be suggested hereafter, are bluish, the oil-cloth 
 should be of a reddish-brown tint, thus following N'ature, 
 our best guide, who spreads an overarching canopy of blue 
 above the blooming of the land whose prevailing tints are 
 brownish. 
 
 If matting be chosen for the floor-covering, the same 
 general rules are to be observed as for oil-cloth. It should 
 be of the natural delicate yellowish hue of the rushes of 
 which it is made. Straw-matting is pleasanter to the tread 
 and less resonant to the foot-fall than oil-cloth. It is ea- 
 sily swept, and may be washed off when in any way soiled. 
 
 Whether oil-cloth or matting be used as a floor-covering, 
 strips of carpeting — rugs, in fact — should be laid over it in 
 the places most frequently trodden upon : as in front of 
 
TEE BEDROOMS. 87 
 
 the fire — if there be one ; by the sides of the bed, and in 
 front of the wardrobe, dressing-table, and wash -stand. 
 These strips are not to be tacked down at all. They should 
 be taken up whenever the room is swept, carried out-doors, 
 shaken and beaten, brought back and laid down again. In 
 these carpet-strips or rugs, some license — but not overmuch 
 — may be taken as to color. Darker colors and more brill- 
 iant tints than are admissible elsewhere in the room may 
 be used here. 
 
 The practices which should prevail in the use of carpets 
 in bedrooms may be summed up in two rules : 1. Have 
 carpet - strips in every part of the room where the feet 
 are regularly and frequently placed. This will include all 
 the places specified above. 2. Have no carpets in any part 
 of the room where the feet are not regularly and frequently 
 placed. This will exclude a space of two or three feet 
 around the room next to the walls, and most especially 
 the space under the bed. The reason for the latter rule is 
 that every unnecessary inch of carpet adds to the impuri- 
 ties floating in the air of the room by accumulating dust. 
 Much of the dust thus collected in bedrooms in spite of the 
 most careful sweeping, is of organic origin, and, if not origi- 
 nally noxious, soon becomes so by means of fermentation 
 and decomposition. 
 
 If wall-paper is to be used, the following directions of 
 Dr. Eichardson are eminently worthy of observance : " 1. 
 The paper selected should not be a ' flock-paper.' 2. It 
 ought not to have a raised or rough surface. 3. The pat- 
 tern should be of the plainest kind — so to speak, pattern- 
 less. 4. The color should be gray, sea-green, or sky-blue. 
 5. It should be renewed every three years at least. 6. 
 The old paper should be entirely stripped off, and the wall 
 be well cleansed of dry paste. 7. The new paper should 
 be put on with paste fresh and pure, into which a little 
 alum has been introduced." 
 
88 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 But better than to use paper at all^ and cheaper in the long 
 run, is to have the walls hard finished and painted in a deli- 
 cate tint — saj sky-blue or sea-green. Some of the " sili- 
 cate " paints are in some respects the best ; but their use is 
 rather costly, owing to the fact that they do not " cover '* 
 well ; four coats may be required where two of the ordinary 
 lead or zinc paints would be sufficient. After all, perhaps 
 the old mode of painting walls in ^^ distemper" is about as 
 good as any, taking the comparative cheapness into account. 
 At least, there are no sanitary objections to it, as in the 
 case of wall-paper. 
 
 The general rules applicable to the walls apply equally 
 to the ceiling. It should in no case be pure white, but of 
 a tint approximating to the wall, preferably a little lighter 
 in shade. 
 
 The fittings of a bedroom should be simple rather than 
 ornate. Bric-a-'brac, to any great extent, is quite out of 
 place. The room is mainly designed for a place of rest ; and 
 a " cluttered-up " aspect is suggestive of anything rather 
 than repose. A few good pictures (if they can be afforded) 
 or engravings should hang upon, not cover, the walls. But 
 the pictures should not be of a very bright tone, and the 
 subjects should always be pleasant ones. 
 
 It matters little whether the bedstead be of metal or 
 of wood. It should stand upon casters, and be light enough 
 to be easily moved for sweeping under it, and for other 
 purposes. 
 
 The great feather-bed, the pride and glory of house- 
 keepers of former generations, is now, fortunately, pretty 
 nearly a thing of the past. It wg^s not favorable to health. 
 Spring-mattresses, of various devices, are excellent. Mat- 
 tresses of curled hair and the like are unexceptionable. 
 The great evil of a very hard bed is that it supports the 
 body of a sleeper at only a few points, namely, the shoul- 
 ders and hips. Any bed which is sufficiently yielding to 
 
THE BEDROOMS. 89 
 
 ^* giye " to the body at every point — to adapt itself to the 
 hollows and protuberances of the frame — is in so far a 
 good one. A soft quilt may properly be placed oyer the 
 mattress. A very thin feather-bed is not inadmissible in 
 cold weather, although the quilt answers every purpose. 
 
 Feathers, though to a good extent banished from use as 
 beds, are still most commonly retained for pillows. Now, 
 feathers require to be cleaned from time to time, and much 
 more frequently than is generally practiced. It is too often 
 assumed that, as long as the pillow has no decided musty 
 smell, all is right. The feathers, after cleansing, should be 
 thoroughly dried, or mischief will happen. 
 
 For sheets and pillow-cases cotton is in many cases pref- 
 erable to linen. The outer bedclothing should be as light 
 as is consistent with a sufficient amount of protecting 
 power. No clothing, whether for the bed or the person, 
 produces any heat. It merely acts as a non-conductor, hin- 
 dering the heat generated by the vital forces within the 
 body from escaping. Woolen blankets, of a fleecy texture, 
 are undoubtedly the best bedclothing. If a ^^ comforter" 
 be desired, one of cotton is quite as good as one of the cost- 
 liest eider-down. It should consist of not more than three 
 or four pounds of smooth cotton ^^bats" quilted between 
 a cloth covering on each side. It is advisable that no sin- 
 gle article of bedclothing be very thick, but, that there be 
 at least two of each kind, so that the thickness of the whole 
 may be graduated according to the weather ; and so that 
 they can be changed frequently. Moreover, a thin cover- 
 ing affords less lodgment for the exhalations of the body 
 than does a thick one. 
 
 It is sometimes thought to be a token of neatness that 
 the occupant of a bedroom tidy it up by ^^ making-up " the 
 bed before breakfast. But this is not advisable. It is bet- 
 ter that the bed be smoothed up until the morning ablu- 
 tions and dressing have been performed, so that the exhala- 
 
90 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 tions of the night shall not escape into the room. Then, 
 the last thing before leaving the room, take off all articles 
 of the bedclothing, hang them as separately as may be 
 over the foot of the bed and upon chairs, and open the win- 
 dows, so that eyerything maybe thoroughly aired before the 
 bed is made n]3. 
 
 The windows should be left oj^en in pleasant weather 
 until the sun begins to decline, when they should be closed, 
 since late in the day the air, except on very bright days, be- 
 gins to be charged with sensible moisture — that is, it is 
 more or loss ^^damp" ; and to sleep in damj) air is nearly 
 as bad as to sleep in damp sheets. 
 
 The common exception to sleeping in *^ night air," 
 though not very well expressed, is perfectly sound in fact. 
 To be sure, air in the night can, in a strict sense, be noth- 
 ing else than ^^ night air" ; but what is meant in the ob- 
 jection is air unduly charged with sensible moisture. To 
 breathe such air during the day would be just as deleteri- 
 ous as to breathe it during the night, only that during 
 sleep the physical system is in a condition less fitted to re- 
 sist its evil influence. This does not apply to malarious 
 districts, where noxious exhalations are thrown from the 
 soil into the air much more abundantly during the night 
 than during the day. Thus one may pass the day in the 
 Pontine Marshes near Eome, or in the rice-swamps of South 
 Carolina, with tolerable safety, while it is almost fatal to 
 sleep there for a single night. 
 
 It is very desirable that only one person should occupy 
 a bed. In no case, if it can possibly be avoided, should 
 two persons very different in age, temperament, and habits, 
 sleep together. The evils resulting to a young person from 
 sleeping with an aged one are universally recognized. The 
 child is almost sure to become enfeebled ; whether the aged 
 person is benefited thereby, as is commonly supposed, is not 
 so certain. The common opinion iSj that the old person in 
 
THE bedroo:ms. 91 
 
 some mysterious way draws out vitality from the young 
 one, and absorbs it into his own system. 
 
 But, leaving this out of view, there are evils more or less 
 inseparable from double-bed sleeping. Very rarely will 
 two persons sleep together whose systems require just the 
 same amount of bedclothing ; and, if a compromise is ef- 
 fected, one must have too little, the other too much. If 
 one of them be restless, the other must be annoyed ; if one 
 be wakeful, he will disturb the sleep of the other. And in 
 any case each must in some degree inhale the vitiated air 
 which has just been breathed out by the other. Two sin- 
 gle beds of course occupy somewhat more space than a double 
 one. And in case the size and shape of the bedroom, or 
 the uses other than sleeping for which it may be required, 
 preclude two ordinary beds, a *^ trundle-bed," to be run 
 beneath the other during the day, is preferable to a double 
 bed, especially where one of the occupants is a child. 
 
 A bedroom should, as far as possible, not be used as 
 a store-room ; and, in case it is necessary to have a trunk 
 or two in it, these may be utilized as couches or seats, by 
 covering them with cushions made for the purpose. Most 
 especially the space under the bed should not be used as a 
 repository for things to be kept out of sight. Wherever 
 else shoes, bundles, and odds and ends may be placed, they 
 should never be found under the bed. 
 
 In a healthful home, no bedroom to be occupied by a sin- 
 gle person will contain less than eight hundred cubic feet ; 
 say ten feet long, eight feet wide, and ten feet high. For 
 two persons its cubical contents should be greater by at 
 least one half ; say twelve feet long and ten feet broad ; 
 and a still more liberal amount of space is desirable if the 
 size of the house will permit. 
 
X. 
 
 THE CLOTHINa WE WEAE. 
 
 *' Gee AT is the significance of clothes," says Teufels- 
 drock-Carlyle. By " clothes " he indeed means those in- 
 stitutions, forms, habits, and customs which man, the spir- 
 ituality, has hung upon or wrapped around himself as an 
 inyisible environment for his visible existence. But, in a 
 hygienic point of view, we may take the word in its literal 
 signification. 
 
 The chief materials used by man for clothing are skins, 
 furs, the bark and leaves of trees, or fabrics made from 
 them, silk, wool, cotton, and linen. Leaving the other 
 materials out of view, it may be said that, especially for 
 under-garments, silk is the best ; but its comparative cost 
 precludes its very extensive use for that purpose. Then, 
 come wool, cotton, and linen ; wool being the best and 
 linen the worst of the three for this use. 
 
 As far as health and comfort are concerned, the inhab- 
 itants of warm regions, taught by instinct or experience, 
 prefer either as little clothing as is consistent with decency, 
 or loose and flowing garments ; while the inhabitants of 
 cold regions prefer garments which fit somewhat closely to 
 each part of the person, and, when loose and flowing ones 
 are added, it is mainly and especially for the sake of adorn- 
 ment, not for health or comfort. Outer garments, or 
 wraps, such as shawls and cloaks, are an exception to this. 
 No attire is beautiful, or will ever be considered so, except 
 
THE CLOTHING WE WEAR, 93 
 
 during the brief period when it is ''the fashion," which 
 does not either fit to the person, or fall in loose folds about 
 it. Oriental peoples have, from time immemorial, to a 
 great extent adhered to their national ancestral garb ; and 
 as a rule their costumes, while graceful, present little to 
 which objection can be taken upon sanitary grounds. But 
 with us of the Occident the fashions are ever varying from 
 one extreme to the other of positive ugliness. 
 
 The sanitarian will not trouble himself to quarrel with 
 Fashion so long as she contents herself with prescribing 
 ugly attire. But when she goes on to prescribe a costume 
 which, instead of fitting to the person, fits the vital organs 
 to itself, displaces them at will, and thereby prevents the 
 due performance of their proper functions, he must lift 
 up his voice in loud though perhaps unavailing protest. 
 Haply a few, at least, may heed his warning, if often 
 enough reiterated. 
 
 Fortunately, the male attire of the present day is tol- 
 erably suited to its purpose, and is not, except in a few 
 points, specially objectionable upon sanitary grounds ; its 
 defects being mainly those of omission rather than positive 
 violation of sanitary laws. Far different is it in respect to 
 the prevalent female costume. 
 
 The evil effects of "tight lacing," as the term is com- 
 monly used, are too well known to need to be here detailed. 
 It may be believed that this particular form of compression 
 of the waist has to a good degree gone out of use. We 
 rarely now see the spider-like waists, which one could clasp 
 between the extended fingers of his two hands. So we let 
 this pass. 
 
 But evils quite as great as and far more prevalent than 
 those ever occasioned by mere tight lacing are entailed by 
 wearing heavy under-skirts, etc., suspended from the abdo- 
 men above the hips. Without going into anatomical ex- 
 planations, it is sufficient to say that this extra weight. 
 
94 HEALTH AT HOME, 
 
 pulling down upon muscles which have enough to do to 
 perform their own work, impairs the whole process of 
 breathing— that vital function upon whose proper perform- 
 ance every other function depends. All the organs below 
 the tight band which ujDholds the skirts are dragged still 
 farther downward by a steady, constant pull ; and each of 
 them, one ofter the other, begins to complain. 
 
 First, perhaps, the stomach gives out its monitory voice. 
 There are fluctuating pains here, there, and everywhere, 
 but seeming to find a common center at the middle of the 
 chest, accompanied by an uneasy pulling downward at the 
 pit of the stomach. The sufferer tries to describe this sen- 
 sation by designating it as a feeling of *^ goneness." It 
 closely simulates the sensation of faintness occasioned by 
 want of food. Sometimes, indeed, the irritation of the 
 stomach thus caused produces a factitious hunger, so that 
 the sufferer is " always eating," and perhaps congratulates 
 herself upon her excellent appetite. But by-and-by, al- 
 though the appetite appears to be so good, the food, be it 
 what it may, does not " agree " with her. The stomach 
 either rejects its burden or passes it on undigested, or the hor- 
 rors of dyspepsia are added to the misery already endured. 
 In other cases the same irritation causes loss of appetite. 
 
 The mere disjDlacement of any one organ involves a dis- 
 placement of adjacent ones, each of which must in turn 
 take possession of some of the space belonging to its neigh- 
 bor. The liver can not do its work properly, and so bilious 
 affections are promoted. Meanwhile the passage of the 
 food, after it has left the stomach, is interrupted in the 
 bowels, producing constipation and occasionally violent in- 
 flammation and ulcers. The heart also — that toughest of 
 all the organs, which has been compared to an animated 
 India-rubber bag — flags in its unceasing work, and sends 
 out its plaint in the form of palpitations, flutterings, and 
 *' sinking feelings." 
 
THE CLOTmNO WE WEAR. 95 
 
 Worse even than any or all is the effect produced upon 
 the organs belonging specially to the female sex, who not 
 imfrequently undergo from this cause tortures equal to 
 those of the rack or the stake. And the intimate relations 
 between these organs and the brain and entire nervous sys- 
 tem induce untold agony, both of body and mind. 
 
 Many years ago Miss Beecher, in her ''Letters to Ameri- 
 can Women/' put forth statistics, drawn from wide obser- 
 vation and inquiry, to the startling effect that among Ameri- 
 can women, in good circumstances of life, hardly one in ten 
 was fitted to perform the functions of motherhood. It 
 may be hoped that this estimate was exaggerated ; but 
 there can be no doubt that it embodies a fearful amount of 
 truth. And there can be as little doubt that much of this 
 is owing to faulty modes of dress, and notably in the re- 
 spect of which we are speaking. 
 
 One of the worst things in this case is that this abuse 
 in dress begins at a quite early age. Very tight lacing was 
 not usually systematically begun until the girl had entered 
 early womanhood and was of an age to '' go out," by which 
 time the bones had become sufficiently ''set "to offer a 
 stout and partially successful opposition to the pressure. 
 But the heavy unsupported skirts are hung upon the school- 
 girl before she has fairly entered her teens. 
 
 This long train of evils may be avoided by a modifi- 
 cation in the manner of supporting the skirts. Have a 
 jacket made, fitting well to the figure, like the waist of a 
 dress ; it may be best fitted over a corset. It is to be laced 
 behind, but not so tightly that a full breath can not be 
 easily drawn while in a sitting position. It is immaterial 
 whether there are sleeves or not ; in either case, the arm- 
 holes should not be so small as to impede the free move- 
 ments of the shoulder- joint. The jacket may be stiffened 
 by thin slips of whalebone, which yield readily to every 
 motion of the body, and the corset should be dispensed 
 
96 HEALTH AT HOME, 
 
 with, all its valuable uses being perfectly supplied by the 
 jacket. E"o stiS '* corset-board" is in front, no unyielding 
 '^^ steels" at the back, to interfere with the graceful, swan- 
 like curye which the many- join ted spine assumes when 
 stooping, if its action is not interfered with. At the bot- 
 tom of the jacket are buttons to which are fastened all the 
 skirts, etc., be they more or less in number. Their weight, 
 within any reasonable limits, is of little consequence ; it is 
 all suspended from the shoulders, which are abundantly 
 able to sustain it. 
 
 The best mode of under-dressing for all females, and es- 
 pecially for the young, is to wear next to the person a 
 closely-fitting waist of flannel or soft cotton, to which the 
 drawers are buttoned ; oyer this the chemise, and over that 
 the jacket. Then comes the dress itself, of any material, 
 shape, or fashion which may be chosen by the wearer. 
 
 The usual "full dress" of ladies, as far as the clothing 
 of the chest is concerned, is most defectiye. Dr. Richard- 
 son, whom we haye already frequently cited, says emphati- 
 cally that men would be suSering eyery day from colds 
 and bronchitis if they went as women go with the upper 
 part of the body practically unclothed ; and it was his ex- 
 perience that, in the large majority of cases of people of 
 consumptiye tendencies, the direct cause of the eyil was 
 the exposure of the chest. Clothing, he says, should be as 
 porous as possible, and there is no substance for dress as 
 good as light, loose woolen cloth. In a sanitary point of 
 view, color is of considerable importance. For cleanli- 
 ness, effect of light upon the body, and warmth, gray is the 
 best color, black the worst, for the outside dress. 
 
 Drawers should be depended on for securing warmth to 
 the lower limbs, and they should be of material sufficient 
 to accomplish this without aid, skirts being added as de- 
 sired for the sake of appearance, since the latter do not fit 
 closely enough to give adequate protection against the cur- 
 
TEE CLOTEma WE WEAR. 97 
 
 rents of air constantly encountered in walking. Many in- 
 flammatory disorders of the bowels and of other organs, oc- 
 curring among women and young children, are due to neg- 
 lect of this precaution. The practice of dressing little boys in 
 knickerbockers, with the legs partly bare or yery slightly 
 clothed, is exceedingly pernicious. The knickerbockers 
 are well enough, provided sufficient protection in the 
 way of drawers and stockings be added, but the drawers 
 and stockings should always meet ; the latter should be 
 warm and thick except in yery hot weather, and, in 
 cold weather, should either be double, or supplemented by 
 leggings. ^ ^ 
 
 Stockings require more cafe in selection than most ar- 
 ticles of dress. Ill-fitting stockings and those haying seams 
 are nearly as productiye of corns and similar painful affec- 
 tions as ill-fitting shoes. ]S"ext to silk, wool is generally 
 preferable for winter wear, but there are many persons 
 whose feet perspire so freely in woolen stockings that they 
 are more comfortable in moderately thick cotton ones, eyen 
 in the coldest weather. Such persons should be careful 
 when going for a long walk or a driye in cold weather to 
 protect the feet by gaiters of felt or other warm material 
 worn outside of the boot and coyering the entire upper part 
 of the foot, and their boots should always haye thick soles, 
 and should contain felt or cork in-soles. The in-soles should 
 be removed each night, that they may be perfectly aired 
 and dried. 
 
 Colored stockings should, as a rule, be avoided, as many 
 of the dyes used in coloring them irritate the skin very se- 
 riously, and sometimes a fatal effect has been produced by 
 wearing them. Always, if the skin appears roughened or 
 inflamed under colored stockings, the latter should be at 
 once discarded. 
 
 Stockings should never be supported by garters, as these 
 can not be tight enough to serve their purpose without 
 
 5 
 
98 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 imiDeding tlie circulation of the blood, inducing coldness of 
 the feet, and causing the yeins of the legs to swell and in 
 many cases to become yaricose. It is better that the sup- 
 port should be by means of an elastic band attached to the 
 drawers. 
 
 Just now the shoes, whether for males or females, are 
 literally the great stumbling-blocks in the way of healthful 
 dressing. A long and narrow foot has come to be consid- 
 ered a great point of beauty. So we have the sharp-pointed, 
 narrow-soled shoe of the time. If one could only look upon 
 a foot which has been distorted by the long wearing of such 
 shoes, he would have a spectacle of extreme deformity. To 
 say nothing of painful corns, unsightly callosities, and bun- 
 ions, the great-toe is deflected from its place, and lies partly 
 across the other toes, which, as feebler members, have to 
 adjust themselves as best they may to the confined quarters 
 into which they are forced. It will be fortunate if an in- 
 growing nail or two is not added to the inevitable corns and 
 bunions. 
 
 The great-toe is a member of much more importance 
 than is generally supposed. It is the great pivot upon 
 which the body moves at one period in the act of walking. 
 It is to the human foot very much what the thumb is to the 
 hand. In olden times, when a somewhat merciful captor 
 wished to render his prisoners incapable of further offense, 
 with the least personal injury to them, he cut off their 
 great-toes and thumbs. A person thus mutilated is prac- 
 tically a cripple. Cut off the thumbs and great-toes of 
 every person, and in a generation or two the human race 
 would be extinct, simply because without the constant use 
 of these members the various works necessary to human 
 life can not be adequately performed. In respect to the 
 hand the experiment may be easily tried without ampu- 
 tating the thumb. Tie it firmly down, so that it can not 
 be used, and see how many implements you can manage 
 
THE CLOTHma WE WEAR. 99 
 
 with only the other fingers. If one could treat the great- 
 toe in the same manner, the result would be quite corre- 
 spondent. 
 
 Sir Charles Bell, in his admirable ^^ Bridge water Treat- 
 ise," has set forth the construction of the human hand as a 
 striking instance of the divine adaptation of means to ends. 
 A like treatise might be written concerning the foot. In its 
 natural state the different bones and cartilages of the foot 
 are so arranged as to form an elastic arch, of which the 
 heel and ball of the foot are the base of the support, so 
 that, when we tread, the weight of the body does not come 
 down plump at once as it does upon the stump of a wooden 
 leg. The impact is broken by the momentary yielding of 
 the arch. When the natural structure of this arch, or the 
 play of its parts, is interfered with in any way, its uses are 
 in so far frustrated. The male shoe is bad enough in this 
 respect ; but in the female shoe, as now fashionably made, 
 everything is as wrong as it well can be. The heel is so 
 high that it takes nearly the whole impact, of which it 
 should bear only half ; it is brought down to a looint too 
 small to furnish a good part of a firm basis ; and the mus- 
 cles of the ankle are strained in the vain attempt to main- 
 tain the equipoise ; they give way upon one side or the 
 other, usually upon the outer side ; the heel of the shoe is 
 worn away more upon that side, and the muscles of the 
 ankle are more and more wrenched by the ^' lopsidedness " 
 of the tread. And, worse than all, the heel of the shoe, 
 instead of being directly under the heel of the foot, is 
 brought forward until it is almost under the insertion of 
 the ankle-bone, with which it forms nearly a straight line. 
 The consequence is that, when the wearer walks, it is al- 
 most as though she were mounted upon a pair of wooden 
 stumps. She " minces " in her gait, and this is commonly 
 set down to affectation. It is no such thing in most cases. 
 The poor creature is doing the best she can under difficul- 
 
100 EEALT3 AT HOUR 
 
 ties for which, she and the shoemaker are jointly, though 
 perhaps ignorantly, resj)onsible. 
 
 There is as much reason for the shoe being fitted to the 
 the foot as for the jacket being fitted to the bust. And 
 this can be done only by measurement ; as thus : Let one 
 foot be placed firmly upon the floor, while standing erect 
 and bearing one's whole weight upon it. If the toes have 
 been distorted from their proper ^Dositions, it is better to 
 put between them soft pledgets of cotton or the like, to 
 bring them as near as may be to their right position. 
 These will be covered by the stocking, and so the measurer 
 need know nothing of them. A sheet of paper will have 
 been laid upon the floor, under the foot ; upon this let the 
 orthopedic artist trace the outline of the foot, all around 
 from heel to toe. This outline gives the form of the sole, 
 and it will be quite different from that of the "ready- 
 made " shoes displayed in the show-windows. If one wish 
 to have one's shodden foot appear a little longer, and con- 
 sequently narrower, than it really is, there is no objection 
 to the sole being somewhat prolonged, and brought nearer 
 to a point beyond the toes. 
 
 But feet differ considerably in other respects than 
 length and breadth of sole. One foot will differ from 
 another, of the same length and breadth, in thickness at 
 various points, and especially in height of instep. To 
 insure a "good fit," measurements must be taken, by a 
 tape-measure, at several places, and carefully noted down. 
 If one could be quite certain that the shoemaker would be 
 strictly guided by his measurements, no further directions 
 need be given ; but it may be well to tell him that you wish 
 a "loose" fit, rather than a "tight" one. 
 
 Eeady-made shoes being made to scale, or perhaps to 
 two or three scales, will not fit aU feet, and most likely 
 will not be a perfect fit to any one foot. If, however, one 
 chances to find a ready-made shoe that is a tolerable fit in 
 
TEE CLOTHING WE WEAR. 101 
 
 all respects, it may be wiser to take that than to run the 
 quite probable risk of having a worse one ^^made to order." 
 
 The foot has a happy faculty of getting oyer any inju- 
 ries which it may have suffered from maltreatment, only 
 give it a chance. Discard tight, ill-fitting shoes, and you 
 may reasonably hope that corns, bunions, and the like will 
 vanish in a short time; that the distorted and dis23laced 
 toes will resume their natural shape and position, and you 
 will have a foot as shapely as Nature meant you to have, 
 although it may not quite come up to the ideal standard of 
 the Venus of Milo. 
 
 '^ Congress" boots are convenient in many ways. They 
 save a deal of trouble in buttoning and unbuttoning, lac- 
 ing and unlacing ; and, moreover, buttons have a persistent 
 habit of getting off, and lacings of getting broken at the 
 most inconvenient moment. Care should be taken that the 
 elastic gores are not too stiff, and that they are not tight 
 enough to impede the circulation of the blood in the ankles. 
 
 Eubber overshoes are a very necessary protection against 
 wet and damp, but they should never be worn for warmth, 
 because they confine the perspiration and make the feet 
 unhealthy. If one has to be out much in stormy weather, 
 so that rubbers are constantly worn, the feet should be 
 bathed and the stockings and even the shoes changed twice 
 a day. 
 
 Slippers to be worn in the house are very well in warm 
 weather, but in cold or even cool weather they are very un- 
 safe, for the floor is commonly the coldest part of the room 
 and is traversed by currents of cold air, and the change 
 from the shoe or boot to the slipper is a very common cause 
 of illness, the more so as this change is usually made at the 
 close of the day, or at other times when one is fatigued and 
 peculiarly susceptible to the influence of cold. It should 
 go without saying, that slippers are not fit for out-of-door 
 wear. 
 
102 HEALTH AT HOME, 
 
 Gloyes, to be warni;, should be loose and come well up 
 on the wrist, oyerla^Dping the sleeve of the undershirt. 
 Silk, wool, cotton, any woven stuff, is preferable to skin, 
 because it does not confine the perspiration, can be more 
 thoroughly, aired and cleansed, and in case of wetting is 
 less uncomfortable. Driving-gloves must, on account of 
 the wear to which they are exposed, be wholly or partly of 
 skin. A common fault with gentlemen's driving-gloves is 
 that they are either too short or too flaring at the wrist. 
 In either case they afford insufficient protection from wind, 
 and should be supplemented by wristlets. 
 
 Hats should be worn for the reason given in reply to 
 the old conundrum, ^^Why does a miller wear a white 
 hat?^' — the correct answer being, '^To cover his head." 
 They are worn by men, commonly, for this reason — ^by 
 women, not always. It is a common remark among phy- 
 sicians that neuralgia of the face and head is much more 
 common among women than among men, and the cause of 
 the difference is thought to lie largely in the fact that the 
 head-coverings of women are frequently insufficient. The 
 entire top of the head should be covered, and in cold 
 weather the covering should be warm and should include 
 the temples and the back of the head. 
 
 Per males the narrow-brimmed, high-crowned, unyield- 
 ing ^^ beaver " is adapted to no good use. If not quite tight 
 it is sure to be blown off at the slightest provocation ; and 
 if tight it touches the head only at a few points, where it 
 produces irritation if not discoloration ; and the brim is too 
 narrow to afford any shelter to the eyes. A soft felt hat, 
 with a brim of moderate width, the crown rising three or 
 four inches above the top of the head, is graceful and con- 
 venient, and leaves little to be desired in a sanitary point of 
 view. If light in color, and light in texture, it is better 
 for summer wear than any fabrication of straw. 
 
 The overcoat is the part of our present male attire 
 
THE CLOTEINQ WE WEAR. 103 
 
 wliich most needs improvement. Of the mere dress over- 
 coat nothing need be said. For the purpose of protection 
 from cold and storms, all overcoats except the '^ulster," 
 or something like it, are very deficient. While they j^rotect 
 the chest and arms, the skirts afford little protection to 
 the legs either while walking or sitting \ and, moreover, 
 what with linings and paddings, it is not easy to dry one 
 thoroughly should it chance to get wet through. 
 
 The Peruvian ^^ poncho," with certain modifications, is 
 perhaps the best form for an outer wrap to be put on or 
 laid aside as the occasion requires. In its simplest form it 
 consists merely of a square piece of cloth with a hole in the 
 center large enough for the head to pass through, the size 
 of the cloth being such that, when thus placed ujoon the 
 shoulders, it will reach nearly to the feet. JSTow slit this 
 cloth down through the middle on one side, and upon the 
 opposite edges of this slit sew a few hooks-and-eyes (which 
 are preferable to buttons and button-holes, as more readily 
 fastened and unfastened), and you have a garment which 
 covers every part of the person, and may be put on or 
 thrown off in a moment if the edges of the slit are left un- 
 hooked. Make arm-slits of sufficient length (which should 
 have narrow flaps, capable of being buttoned over when de- 
 sired), and the arms will be perfectly free when thrust 
 through, and they will be warmly wrapped up when their 
 use is not required. Hook the edges of the side-slit to- 
 gether, button down the arm-hole flaps, and you have, in 
 effect, one piece of cloth. Fold this in the middle, and 
 you have a Scottish shawl ; fold it again, and you have a 
 heavy carriage-rug, which may be thrown over the knees 
 when driving. When riding, roll it into a bundle, and 
 strap it to the saddle, and it can be unstrapped and put on 
 in an instant, should a sudden storm arise, and its long 
 folds will cover the whole person, limbs and all, like a mili- 
 tary cloak. 
 
104 HEALTH AT HOME, 
 
 It should be made of a single thickness of cloth, with- 
 out linings or pockets to form water-bags during a storm. 
 Should it get wet, all you have to do is to hang it oyer a 
 line, and it will dry in a quarter of the time which would 
 be needed to dry an overcoat. In traveling by railway or 
 steamer, it may be strapped to the valise, and so be at hand 
 for instant use ; or, if j)acked into a trunk, it will not oc- 
 cupy half the space of an overcoat of half its protecting 
 power. Such a garment is always graceful and becoming 
 to all persons. 
 
 In fine, as far as regards clothing in a sanitary point of 
 view, every article of dress should be of proper materials 
 for its purpose ; should be so fitted and fashioned as to 
 present the least possible obstruction to the free action of 
 every member and organ of the body ; and the whole should 
 be capable of easy and ready adaptation to the ever-vary- 
 ing changes of season, climate, and the physical condition 
 of the wearer. And in all these respects it is just as easy 
 to be dressed properly as improperly. All the rest may be 
 left to the choice of the individual. 
 
 Every garment should be removed from the person and 
 thoroughly aired at least once in twenty-four hours. Many 
 people retain at night a part of the clothing that has been 
 worn during the day, changing only the outer garments, 
 especially in cold weather. If the bedroom is cold, there 
 may be wisdom in this, at least for elderly people, young 
 children, and those who are not robust, but in all such 
 cases there should be an entire change of clothing at some 
 time during the day, in a warm room. 
 
 Erom one day to seven is as long as any under-garment 
 should be worn without being washed, the difference hav- 
 ing relation less to the amount of visible impurity which 
 the garment has gathered from dust, etc., than to the close- 
 ness of contact between the garment and the wearer's skin, 
 and the freedom with which the wearer perspires. Thus^ 
 
TEE CLOTEIFG WE WEAR, 105 
 
 if we regard merely sanitary reasons, an iinder-sliirt should 
 be changed more frequently than an over-shirt, although 
 the latter will appear more soiled than the former. It is 
 better when the outer clothing is of such material that it 
 also can be occasionally washed, especially in warm weather. 
 When this is impossible, particular attention should be 
 given to having it well aired, and it should now and then 
 be well cleaned and laid aside for a few days or weeks. 
 
 No garment, inner or outer, should, on being removed 
 from the person, immediately be folded or rolled uji, or put 
 into a close place, as a drawer, trunk, bag, or small closet. 
 Clothing intended for the wash should first hang for sev- 
 eral hours in a room or large closet that is well ventilated. 
 It may then be put into a bag and kept in any airy place 
 until wash-day. Outer garments, after being aired, may be 
 folded and laid away, but no garment that has been worn 
 for many days should be closely packed with others until 
 it has been cleaned as thoroughly as possible. Similarly, 
 cast-off garments should not be consigned to the rag-bag 
 without being first washed or otherwise cleaned. It seems 
 almost unnecessary to mention so obvious a requirement, 
 yet from the time of the prophet Jeremiah, when '' old 
 cast clouts and old rotten rags " were found in ^^the house 
 of the king, under the treasury," similar foul deposits have 
 not been wanting in close connection with evidences of 
 wealth and refinement, albeit in these days the occasion for 
 using them to as good purpose as was then done does not 
 often arise. 
 
XI. 
 
 PERSONAL HABITS. 
 
 By personal habits we mean eyerything whicli pertains 
 to the regular routine of our usual daily life. These will 
 of necessity yary much in accordance with the differences 
 of sex, age, and physical condition ; much also with the 
 employments which fall to our lot. But, within certain 
 and not yery wide limits, the same general princi^^les will 
 apply to all. 
 
 First and foremost comes Personal Cleanliness. Eyery 
 act, no matter what, inyolyes the contraction or production 
 of more or less of personal uncleanliness ; and this, so far 
 as the surface of the body is concerned, can be got rid of 
 only by washing. A daily bath is, in general, a promoter 
 of health. The high importance of frequently and thor- 
 oughly washing the entire body is apparent when we con- 
 sider some of the functions pertaining to the skin. It is not 
 a mere coyering stretched oyer the body to shield inner and 
 more important parts ; it is one of the most delicately organ- 
 ized parts of the whole system ; and among its functions is 
 that of acting as a great excretory. It is estimated that an 
 adult in full health takes daily into his stomach some eight 
 or nine pounds of food and drink. Now, eyerything that 
 comes into the system must go out of it in some way, and 
 almost inyariably in a condition so changed that its further 
 presence within the body would be deleterious. Of this 
 amount of food and drink some three or four pounds a day 
 
PERSONAL HABITS. 107 
 
 are thrown off by the skin, about a pound by the lungs, 
 and the remainder by the intestines and kidneys. 
 
 To enable the skin to perform this work it is provided 
 with a system of minute perspiration tubes, or ducts, open- 
 ing from within the body, and terminating at the surface. 
 The total length of these ducts is set down at nearly thirty 
 miles. If these ducts by any means become obstructed or 
 closed up, the matter which should have been thrown off 
 through them must either remain festering within the sys- 
 tem, or be thrown off by the bowels, kidneys, or lungs, 
 which thus have extra work imposed upon them. If these 
 organs are in a strong and healthy condition, they may be 
 able to perform this superadded work. But, if they are 
 weak, they begin to flag, and in many cases they break 
 down with disease caused by the extra duty imposed on 
 them. 
 
 Now, the orifices of these ducts are continually ^^ silting 
 up," so to speak, with portions of this effete matter in a 
 solid or semi-fluid state ; and it is this which is washed 
 away by ablution. 
 
 It is only the effete matter lying upon or very near the 
 surface that is thus removed. This, indeed, usually consti- 
 tutes the greater part of it. But there is almost always 
 more or less of such deposit throughout the entire length 
 of the ducts. This may be removed by what may be called 
 *^ flushing " the ducts ; that is, by temporarily increasing 
 the flow of perspiration by means of a warm bath, and still 
 more thoroughly by an occasional hot-air bath, vapor-bath, 
 or any form of the Russian or Turkish bath. 
 
 These baths, however, should be used with much cau- 
 tion, and rarely without the advice of a physician. The 
 intense heat causes an increase of the heart's action, which 
 in some conditions of the circulatory system is dangerous. 
 The general and special exhaustion consequent on excessive 
 action of the skin, also constitute sources of danger, par- 
 
108 EEALTU AT HOME. 
 
 ti^nlarly if very frequently repeated. There is no harm in 
 the occasional use of such a bath as a luxury by persons in 
 perfect health, proyided that suitable reaction and rest im- 
 mediately follow, and in some cases it is very useful as a 
 remedy for disease, but it is rarely necessary for the pur- 
 pose of cleanliness, which is sufficiently accomplished by 
 the ordinary methods of bathing. 
 
 For infants a daily bath is very necessary, as the action 
 of the skin is with them even more important than with 
 adults. Tor those who are not infants and who are in good 
 health it is very desirable, and in warm climates, as well as 
 during the heat of summer in temperate climates, is almost 
 a necessity. 
 
 This does not of necessity involve that one should take 
 a plunge-bath every day, though that is desirable. But, 
 outside of the few large cities abundantly supplied with 
 water by aqueducts, there are few ordinary dwellings where 
 this can be attained. But in almost all places the general 
 end can be reached by means of a bathing-tub. The Eng- 
 lish portable bathing-tub ^* consists of a shallow metal basin 
 in which the bather can stand. The center, or ^ well,' of 
 the bath is about twelve inches in diameter, and about nine 
 inches deep. This well is surrounded by a broad rim, from 
 eight to ten inches wide, which slopes toward the center all 
 around. In this bath the ablutionist can stand, and can 
 wash himself from head to foot without wetting the floor, 
 since the broad, sloping rim catches the water. To stand in 
 such a bath as this, and from the water of the wash-hand 
 basin to sponge the body rapidly over, and afterward to dry 
 quickly and thoroughly, is everything that is wanted, if the 
 process be carried out daily ; and after a little while it be- 
 comes no more trouble than the mere washing of the face, 
 neck, and hands which so many are content to accept as a 
 perfected daily ablution." 
 
 An improvement on this bathing - tub is common 
 
PERSONAL HABITS, 109 
 
 throughout New England, though for some reason not often 
 met with elsewhere. The improvement consists in having 
 about nine inches of the sloping rim raised to a horizontal 
 position to form a seat on one side of the well, and sup- 
 ported by two legs under the outer edge. There is also a 
 pipe running from the side of the well, near the bottom, 
 under the seat to the top of the rim, through which, by 
 tipping the bath upon the two legs, the water within it 
 may be discharged into a pail without danger of overrun- 
 ning the sides, as when poured over a broad, sloping rim. 
 
 A square yard of India-rubber cloth laid upon the floor 
 answers quite well most of the purposes of this bathing- 
 tub ; and even this is not indispensable, since, if the sponge 
 or wash-cloth be not unnecessarily filled with water, so little 
 will reach the floor that it may easily be wiped up. 
 
 Some persons bathe too much. They have an idea that 
 bathing is conducive to health, and think the more they 
 have of it the better. Bathing promotes health in two 
 ways : first, mechanically, by removing noxious and ob- 
 structive material from the skin ; second, physiologically, 
 as exercise does, by promoting the circulation of blood in 
 the part bathed, and especially in the skin. 
 
 Like exercise, however, bathing benefits, not by its ac- 
 tion but by the reaction. Its first effect upon the skin, 
 and through that upon the system, is depressing. It is the 
 physiological resistance to this depression that constitutes 
 what we call reaction, and is attended with increased activ- 
 ity of the circulation. 
 
 If a person is not very vigorous, too frequent or too 
 long - continued bathing induces a degree of dd|)ression 
 which the system has not power successfully to resist, and 
 reaction is imperfect or does not occur. If a bath is fol- 
 lowed immediately, or shortly, by a feeling of weariness or 
 of chilliness, it has done harm instead of good. 
 
 Many persons, therefore, in tolerable health, but not 
 
no HEALTH AT HOME, 
 
 very robust, will not be benefited by a daily batb, at least 
 in cold weather. Thrice, twice, or even, once weekly is as 
 often as some can take a full bath with advantage. In 
 most cases this is often enough to secure sufficient cleanli- 
 ness of 23erson provided the clothing is aired and changed 
 frequently, and the extremities are often washed. 
 
 When the daily bath is an injury, it may be advanta- 
 geously replaced by a brisk rubbing of the body with a dry 
 towel, with a brush, or with the hand. It is better that this 
 should be done by another person, if possible. Indeed, 
 there are very few cases in which a daily bath would do 
 harm, if the recipient would submit to be bathed and 
 dressed by another, as is done in the case of an infant or a 
 sick person, and if ordinary judgment were used in regulat- 
 ing the temperature of the water and of the room. 
 
 The proper tem]Derature for the water of a bath is that 
 which is most agreeable. For a vigorous person, in whom 
 reaction is prompt and energetic, a cold bath is refreshing 
 and useful. A cold bath is one in which the temperature 
 is between 32° and 60° Fahr. At less than 50° the bath is 
 very cold. Most persons will find pleasure and profit in 
 the use of a cool bath, that is, one of 60° to 75°, during 
 warm weather, though for some a temperate bath of 75° 
 to 85° is preferable. In cold weather a tepid bath, 85° to 
 92°, is generally agreeable and safe for those who can not 
 well bear the lower temperatures. 
 
 From 92° to 98° a bath is said to be warm. The reac- 
 tion following a warm bath is somewhat different from that 
 which follows one at the ordinary temperatures of water. It 
 is not exhilarating, but, on the contrary, induces languor, 
 promotes perspiration, and disposes to sleep. It is there- 
 fore better than a cold bath just before going to bed, but 
 should seldom be taken immediately on rising in the morn- 
 ing, and never just before severe exercise or exposure to 
 cold. The hot bath, from 98° upward, is similar in effect 
 
PEBSONAL HABITS. HI 
 
 to the warm bath, but more intense, and should be used 
 with some caution. 
 
 The temperature of the room in which the bath is taken 
 is important. To secure best reaction it should be about 
 70° for a tepid or warm bath, and neyer much below 60" 
 for a cold one. 
 
 The best time for bathing is when the stomach is emj)ty 
 or nearly so, the worst is just after a full meal. Just after 
 rising, then, just before one of the principal meals, and 
 just before bedtime, are the most favorable times. A cold 
 bath, in particular, should never be taken very soon after 
 eating. 
 
 Exercise should have a prominent place in the list of one's 
 personal habits. Many of our daily occupations and em- 
 ployments enforce an abundance or superabundance of 
 physical exercise. The farmer who works all day in his fields, 
 or the mechanic who toils all day at his bench, has exercise 
 enough, so far as mere amount is concerned ; but most of 
 these acts must be performed in a stooping position of the 
 body, whether the person be sitting or standing. The 
 farmer stoops while hoeing and digging, while planting or 
 earing ; the mechanic stoops over his work-bench, and so on. 
 l!^ow, this stooping position impedes more or less the vital 
 function of breathing. Let the person whose labor involves 
 much stooping straighten himself up every now and then, 
 throw back his arms, and draw a few full breaths, and then 
 go back to his work. 
 
 But many employments involve very little physical ex- 
 ercise. The accountant or student does not exercise at his 
 desk or table ; the woman does not exercise in her sewing. 
 For such persons exercise, in itself and for itself, is indis- 
 pensable ; and the modes of taking it are innumerable. 
 
 Walking, especially in the ojoen air, first suggests itself. 
 When one walks for exercise he should not plod along, with 
 head bent down ; but, with form erect and shoulders well 
 
112 EEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 thrown back, lie should step out with free and easy stride, 
 the gait being very nearly the natural OAe, better somewhat 
 quicker. If the walk have, moreover, some special purpose 
 besides that of mere exercise, so much the better. If it is 
 through a region not familiar to one, he is constantly on the 
 lookout ^^to see what he can see"; if it be through a fa- 
 miliar region it is pleasant, and therefore healthful, to see 
 how old things look in their new and ever-changing aspects. 
 If the walk is along a city street, do not scruple to stop and 
 look at the shop-windows. 
 
 Horseback-riding brings into play a set of muscles quite 
 too little used. The mere act of keeping one's balance in 
 the saddle brings into active though not violent use most 
 of the muscles of legs, arms, back, and chest ; while the 
 gentle jolting of the most easy-going steed puts the abdom- 
 inal muscles into more active play. For mere exercise a 
 somewhat hard-trotting horse is to be preferred to a more 
 easy-going one. It is none the worse if the horse is not one 
 which the proprietor of a livery-stable would recommend 
 as '^ perfectly trained," one that may with perfect safety be 
 left to follow his own ways ; one that would not start or 
 shy if a shell should explode between his legs. The mere 
 act of controlling and guiding a ^' lively" horse brings into 
 constant and ever-varying exercise many a muscle, while 
 there is exhilaration in the consciousness that one has the 
 power of controlling an animal whose strength far exceeds 
 his own. 
 
 While, however, this form of exercise is admirable in very 
 many cases, it requires much judgment in its use. Yery 
 rapid riding and leaping are attended with too much dan- 
 ger to be commended on the score of health. One * who 
 was certainly well qualified to speak on the subject of rid- 
 ing says, indeed, that '' every horseman must exj^ect, sooner 
 or later, to be thrown." The probability of this accident 
 
 * Herbert, "Hints to Horse-Keepers." 
 
PERSONAL HABITS. 113 
 
 is not sufficient to deter any one in ordinary health and 
 strength from riding, but it should be taken into the ac- 
 count in deciding as to the advisability of this form of 
 exercise for those who are not strong. There are many 
 forms of weakness in which the shock from a fall, or even 
 the excitement of looking out for one, would be a serious 
 injury. 
 
 Girls and women, in particular, are peculiarly liable to 
 injury from incautious horseback exercise ; partly because 
 the action of the abdominal muscles induced by riding 
 causes pressure on organs that are very easily injured ; 
 partly because their mode of dress aggravates that pressure, 
 restrains the healthful ^Dlay of muscles, and is in itself bur- 
 densome ; and partly because, as some one has said, " women 
 ride the saddle, while men ride the horse." That is to say, 
 a woman's seat on horseback is less firm and more con- 
 strained than that of a man, and she can not have the same 
 ease and elasticity of motion in connection with the motion 
 of the horse as he. One of the greatest authorities * on dis- 
 eases of women says that a considerable proportion of such 
 diseases are directly due to injury received in horseback- 
 riding. 
 
 Various exercises which may be grouped together under 
 the designations of '^gymnastics" and ^'^ calisthenics" are 
 of high utility. They are useful as suiDplements to, not as 
 substitutes for, walking and the like. The chief danger in 
 their use is their liability to be made too violent or carried 
 too far. It is well to climb a rope hand-over-hand ; to 
 swing, supported only by the hands ; to put up the dumb- 
 bells, to brandish the clubs, to skip the rope, and all that. 
 But there is no sanitary reason why one should put himself 
 to the test in order to ascertain how high he can climb, 
 how long he can swing, how heavy a weight he can put up, 
 or how many times she can skip the rope without stopping. 
 
 * J. Marion Sims, M. D. 
 
114 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 Especially should due caution be used when the element of 
 competition enters into the exercise. In order to outdo a 
 competitor, or to ayoid being outdone by him, one is fre- 
 quently led to go beyond his strength. In such case the 
 exercise not only defeats its own ^Durpose, but is positively 
 injurious. It breaks down the physical system instead of 
 building it up. 
 
 The importance of system and regularity in all things 
 belonging to the daily round of life is very great. All the 
 operations of mind and body are subject to the laws of 
 habit, and one can only maintain the highest condition of 
 health by so systematizing the acts which necessarily occur 
 every day that the influence of habit will be secured to 
 effect the natural recurrence of each of these in its proper 
 time and place. 
 
 For instance, eating should be done at regular intervals. 
 It does not, perhaps, matter very much whether two, three, 
 or four meals are taken in the twenty-four hours^ provided 
 that sufficient regularity has been observed in the matter 
 to fix a habit, so that at the time of each of these meals the 
 system demands a certain quantity of food and the digestive 
 organs are ready to take care of it. 
 
 Sleep is so necessary that it comes to us whether we will 
 or not, yet it is only by observing great regularity in re- 
 gard to it that we can enjoy health. Habit may even have 
 something to do with the number of hours spent in sleep, 
 and it certainly is all-powerful in determining what those 
 hours shall be. The best way to regulate this is to begin 
 in the morning ; that is, to rise at a regular hour. Physi- 
 cians, nurses, and some others whose work is very irregular 
 as to time, can not always do this, but the great majority 
 of people can and should. Early rising should be a habit 
 wherever it is practicable, for many reasons, any one of 
 which would be sufficient. It prolongs the day, so that 
 artificial light will be needed for comparatively few hours 
 
PERSONAL EABITS. 115 
 
 — yery few indeed except in winter. Daylight, even on a 
 cloudy day, is far better for the eyes than the best artificial 
 light. If one rises with the sun, or at most not more than 
 half an hour later, he will soon learn at what hour to retire 
 for sleep. He should retire early enough to afford himself 
 all the sleep he needs, be it six hours or twelve. 
 
 Work and recreation should be well systematized, not 
 only in order to avoid overdoing at certain times, but in 
 order to obtain the best results at all times, and in order 
 also to favor regularity in other things. President Day, of 
 Yale College, lived to be ninety years old, although he had 
 heart-disease during the greater part of his life, and it is 
 said of him that when he was lecturing and the bell struck 
 denoting the expiration of his hour, if he was in the middle 
 of a sentence he would always stop as soon as that sentence 
 was finished, and if it was not a very short one he would 
 stop without finishing it. Another instance of his extreme 
 regularity, which extended to all things, was related by a 
 student who used to make the fire in the college chapel on 
 winter mornings, and who was accustomed, after doing so, 
 to j)ace up and down the room until the president arrived, 
 in response to the tolling of the bell, to conduct the morn- 
 ing devotions. He was accustomed to say that after the 
 first stroke of the bell he could invariably walk across the 
 room a certain number of times and a half, before the 
 president entered the door. 
 
 Eegularity in the movement of the bowels is perhaps 
 more important to health than in any other one thing, not 
 excepting eating. Many painful and dangerous diseases, 
 and a vast amount of physical weakness and misery not 
 specified as disease, are the direct result of irregularity in 
 this respect. Once daily the bowels should move, and, 
 ordinarily, at no other time. This can readily be accom- 
 plished by any one in ordinary health who will set apart 
 some one hour in the day, or rather some one period in the 
 
116 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 order of the daily routine, siicli as the time of rising, im- 
 mediately after some one meal, or immediately after some 
 act which takes place at ahont the same time every day, go 
 promptly to stool at that time each day, whether the desire 
 is felt or not, and, if it can be avoided, not go during the 
 intervening time. In the course of a few days, or at most 
 a few weeks, a habit will thus be formed that is invaluable. 
 
 Clieerf Illness, as the pervading state of the mind, should 
 be assiduously cultivated and maintained as one essential 
 condition to bodily health. A mind continually depressed, 
 sooner or later induces bodily ailments. Troubles will, in- 
 deed, arise ; let them be borne as best they may. They 
 should not be aggravated by brooding over those which are 
 in the past, or looking gloomily for those which may be in 
 the future. Cheerfulness is to be cultivated as a constant 
 habit, and by all innocent means : by amusements, by social 
 intercourse, by reading pleasant books, and, in due modera- 
 tion, those which are simply funny, and not in any way 
 "instructive," in the ordinary use of the word. Or, to sum 
 up all, one should look most upon the bright, not upon the 
 dark side of things. 
 
 Whatever the exigencies of one's business, certain times 
 and places should be free from it. Especially should it 
 not be taken to the table, nor to bed. l^either should any 
 unpleasant matter be suffered to intrude here. Meal-time 
 should always be a time of cheerful leisure, if possible of 
 pleasant social intercourse. To make it a scene of preoccu- 
 pation and anxiety, of grudging haste, or of unpleasant 
 inquiry and admonition, is to place a premium upon dys- 
 pepsia, while to line one's bed with balance-sheets or to 
 make it a place for contriving ways and means, is to rob it 
 of its office, to make it a rack of torture, from which one 
 rises exhausted in mind and body. 
 
XII. 
 
 HOUSEHOLD PEACTICE. 
 
 Every liead of a family, more especially the motlier of 
 it, should be qualified to act to a certain extent as the fami- 
 ly physician, in so far as slight cases of ordinary occurrence 
 are concerned ; and should also know what ought to be done 
 pending the arrival of a physician should one be needed, 
 or in circumstances where a physician can not be obtained. 
 'No one should attempt to treat serious cases independent of 
 a ph3^sician unless it is unavoidable, as grave consequences 
 might ensue ; and every head of a family should make his 
 choice of a physician, and not put off doing so until the 
 moment when his services are urgently required, as it is not 
 possible in all cases under such circumstances to make a 
 wise selection. 
 
 There is a little work entitled ^^ Hints and Eemedies for 
 the Treatment of Common Diseases," compiled by Dawson 
 W. Turner, D. 0. L., ^^ Sometime Student of Westminster 
 Hospital and of Charing Cross Hospital," and ''^revised, 
 corrected, and enlarged by Twelve Eminent Medical Men, 
 belonging to Different Hospitals in London." One of the 
 very highest of English medical authorities pronounces it 
 to be '^the best thing of the kind ever done for the non-pro- 
 fessional world." Considerable use will be made of this 
 work in the chapters which are to follow. A list of the 
 ^^ remedies " prescribed in this book would include pretty 
 nearly everything which a physician would be likely to pre- 
 
18 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 'scribe for a large circle of patients, and many things which 
 would be Yainly looked for in a well-eqnipped druggist's 
 shop. 
 
 Our family medicine-chest shall be u^Don a much more 
 moderate scale, and shall contain nothing which any well- 
 trained person need be at a loss how to apply. It shall con- 
 tain a yial of each of the following : sweet-oil, hartshorn, 
 spirits of camphor, tincture of arnica, soap-liniment, cam- 
 phor-liniment, sirup of ipecac, tincture of ginger, sweet 
 spirits of niter, essence of peppermint, a mixture in equal 
 parts of laudanum, s]Dirits of camphor, tincture of capsicum 
 and tincture of rhubarb, labeled " Cholera Mixture," and 
 a flask of good liquor ( to be used only for strictly medici- 
 nal purposes). There shall be a package of ground mus- 
 tard (be sure that it is unadulterated), of chlorate of potash, 
 of carbonate of magnesia or of soda, two of flaxseed (ground 
 and whole), and a few seidlitz powders. Each of these arti- 
 cles should be kept in a close yessel of glass or tin, and these 
 should be distinctly labeled so that there may be no mistak- 
 ing one for another. There should also be a piece of stick- 
 ing-plaster, a roll of soft, rags for bandages and plasters, 
 a little cotton- wool, a spool of stout thread, a soft sponge, 
 a pair of sharp scissors, a gi-aduated medicine-glass and a 
 dropping tube. Every article belonging to the medicine- 
 chest should be kept in it, and nothing else should be put 
 there. 
 
 A list is here presented, arranged in alphabetical order, 
 of the most common ailments in which the constant or 
 eyen occasional services of the physician may not be re- 
 quired. It should, however, be borne in mind that almost 
 every disease, however slight in its beginnings, may assume 
 an aspect so serious as to require the doctor. But in such 
 cases the treatment suggested is advisable until his attend- 
 ance can be secured. 
 
 Ague. — During the cold fit keep the patient in bed. 
 
HOUSEHOLD PEACTICE. 119 
 
 warmly covered ; try to restore warmth by rubbing the 
 hands and feet, and by giving hot drinks, such as tea, 
 coffee, barley-water, etc. During the hot fit, after the pa- 
 tient has been relieved by perspiration, check the perspira- 
 tion gradually by sponging the body with lukewarm water, 
 wiping the sweat off with hot flannels ; then, in order to 
 relieve the thirst, give cold drinks. Be careful that the 
 patient is not exposed to a draught of cold air. The use 
 of quinine and other medicines should be under the direc- 
 tion of the doctor. 
 
 Boils. — In their very beginning these can often be dis- 
 sipated by gently rubbing them for five minutes, two or 
 three times a day, with the end of the finger dipped in 
 camphor-liniment. There is a common notion that *^ boils 
 are healthy," and that they should be encouraged as puri- 
 fiers of the blood rather than repressed. This is a mistake. 
 They impoverish instead of purifying the blood, and the 
 more they can be prevented, or the more quickly they can 
 be cured, the better. If a boil does not yield to the treat- 
 ment already mentioned, it should be encouraged to " come 
 to a head," or point, and suppurate as quickly as possible. 
 With this view a hot bath may be taken — a vapor-bath if 
 possible. The boil should be dressed with a poultice made 
 of ground flaxseed, of Indian-meal, or of anything else that 
 is not irritating and will retain heat and moisture. The 
 poultice should be changed often enough to avoid its be- 
 coming dry, as this renders the boil more painful and re- 
 tards its progress. 
 
 An old remedy, and one that is very efficacious in hast- 
 ening the development of the boil, although from the irri- 
 tation it causes it is much more painful than an emollient 
 poultice, is a paste made of soap and sugar and spread upon 
 a piece of lint or soft rag to cover the boil, a hole being 
 cut in the center of the covering to allow the escape of the 
 matter. 
 
120 EEALTE AT HOME. 
 
 A boil should never be squeezed or pressed. This is 
 often done after it has broken or been opened, with the ob- 
 ject of discharging the matter which it contains, and par- 
 ticularly the ''core." It always increases the inflamma- 
 tion, howeyer, and causes the formation of more matter. 
 The better plan is simply to retain a poultice upon it for a 
 day or so after the opening appears, to promote and receiye 
 the discharge. 
 
 If a boil assumes the malignant form of a carbuncle, do 
 not trifle with it, but send for the doctor. The most obyi- 
 ous characteristics of a carbuncle are a somewhat darker 
 color and greater hardness than belong to a boil, a tendency 
 to increase in size without fairly pointing, a want of free 
 eyacuation of its contents after opening, and considerable 
 feyer and general exhaustion. 
 
 Colds. — One should ayoid exposure, as far as possible, 
 by means of proper clothing about the neck and chest. If, 
 howeyer, he has ^' caught cold," let him coyer himself up 
 warmly in bed, putting a bottle of hot water at his feet, to 
 induce perspiration. If he has '' cold in the head," so as 
 to impede the breathing, he may coyer the whole face with 
 a blanket, breathing through it, which will most likely 
 remove the obstruction. The essential thing is to induce 
 perspiration. An excellent remedy for a cold in the head 
 is to smell of camphor continuously, or nearly so, for sey-' 
 eral hours. The most convenient way of doing this is to 
 tie up in a rag, like a '' sugar- teat," a piece of camphor the 
 size of the end of the little finger, and hold this to the 
 nose. If this is persevered in for the greater part of a 
 day, it will rarely fail to cure a recently contracted cold. 
 
 Cramps. — Put the patient at once into a hot bath, or, if 
 that is not to be had on the spot, sponge him all over with 
 water as hot as he can bear. Unclasp the hands if they are 
 much contracted. Put a smelling-bottle to the nose, and 
 give a little weak whisky-and-water. Put the patient into 
 
HOUSEHOLD PRACTICE. 121 
 
 a bed, previously warmed if possible, and let him rest. If 
 the cramp affects only a limb, use plenty of friction, and 
 extend the muscles during the spasm. 
 
 Corns. — Throw away the tight or ill-fitting shoes which 
 may have been worn. Put a small poultice over the corn 
 during the night. During the day cover the afflicted toe 
 with a rag saturated with lard, or, better, with glycerine. 
 Be very careful in paring corns. It is safer just to pick off 
 the head with a knife, or with the nails of the thumb and 
 finger. 
 
 Diarrhma, — In ordinary cases the '^cholera mixture" 
 already described will prove very efficacious. Fifteen or 
 twenty drops may be given to adults, in a tablespoonful or 
 two of water, and repeated three or four times if neces- 
 sary, at intervals of two or three hours. To children a 
 proportionate dose should be given. A good way to deter- 
 mine the dose of this and of most medicines suitable for a 
 child is to make the age of the child, expressed in years, 
 the numerator of a fraction, and the same increased by 
 twelve the denominator. The fraction will then show what 
 part of the adult dose is to be taken. Thus, for a child 
 
 12 12 
 
 twelve years old, r-r- — r^=7r7> or one half of the dose for 
 •^ 12+12 24 
 
 an adult ; for a child six years old, -x-ttt^ = tt^, or one third 
 ' -^ 6+12 18 
 
 of the dose for an adult ; and so on in most cases down to 
 one year of age, below which the rule fails. In all cases of 
 diarrhoea in children under five years of age, however, a 
 physician should be called. So should he be, in all cases 
 occurring in old people, as well as in all severe cases, in 
 those that are accompanied with fever or with great ex- 
 haustion, and in those where the *^ cholera mixture," used 
 as above directed, fails. It is proper in every case of diar- 
 rhoea to put the patient to bed, and keep him quiet on 
 his back. Por food, let him have dry toast, tea without 
 6 
 
122 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 milk^ rice-j)udding, or arrowroot ; but no meat or vegeta- 
 bles. 
 
 Earache. — Turn tlie head well over on the opposite side, 
 and having warmed a little sweet-oil in a spoon, let a drop of 
 it run into the ear. Or, roast an onion in the oven, and 
 when it is quite soft take out the heart and put that, warm, 
 into the orifice of the ear ; then put on a bandage to retain 
 the heat. If earache occurs frequently, consult a physi- 
 cian. 
 
 Headache. — This comes from a variety of causes, and 
 different cases require different treatment. The great ma- 
 jority of cases, however, belong to three principal classes, 
 commonly known as nervous headache, sick headache, and 
 neuralgic headache. The first variety is usually caused by 
 fatigue or excitement, and may often be cured by a cup of 
 moderately strong tea and a hot foot-bath. The tea will 
 have little effect, however, on those who use it habitually. 
 If the head is hot and throbbing, cold applications to it will 
 be useful. Eest, in a darkened but well- ventilated room, 
 is very desirable. 
 
 Sick headache is caused by indigestion or by some stom- 
 ach disorder. It originates sometimes in an error of diet, 
 sometimes in cold or fatigue impairing the power of the 
 stomach to perform its work. In perhaps nine cases out of 
 ten it can be cured or greatly relieved, in from five minutes 
 to half an hour, by swallowing about as much red pepper 
 as can be taken up on the point of a penknife, mixed 
 in two tablespoonfuls of water. If the feet are cold they 
 should be put into hot water and afterward quickly dried 
 and warmly wrapped up. It is best to lie down. The body 
 should be kept warm, and it is a good plan to put a mus- 
 tard-plaster over the pit of the stomach. Applications to 
 the head will generally be of very little use. 
 
 Neuralgic headache may be known by its occurring on 
 one side of the head. It frequently affects one eye, some- 
 
HOUSEHOLD PRACTICE. 123 
 
 times causing it to overflow with tears. Cold applications 
 to the head will do no good, but hot ones — as hot as can be 
 borne — frequently give great relief. The red pepper also, 
 as recommended for sick headache, often acts like a charm 
 in these cases. Mustard, if used at all, should be applied 
 over or near the seat of pain — of course not about the eye, 
 but on the forehead, temple, or back of the neck, accord- 
 ing to circumstances. Neuralgic headache occurs generally 
 in debilitated persons, and indicates a low condition of the 
 system, requiring tonic treatment, for which a physician's 
 services should be had. 
 
 There is a form of headache caused by a cold in the 
 head. It consists in a dull, wearisome, sickening pain 
 across the brows, lasting usually from one to three days, 
 due to an accumulation of mucus within a cavity in the 
 frontal bone that communicates with the nose. JSTo exter- 
 nal application has much effect on it, and the best treat- 
 ment for it is that recommended for a cold, particularly 
 that of camphor. 
 
 Hives. — This disorder is usually caused by irritation of 
 the digestive organs resulting from the presence of undi- 
 gested food. In many persons it always follows the eating 
 of certain kinds of food, such as shell-fish, honey, etc. 
 There is scarcely an article of food known that does not in 
 some persons invariably produce it. Others are affected 
 with it whenever, from overeating, fatigue, or any cause, 
 they suffer indigestion. The proper treatment is to empty 
 the stomach by an emetic. Sirup of ipecac may be given 
 for this purpose, in doses of one or two teaspoonfuls every 
 fifteen minutes until it acts. After the vomiting is finished, 
 if any irritation remains, a Sedlitz powder will commonly 
 be all that is necessarv to remove it. 
 
 Sore-Throat. — In slight cases, rubbing the throat exter- 
 nally with a mixture of hartshorn and sweet-oil, in the pro- 
 portion of one part of the former to three of the latter, will 
 
124 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 usually suffice. A very useful gargle for an ordinary sore- 
 throat is made by dissolving about a teaspoonf ul of chlorate 
 of potash in a glass of water. This should be used as often 
 as once in two hours. In case of inability to gargle, a des- 
 sertspoonful of the mixture may be swallowed every two 
 hours. Slight soreness of the throat is sometimes accom- 
 panied by a tickling, irritated, or dry feeling, which gives 
 rise to an annoying and almost constant cough. This can 
 frequently be allayed by letting small pieces of gum-arabic 
 or extract of licorice (black licorice) dissolve upon the 
 tongue. In all cases of severe sore-throat, and in those 
 accompanied by any considerable fever or exhaustion, a 
 physician should be called. 
 
 StomacJi-aclie. — In infants this is usually owing to 
 '^ wind " in the stomach or bowels. Before giving any med- 
 icine, try gentle and steady rubbiug with the palm of the 
 hand, then throw the infant over your shoulder, so that the 
 stomach will press closely against it. Very rarely will any 
 medicine be required. Stomach-ache in older children is 
 frequently occasioned by the eating of unripe fruit, or some- 
 thing of the kind. When this is known to be the case, a 
 dose or two of sirup of i]3ecac will be the most j^rompt and 
 effectual remedy. If the pain is not caused by the presence 
 in the stomach of improper food, it may often be relieved 
 by taking a few drops (five to ten drops for an adult, and a 
 proportionate dose for a child) of essence of peppermint on 
 a lump of sugar. At the same time a mustard-plaster or 
 flannels wrung out of hot water may be applied over the 
 stomach and bowels. In all cases the patient should be kept 
 warm and quiet. 
 
 Toothache. — In all cases it is best to consult a thoroughly 
 competent dentist as soon as may be. As a temporary meas- 
 ure until this can be done, if the tooth has a visible cavity^ 
 a bit of cotton wet with a drop of oil of cloves or of creosote 
 may be inserted in it. This should be done by another per- 
 
EOUSEHOLD PRACTICE. 125 
 
 son, in order to avoid toucliing the tongue or gum, wliicli 
 would be made sore by the contact. If no cavity is appar- 
 ent, a small mustard-plaster or any hot application may be 
 used on the face over the seat of pain. In no case have 
 anything to do with patent nostrums — ^^toothache-drops" 
 and the like. 
 
 Vomiting. — When this is obstinate, and the stomach 
 will retain nothing, and medical aid can not be had, keep the 
 patient perfectly quiet upon his back in bed. Give him no 
 food for some hours, and then only in very small quantities 
 and at long intervals. A little milk and lime-water mixed 
 in equal quantities will often be retained when nothing else 
 will stay down. A mustard-plaster will generally help to 
 quiet the stomach. It should be large enough to cover the 
 whole of the stomach. The white of an Qgg beaten up 
 with a teaspoonful of brandy and given a very little at 
 a time, or a little arrowroot, will sometimes be retained 
 when nothing else will. 
 
 In cases of severe or protracted illness, good nursing is 
 as essential as good doctoring, and every child, especially 
 every female, should be trained, as she grows up, to under- 
 stand the proper care of the sick-room. 
 
 The nurse should know how to use the common reme- 
 dies of the domestic medicine-chest, and especially how to 
 follow exactly the directions of the physician should his 
 aid be required. She should know how to prei:)are the 
 foods and drinks appropriate for the sick, or demanded by 
 a perhaps capricious appetite, or want of appetite. She 
 should bear in mind that a sick person is in a state very 
 different from that of a healthy one, mental as well as phys- 
 ical. The senses, especially those of hearing and smelling, 
 are often abnormally acute. A sound or smell which would 
 scarcely be noticed in health may be terribly annoying in 
 sickness. 
 
 The windows of a sick-room should not be darkened by 
 
126 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 drawing lieayy curtains or closing the shutters, except in 
 the infrequent cases when light is painful to the eyes. The 
 light may be moderated, when too intense, by partially clos- 
 ing the shutters, or by a light screen or curtain. The pa- 
 tient has little to do hour after hour but to look around him, 
 and no disagreeable objects should meet his yiew ; none 
 especially which can serve as constant reminders of his con- 
 dition. At best he must have quite enough of these. The 
 medicine-vials should not stand in full view upon the man- 
 tel-shelf, but upon a stand where they will be out of his 
 sight. It is better that the utensils used for preparing food 
 and the like should be kept in another room or in a closet. 
 Perfect neatness should be maintained in every respect. 
 
 The nurse, and any other person who may now and 
 then be in the room, should retain as far as possible their 
 ordinary demeanor. There should be no tiptoeing around 
 the room ; no smothered whispering in any case. The 
 sharp hiss of a whisper is more annoying to an ear abnor- 
 mally sensitive than a quite loud tone of the natural speak- 
 ing voice. A soft low voice is an excellent thing in all 
 women, especially so in a nurse. 
 
 The patient should not be worried by being incessantly 
 asked how he feels. Every such question sets him upon a 
 sort of physical self - inspection ; and this constant intro- 
 spection is not well, even for one in health, much less for 
 one out of health. Absolute silence in a sick-room, except 
 when the patient is asleep or may be inclined to sleep, is 
 not desirable. Eest and repose are the ends in view ; and 
 rest and rej)ose are as much interrupted by an unnatural 
 stillness as by noises. 
 
 In ordinary cases food should not be urged upon an 
 invalid who has no desire for it. The cessation of appetite 
 is a flag of warning which the stomach hangs out in token 
 that it has as much food as it can digest, and wants no 
 more. The constant urging of food upon one who has no 
 
HOUSEHOLD PRACTICE. 127 
 
 appetite for it, defeats tlie end in view. The yery idea of 
 food thus urged, although it is not present, not unfrequently 
 becomes loathsome. One should not keep continually ask- 
 ing the patient if he would not like a little of this, that, or 
 the other delicacy, although they may be quite proper in 
 themselves. Better prepare the dish and present it nicely 
 served upon a clean waiter. Perhaps the unexpected sight 
 of it may incite a little appetite. But even in this respect 
 too little is better than too much. Where nourishment is 
 absolutely required by one who has no desire for it, the ad- 
 vice of the physician should be specially asked. 
 
 In every ease the warming and ventilation of a sick- 
 room should be constantly and carefully seen to. The pa- 
 tient will be covered by bedclothes, and the nurse will be 
 almost constantly moving about, so that the uniform tem- 
 perature of the sick-room, in cold weather, while a little 
 higher than that desirable in an ordinary bedroom, should 
 be a little lower than that best adapted for a sitting-room. 
 At least twice during the day the apartment, however well 
 ventilated, should be thoroughly aired. The patient should 
 be well covered, and the fresh air freely admitted through 
 the opened window. If the air is too cold, a light shawl 
 may be placed over the head and face, serving as a sort 
 of ^'respirator." When the airing is complete, tjie win- 
 dow should be closed and the temperature of the room 
 be brought back, as speedily as may be, to its proper degree. 
 
 The face, hands, and feet should be sponged off fre- 
 quently with water of any temperature which may be most 
 agreeable to the patient. The wliole body also, though less 
 frequently, should be sponged off. If the hands, feet, or 
 any other parts are cold, bottles of hot water may be ap- 
 plied as long as necessary. 
 
 The bedding and the clothing of the patient should be 
 frequently changed and thoroughly aired, for the exhala- 
 tions from the body in sickness are usually far more delete- 
 
128 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 rious than in health. Moreover, the natural evacuations 
 must be performed in the room — not unfrequently in the 
 bed itself. These, however quickly removed, always leave 
 more or less of foul and unhealthy odors behind them, 
 which should be destroyed by disinfectants, not merely 
 covered up by perfumes. T'or this purpose disinfection by 
 iodine (as described at page 79) is specially adapted. Most 
 disinfectants have an unpleasant odor, while that of iodine 
 is in itself agreeable, and even positively healthful. 
 
 To sum up all : The nurse, or the member of the family 
 who acts as such, should be quiet and gentle in manner and 
 movement ; watchful and alert, without being obtrusively 
 so ; firm and decided when necessary, without any needless 
 display of firmness or decision ; tender and sympathizing 
 always, without parading her sympathy ; cheerful and self- 
 contained in any emergency, for which she should if possi- 
 ble be prepared, and, if not fully prepared, never to let the 
 patient susj)ect it. 
 
 All these qualities can be fully secured only by training. 
 Many women are naturally endowed with them in a high 
 degree ; there are few who can not acquire them to a good 
 degree. The mother or sister who possesses these qualifi- 
 cations in any good degree is in a very wide sense the 
 family doctor, and is in all respects a welcome aid to the 
 physician. 
 
XIII. 
 
 POISONS AND ANTIDOTES. 
 
 A POISOK is any substance wliicli, when introduced into 
 tlie system, has the power of producing fatal or noxious 
 effects by other than mechanical means. An antidote is 
 any substance which, when introduced into the system, is 
 capable of preventing or combating the effects of a poi- 
 son. Some antidotes act chemically, by combining with 
 the poisons, thus producing new and harmless compounds ; 
 others act physiologically, by inducing in the system effects 
 which counteract those of the poisons. 
 
 The diversity of effects produced by different poisons 
 renders anything like a common antidote — that is to say, an 
 antidote useful in all or most cases of poisoning — an impos- 
 sibility. To some poisons there are no known antidotes, 
 and in most cases of poisoning, owing to various circum- 
 stances, the action of antidotes is more or less uncertain. 
 
 In all cases of known or suspected poisoning, the near- 
 est physician should be instantly sent for, and, if possible, 
 several messengers should be dispatched at the same mo- 
 ment for different physicians, as one or two may be away 
 from home, and a delay of five minutes in going from one 
 to another may prove fatal. The messengers should be in- 
 structed to tell the physicians on first seeing them that it 
 is a case of poisoning, and, if the kind of poison is known 
 or guessed at, to mention it. 
 
 Without waiting for the arrival of any of the physicians, 
 
130 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 but at the very instant of sending for them, in every case 
 where poison has been swallowed, with one exception, an 
 emetic should be given. For this purpose anything that 
 is at hand and that will produce vomiting without being m 
 itself poisonous may be used. One who has a knowledge 
 of drugs will prefer certain emetics, if they are at hand, as 
 being more rapid in their action than others, or as being 
 perhaps especially adapted to the particular poison that has 
 been swallowed. If this knowledge does not pre-exist, how- 
 ever, there is no time to acquire it, and in domestic prac- 
 tice a teasiDOonful of ground mustard or a tablespoonful of 
 salt stirred into a cupful of lukewarm water will generally 
 prove the readiest emetic, and a very safe and efficient 
 one. 
 
 Whatever emetic is used, its action should be assisted 
 and the poison diluted by drinking large quantities of 
 lukewarm water. The drinking of the water and vomiting 
 should be repeated at intervals of five or six minutes for at 
 least half an hour or until a physician arrives. 
 
 It is to be borne in mind that some poisons diminish 
 the susceptibility of the stomach to emetics, so that these 
 may fail of effect. Also, some persons are naturally un- 
 susceptible to emetics. In all such cases recourse must be 
 had to other means of inducing vomiting, such as tickling 
 the inside of the throat with a feather or with the finger 
 thrust in through the mouth. Speedy and persistent vom- 
 iting is the one thing to be sought by any possible means. 
 In these cases, as well as in others, the warm water should 
 be freely drunk, as a dilutent. 
 
 The one exception to the rule of giving emetics and of 
 diluting the poison with water, is when sulphuric acid has 
 been swallowed. This substance has the curious property 
 of producing, when mixed with water, a degree of heat 
 equal to or greater than that of boiling water. For this 
 reason water and all mixtures containing it must in this 
 
POISONS AND ANTIDOTES 131 
 
 case be withheld, and vomiting must be provoked by other 
 means, as recommended in cases where emetics fail to act. 
 
 Emetics may be considered as antidotes, in one sense, to 
 poisons in general, since they tend (by discharging) to pre- 
 vent the action -of the latter, but they are not generally 
 so classed, nor are they to be depended on alone. In all 
 cases where special antidotes are known, their use is to be 
 conjoined with that of emetics. In most cases it is best to 
 give the antidote at once, without waiting for the action of 
 the emetic to be finished, in order to neutralize, as far as 
 may be, the effect of the poison while the latter remains in 
 the stomach ; and after the vomiting has ceased the antidote 
 should be used again, in order to prevent, if possible, the 
 action of any poison that may have passed beyond the 
 stomach. 
 
 Poisons act in one or more of the following modes : 
 
 1. By a direct local corrosion of the stomach and aliment- 
 ary canal ; this is the case with most mineral poisons. 
 
 2. By a general devitalizing action, when they have been 
 introduced into the system through the blood. 3. By a 
 specific derangement of the functions of one or more or- 
 gans, accompanied by little or no apparent change in the 
 tissues of the organs themselves. 
 
 Poisons are derived from the animal, vegetable, and 
 mineral kingdoms. It is a common error to suppose that 
 vegetable poisons are less injurious than mineral ones. 
 The fact is the very reverse. The most deadly poisons 
 (such as prussic acid and strychnine) are vegetable. The 
 announcement in respect to innumerable quack medicines 
 that they are ^^ purely vegetable," or that they ^^ contain 
 no minerals," is utterly misleading, and not unfrequently 
 a gross imposition. 
 
132 HEALTH AT HOME, 
 
 AN"I3rIAL POISOITS. 
 
 Chief among these is the yirus of venomous reptiles 
 and insects, conveyed by their **bite,^^ as it is erroneously 
 called, or by their sting. Serpents and insects do not bite 
 at all ; they stab, with poisoned weapons. In temperate 
 regions venomous serpents are not numerous in species, and 
 in settled regions they have been pretty nearly extermi- 
 nated except within very limited localities. In tropical re- 
 gions they are far more numerous in species and more 
 prolific in individuals. Serpent-poisons have this peculiar- 
 ity, that, while exceedingly dangerous when introduced into 
 the circulation through the blood, they may be taken into 
 the mouth, or even swallowed, with perfect safety, pro- 
 vided always that there is no sore, cut, or abrasion of the 
 mucous membrane ; so that one may suck out the virus from 
 the wound occasioned by a ^^ snake-bite," either upon his 
 own person or upon that of another, provided always, as 
 just stated, that there be no sore, cut, or abrasion of the 
 lips, tongue, or mouth. Good sense, of course, indicates 
 that the poison should not be swallowed, but spat out at 
 once. The same is supposed — rather from analogy than 
 from well-verified experiments — to be the case in respect 
 to the virus of a rabid dog, which produces hydrophobia. 
 
 In case one has been bitten by a venomous serpent (say 
 a rattlesnake), the first thing to be done, in case (as is most 
 usual) the wound be uj)on a limb, is to apply a ligature 
 very tightly above the wound, that is, between it and the 
 body, in order to prevent the further circulation of the poi- 
 son through the system by the arteries and veins ; then the 
 venom is to be sucked out from the wound. After this the 
 wound, which will probably be much inflamed, should be 
 treated like any ordinary wound, only that there should be 
 no effort to close it up speedily ; it is better that it should 
 be left running for a while. The further treatment is purely 
 
POISONS AND ANTIDOTES. 133 
 
 medicinal, aiming to counteract the effects of tlie poison 
 already introduced into the system. It seems to be well 
 settled that whisky or other strong alcoholic liquor, taken 
 even in quantities which would be dangerous in any other 
 case, acts as a powerful agent in counteracting the effects 
 of a snake-bite. Probably altogether fictitious are the stories 
 which we read, that there is an herb known to the mon- 
 gous — the great serpent-destroyer of India — which is a per- 
 fect antidote to the yenom of eyen the cobra, the most 
 dreaded of all the serpent family. 
 
 In case of being bitten by a dog known or supposed to 
 be rabid, about all that can be done is to suck the wound, 
 and then cut out or cauterize the adjacent parts. One can 
 rarely do this for himself, and it is probably safer to leaye 
 it to be done by a surgeon, since the yirus, whatever it 
 may be, is one which is very slowly taken into the sys- 
 tem. Weeks always, months not unfrequently, and years 
 sometimes, it is said,* elapse after the wounding before the 
 effects manifest themselves in the form of hydrophobia. 
 No time should be lost, however, in getting the surgeon's 
 help. It should be borne in mind that it by no means fol- 
 lows, from the fact that a dog has bitten any one, that the 
 animal is rabid. The wound inflicted by the teeth of any 
 dog, or indeed of most animals, man not excepted, is more 
 severe than a similar wound by a cutting or piercing imple- 
 ment. 
 
 The '^ bites" and stings of insects, such as bugs, fleas, 
 mosquitoes, wasps, hornets, and bees, may properly be 
 classed among animal poisonings ; since, although they are 
 not fatal or even dangerous except in very rare instances, 
 they are often anno3dng to the last degree. When one has 
 been stung by a bee or wasp — the former of which can not 
 
 * The best authorities generally place the shortest and longest probable 
 periods at one week and one year respectively, holding that outside of these 
 limits it is scarcely possible the disease can occur. 
 
134 BE ALTS AT EOMK 
 
 withdraw his poisoned barbed weapon from the wound it 
 has inflicted — the sting should be carefully extracted, if it 
 remains, by a pair of tweezers or otherwise. The best ap- 
 plication to relieye the pain, and one that is always at hand, 
 is ordinary mud, made quite wet and allowed to remain on 
 the wound until dry. The irritation occasioned by the 
 '^ bite " of a bug or mosquito may be greatly alleyiated by 
 the application of hartshorn to the place. This is also use- 
 ful for the stings of bees, etc. 
 
 A perfect preventive of the attacks of these insect pests 
 would be a great boon to humanity. Many have been 
 proposed, and used with more or less success. Mr. Daw- 
 son Turner proposes a very simple one, which he declares 
 to be absolutely unfailing, and he certainly speaks from 
 wide experience. *^I have traveled," he says, "in many 
 flea-bitten, bug-bitten, and mosquito-bitten countries. In 
 Jerusalem, during the height of summer, I have seen my 
 bed pretty well alive with fleas, and have swept them out 
 with my hands before going to bed ; in the excavations in 
 Mount Moriah, I have seen my clothes pretty well covered 
 with them ; in Athens I have seen, at early dawn, the bugs 
 leaving my bed, and crawling up the bed-posts by scores ; 
 and in neither place was I bitten once. 
 
 "I adopted," he continues, " the following preventive, 
 formed on what I had heard of being done in Hungary, a 
 land much vexed in the summer-time by fleas and so on : 
 I oiled myself all over, from head to foot, with sweet-oil 
 (olive-oil). Eub the oil well in with the palm of your hand, 
 over the whole body, head, face, and all, in a warm room, 
 and you may (such is my experience, and without this pre- 
 caution I am a martyr to fleas) defy either flea, bug, or 
 mosquito. It is quite a mistake to suppose that oiling 
 one's self with sweet-oil is a nasty operation. The oil sinks 
 into the skin at once, and does not stain either cotton or 
 linen. The only effect is that you feel lithe and supple, and 
 
P0IS021S AKD ANTIDOTES, 135 
 
 it enables you to defy the sanguinary attacks of your crawl- 
 ing, creeping, flying, and skipping enemies." 
 
 VEGETABLE POISONS. 
 
 The most deadly of all poisons is pimssic acid. It 
 is contained, in small quantities, in the bitter leaves of 
 many plants — tea included. A fevf drops taken into the 
 mouth cause death almost instantaneously. In the con- 
 centrated form it is never found except in the laboratories 
 of chemists, though dilutions of it are sometimes used as 
 medicine. It exists in considerable quantities in the j)its 
 of peaches and plums, and especially in bitter almonds. 
 Children sometimes seriously poison themselves by eating 
 large quantities of these. The chief symptom of poisoning 
 by prussic acid in small quantities is a partial paralysis. 
 The treatment is, to administer a rapid emetic to empty the 
 stomach, followed by friction of the hand, and the applica- 
 tion of ammonia to the nostrils. 
 
 Scarcely less dangerous is strychnine (produced from the 
 nux vomica, which is sometimes used in medicine). Strych- 
 nine is often employed to poison prowling dogs, cats, and 
 other animals of which it is desirable to get rid. Its taste 
 is so intensely bitter that the poison must be hidden in 
 a piece of meat, so that the animal will have swallowed it 
 before he is aware of the bitter taste. The symptoms of 
 poisoning by strychnine are, violent cramps in the stomach 
 and limbs, twitching of the muscles, spasm of the throat 
 rendering breathing difficult, inability to walk or stand, 
 locked-jaw in most cases, and in fatal or very severe cases 
 the most frightful convulsions. The suffering is horrible. 
 "No certain antidote is known, but strong green tea has been 
 thought to be useful, and several cases have been rej)orted 
 cured by tea made of tobacco. Lobelia would probably be 
 of service also. The main dependence, however, must be 
 on the prompt action of emetics. 
 
136 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 Opium, either in its solid form or in alcoholic tincture 
 (siicli as laudanum and paregoric), or in one of its extracts 
 (morphine);, enters largely into medical practice. In one 
 or more of its liquid forms (laudanum, paregoric, Godfrey's 
 cordial, Bateman's drops, soothing-sirup, etc., etc.), it has, 
 in too many instances, a prominent place in household 
 medicine, where it should always be " conspicuous by its 
 absence." The special characteristic of opium-poisoning 
 is the stupor which it induces. The sleep is yery heavy, 
 usually accompanied by snoring and by a puffing out of the 
 cheeks and lips as the breath j)asses through them. The 
 pupils of the eyes are contracted to mere |)oints. As in 
 other forms of poisoning by the stomach, the first thing to 
 be done is to induce free yomiting, but this is sometimes 
 difficult or impossible, because the opium deadens the sen- 
 sibility of the stomach and throat as well as of other parts. 
 After the yomiting, or eyen if that can not be effected, the 
 one thing to be done is to keep the patient awake by any 
 means and by all means. He should be made to drink 
 strong black coffee, the stronger the better. If necessary, 
 he should be beaten, pinched, sj)rinkled with cold water ; 
 should be kept walking about, held up, if need be, by a 
 strong man at each shoulder, for several hours. He must 
 not be allowed to go to sleej) until the effects of the opium 
 have passed off. If he falls asleep, the odds are great that 
 he will never awake. 
 
 Mushrooms. — When poisonous mushrooms have been 
 eaten, the symptoms sometimes appear very shortly and 
 sometimes not for several hours. The symptoms also differ 
 considerably in different cases. In some there are at first 
 drowsiness, giddiness, and dimness of vision, followed by 
 pain and heat in the stomach, vomiting, and purgiug. In 
 others the drowsiness does not appear, but the i^ain, yomit- 
 ing, and purging are the jDrominent symptoms. In all cases 
 there is great debility. Fainting frequently occurs, and 
 
POISQJS AND ANTIDOTES. I37 
 
 sometimes conyulsions and delirium. It is not usually 
 difficult, howeyer, to determine the cause of the disorder, 
 for the fact of mushrooms having been eaten will probably 
 be known, and usually several persons, having eaten them 
 at the same time, will be affected simultaneously. The 
 drowsiness produced by poisonous mushrooms differs from 
 that of opium in being accompanied by dilated instead of 
 contracted pupils. No antidote is known, and the treat- 
 ment should aim at getting rid of the poisonous material 
 as speedily as possible. For this purpose, after the usual 
 emetic, free evacuation of the bowels should be encouraged 
 by frequent doses of Epsom salts or Glauber's salts, and by 
 the use of large, stimulating injections. If fainting or 
 very great exhaustion occurs, small doses of brandy or 
 whisky, diluted with water, may be given. 
 
 Poison-ivy, wild-parsnip, and various other plants, are 
 liable, when handled, to produce poisonous effects on the 
 skin of many people. Some persons are so susceptible to 
 their influence, that to pass by where they are growing is 
 sufficient to get the poisonous effect. It is said that those 
 which are perennial, as the poison ivy, are more virulent in 
 spring or very early summer than at other seasons. The sus- 
 ceptibility to these poisons seems to increase by familiarity 
 with them, and it is not uncommon to find persons who at 
 one period of life can handle the plants with perfect impun- 
 ity, and at a later period are very readily poisoned by them. 
 
 For slight cases of this form of poisoning little or no 
 treatment is necessary. Cooling applications, such as lead- 
 water or baking-soda dissolved in water, sometimes afford 
 some relief from the troublesome itching and heat of the 
 skin. These remedies, however, although in common use 
 for this purpose, are not very efficient, and in all cases of 
 any severity it is better to use the following prescription, 
 which any druggist will prepare in a few moments, and 
 which acts like a specific in these cases : 
 
138 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 Take of borax, in powder^ two drachms ; acetate of 
 lead, in powder, one drachm ; tincture of lobelia, two fluid 
 ounces ; tincture of belladonna, one fluid ounce ; water, 
 sufficient to make one pint. Mix. Write, '' Poiso^q-. For 
 external use only." 
 
 Cloths kept wet with this mixture should be laid over 
 eyery part that is affected with the poison. A cure will 
 generally be obtained in from one to three days, and yery 
 great relief commonly follows the first application. . As 
 the remedy is a dangerous poison if swallowed, it should 
 not, for fear of accident, be kept in the house except when 
 actually wanted for use, but any portion remaining after 
 the patient recovers should be thrown out. This is a proper 
 rule to observe in regard to prescriptions generally. 
 
 In case any of these poisonous plants have been eaten, 
 an emetic should be given at once, as in the case of other 
 poison taken into the stomach. The after- treatment will 
 be in the hands of the physician. 
 
 MIKEEAL POISOISrS. 
 
 It is to the various mineral poisons, almost exclusively, 
 that there are any known '^ antidotes,*' in the proper sense 
 of the word. Very many minerals are poisonous, both in 
 their natural state and in their various compounds. The 
 common metals, such as iron, copper, lead, tin, and zinc, 
 are not poisonous in their metallic shape, but several com- 
 pounds of all of them, which are in common use for vari- 
 ous purposes, are highly poisonous. 
 
 We shall enumerate the most common of these poisons 
 and their antidotes, and set forth the general treatment to 
 be adopted in their case. The reasons for the use of the 
 several antidotes, and for the modes of treatment, need not 
 be detailed. The course recommended is in every instance 
 such as is prescribed by unquestioned medical authority. 
 It must be premised that the stomach should first of all be 
 
POISONS AND ANTIDOTES. 139 
 
 emptied of its contents. The stomach-pump is the speedi- 
 est and most effective means of doing this, but, as this will 
 not be likely to be immediately at hand, recourse must be 
 had to producing speedy vomiting by the means already de- 
 scribed. 
 
 For arsenic and its various compounds, such as " Paris 
 green," ^' London purple," '' Fowler's solution," ^' Dono- 
 van's solution," etc., the best antidote is oil or melted fat, 
 followed by magnesia-water or lime-water in large quanti- 
 ties, to be kept up until vomiting ensues. 
 
 Antimony and its comjDounds, including tartar emetic, 
 require astringent drinks, such as a decoction of oak-bark, 
 nut-galls, or very strong green tea. Corrosive sublimate 
 (often used to poison bed-bugs) and other mercurial poisons 
 are best treated by beating up the whites of a dozen eggs 
 in two quarts of water, and letting the patient swallow as 
 much as he can every three minutes. Milk is the next 
 best antidote ; flour-and-water may be useful ; and even 
 warm water is better than nothing. 
 
 Iodine, or iodide of potassium, requires large draughts 
 of flour-and-water or starch-and-water, and afterward vine- 
 gar-and-water. Lime and baryta require a solution of 
 Glauber's salts, or diluted sulphuric acid. 
 
 Nitrate of silver (*^ lunar caustic"), the chief ingredi- 
 ent of *^ indelible ink," and also of most hair-dyes, de- 
 mands salt water to be drunk until vomiting ensues. 
 
 Oxalic acid (known as ^^ salts of lemon," used for re- 
 moving ink-stains, iron-rust, etc.) requires pounded chalk 
 in water ; strong soap-suds is a tolerable substitute. 
 
 PhospJiorus is sometimes nibbled by children from the 
 tips of matches ; it requires magnesia, with copious drinks 
 of gum-water — gum-arabic, preferably. 
 
 Potash, or lye, soda, saleratus, ammonia, and most 
 other alkalies, may be neutralized in the stomach by any 
 acid, such as vinegar, lemon-juice, or even tomato-juice ; or 
 
140 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 any non-poisonous oil;, sucli as castor-oil^ sweet-oil, linseed- 
 oil, melted fat of any kind, etc., may be used as an antidote. 
 The strong alkalies commonly cause violent inflammation of 
 the throat and stomach, with partial destruction of their 
 lining membranes, conditions that will require special treat- 
 ment after the poison has been got rid of. 
 
 Co])]}er forms several compounds of a very poisonous 
 nature, such as ^^ verdigris," often used as a green paint, and 
 "blue vitriol," used in dyeing. Copper unites so readily 
 with acids that great precautions should be taken in its use 
 for household purposes. Pickles and other sour articles 
 should never be made or kept in copper vessels. It is safer 
 not to use any cooking utensils of copper. Water, how- 
 ever, may be safely boiled in copper vessels, provided they 
 are clean. The best antidotes for copper are white of eggs 
 and milk. Vinegar and other acids must not be given. 
 
 Lead is, in its various compounds, one of the most dan- 
 gerous of metallic poisons. From the facility with which 
 it may be drawn into pipes, and the ease with which these 
 may be bent into any form, it is mainly used in plumbing. 
 Most drinking-waters contain ingredients, harmless in them- 
 selves, but forming poisonous compounds with lead. These 
 either impregnate the water passing through the pipes, or 
 adhere loosely in the form of scales to their sides, from 
 which any sudden jar detaches them. Water-pipes should 
 not be made of lead unless lined with tin. Lead is a con- 
 stituent of many paints, such as white lead, red lead, and 
 chrome-yellow, all very poisonous. Lead is a very insidi- 
 ous poison, since it accumulates in the system for a long 
 time until it has attained a dangerous quantity. Painters 
 are liable to a very painful disease known as " painter's 
 colic," often accompanied by paralysis. Lead also in the 
 form of acetate of lead ("sugar of lead") is a leading in- 
 gredient in various "hair-colorers," claiming to be wholly 
 " vegetable," the frequent use of which has been known to 
 
P0I80F8 AND ANTIDOTES. 141 
 
 •produce paralysis. The glazing of earthen pots contains a 
 large proportion of lead, and, when glazed earthenware is 
 used to hold pickles or other acid articles of food, even in- 
 cluding milk that is allowed to stand until it becomes sour, 
 a dangerous quantity of the lead is dissolved by the acid. 
 Many fatal cases of poisoning have occurred in this way. 
 The one specific for lead-poisoning is sulphuric acid, but 
 this should always be administered under the direction of a 
 physician. Other acids will do harm instead of good, and 
 therefore domestic practice should be chiefly confined to 
 getting rid of the contents of the stomach when it is known 
 that any of the poison is there, as in cases where acid food 
 has been eaten from glazed earthen vessels, etc. In case a 
 physician is not immediately at hand, Epsom salts or Glau- 
 ber's salts may be given as soon as the emetic has acted. In 
 the cases of gradual poisoning from lead pipes, hair-dyes, 
 etc., nothing is likely to be gained by vomiting, and the 
 case will be always in charge of a physician. 
 
 The Mineral Acids. — These are strong corrosive poisons. 
 They produce a burning sensation in the throat and excru- 
 ciating pain in the stomach. "When swallowed in their 
 concentrated form they cause immediate and violent vom- 
 iting. The lining membrane of the mouth is commonly 
 white, sometimes yellowish or brown. It is softened and 
 more or less corrugated, presenting the appearance of a 
 skin that has been long soaked in water. The abdomen 
 swells, there are hiccough and eructation of gas, and blood 
 is often vomited. Alkalies are the proper antidotes for all 
 these acids. In case of nitric or oxalic acid, the alkalies to 
 be chosen, if possible, are lime and magnesia, the former 
 in the form of lime-water or chalk, or the latter in the 
 form of carbonate of magnesia or calcined magnesia. In 
 case of sulphuric, muriatic, or almost any other strong acid, 
 lime, magnesia, potash, or soda may be used, according to 
 convenience. Baking-soda is very efficient, and usually 
 
142 EEALTE AT SOME. 
 
 close at hand. "Weak lye, or sal-soda dissolved in consider- 
 able water, is sometimes available wheri other alkalies are 
 not. In the absence of anything more suitable, strong 
 soap-suds may be used. The caution already given in re- 
 gard to sulphuric acid should be remembered, not to give 
 water when this has been swallowed in its strong form, 
 until after it has been vomited. 
 
 Alcohol. — This substance does not belong, in strictness, 
 to any of the three divisions named. It is capable, either in 
 its pure state, or in the form of any distilled or fermented 
 liquor, such as brandy, wine, or beer, of acting as a poison 
 when taken in large quantity. The symptoms of drunken- 
 ness are unfortunately familiar to all persons. When the 
 effects of alcohol pass beyond this stage, there is drowsiness. 
 In severe cases this becomes a very profound stupor, similar 
 to that observed in cases of opium-poisoning, except that 
 generally the pupils of the eyes are dilated. The pulse, at 
 first very frequent, usually becomes slow and feeble. The 
 breathing is slow and difficult. Apoplexy and paralysis 
 sometimes occur. Death may take place from the direct 
 effect upon the brain, from congestion of the lungs, or from 
 a stoppage in the throat. There is no direct antidote, and 
 the chief dependence must be on emetics. Their action 
 should be encouraged as much as possible by warm water. 
 Large injections of salt and water should be thrown into 
 the bowel. If the face is flushed and the head hot, the 
 head and shoulders should be raised very high or the patient 
 should be held erect, and cold wet cloths should be applied 
 to the head and frequently renewed. The extremities 
 should be kept warm by friction and artificial heat if neces- 
 sary. 
 
xiy. 
 ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES. 
 
 A LAKGE proportion of common accidents and emergen- 
 cies will not require treatment from the physician or sur- 
 geon ; and, eyen in the case of such as do require it, much 
 may usually be done while awaiting his arrival. Such of 
 these as are likely to occur are here arranged in alphabeti- 
 cal order, with their modes of treatment. 
 
 Bleeding at tlie Nose. — Place the patient flat upon his 
 back, with the arms stretched back to their full length ; 
 unloose the neck coTering and apply wet cloths to the back 
 of the neck. If the bleeding still continues, apply ice or 
 the coldest water that can be had to the back of the neck, 
 and put into the nostril a plug of cotton steeped in a strong 
 solution of alum and water or well dusted with powdered 
 alum. The old prescription of a ^^cold door-key" to the 
 spine is very sound, but any other large piece of cold metal 
 is just as serviceable. If the blood runs down the throat, 
 it will be necessary to turn the patient upon the side or 
 even upon the stomach, or to support him in a sitting pos- 
 ture, with the head inclined slightly forward. 
 
 Bleeding from the Lungs. — A celebrated teacher of 
 medicine, addressing a medical class on this subject, said, 
 " For fear that you may be tempted to do something else, 
 hold the basin to receive the blood." This means that, 
 while-' the haemorrhage is active, very little can be done di- 
 rectly to check it, and that there is danger of doing harm 
 
144 EEALTE AT HOME. 
 
 in efforts to relieye. The most important indication is per- 
 fect quiet. The patient should lie down and avoid speaking 
 and all unnecessary motion. There should be no bustle or 
 excitement of any kind in the room, and only those persons 
 should remain in or be admitted to it who are useful and 
 necessary as attendants. It should be remembered that, 
 although these cases appear yery frightful, they seldom 
 involve any immediate danger to life. The clothing should 
 be loosened at the neck and waist. Doors and windows 
 should be oj)ened to admit plenty of fresh air. No medi- 
 cine can reach directly the seat of the trouble, and there- 
 fore many remedies which in other forms of haemorrhage 
 are serviceable by coagulating the blood around the rup- 
 tured blood-vessel are of no use here, and may even add to 
 the distress and danger by forming clots in the throat. 
 Salt has been thought by some to be beneficial in many 
 cases, however, and if the patient can swallow without 
 difficulty there is no objection to its use. Or, he may 
 drink a little cold water and vinegar. If the bleeding is 
 from the throat instead of the lungs, it will be useful to 
 sip slowly a strong solution of alum in cold water. In aU 
 cases a doctor should be sent for at once. 
 
 Bruises. — Use warm fomentations, flannel dipped in 
 warm water laid over the part, or a bread-and- water poul- 
 tice. A lotion of tincture of arnica and water — one part of 
 arnica to ten of water — is an excellent application. 
 
 Burns and Scalds. — Very slight burns and scalds re- 
 quire only slight treatment, little more than merely wet- 
 ting with cold water or baking-soda dissolved in water. A 
 very good application when there is considerable redness 
 and pain is composed of equal parts of sweet-oil and lime- 
 water. Baking-soda will answer in place of lime. If a blis- 
 ter forms, prick it just under the skin, and just outside 
 the blister, so as to let off the water. The puffed-up epi- 
 dermis wiU then fall down into its place ; do not remove it, 
 
ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES. 145 
 
 but let it remain until it drops off itself. If the burn or 
 scald is yery large or so deep that the skin itself is removed, 
 apply a plaster of common kitchen whiting mixed to the 
 consistency of paste with oil, or eyen water, about an 
 eighth of an inch thick. Flour will answer instead of whit- 
 ing, but not as well. Cover the plaster with a piece of 
 cotton cloth or flannel, and keep it soft by the application 
 of oil or water. Bits of rag, or a piece of cotton- wool, 
 dipped in oil, will serve the same purpose — that of exclud- 
 ing the air, but not as well. The dressing should be re- 
 moved only as often as necessary to clean the wound ; when 
 this has been done, wash the surface with a weak solution 
 of carbolic acid, and apply a fresh dressing. Be careful 
 not to break the blister if it can be avoided. If the burn 
 or scald be very severe, involving a great shock to the sys- 
 tem, and especially if it be internal, occasioned by swallow- 
 ing hot water or steam, it is emphatically a case for the 
 doctor. 
 
 Clothing talcing Fire. — Above all things, keep as cool 
 and collected as possible. Do not run, as the motion only 
 fans the flame ; but lie down on the floor, and crawl or 
 creep until you can reach a blanket, woolen shawl, or bit of 
 carpet, in which wrap yourself and thus smother the flames. 
 Those who are much about an open fire should wear wool- 
 en clothes while so engaged. This should be especially ob- 
 served in the case of young children. 
 
 Cuts and Wounds. — These frequently contain particles 
 of dirt, shreds of clothing, fragments of wood, glass, iron, 
 etc. The first thing to be done, in case no large blood- 
 vessel has been divided, is to examine for such substances, 
 and, if any are found, to remove them by careful picking 
 and thorough washing with cold or tepid water. Cold 
 water is better if there is much bleeding. All that is neces- 
 sary beyond this is to bring the edges nicely together and 
 fasten them so. For this purpose, if the cut is a small one 
 
146 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 with clean edges that do not gape much, simply binding a 
 rag upon it is snflBcient. If it is larger and shows a tend- 
 ency to gape, a few narrow strips of sticking-plaster, ap- 
 plied crosswise of the cut, will commonly answer the pur- 
 pose. These should always be drawn very tightly across 
 the wound, to allow for their stretching and for the gradual 
 slipping of the skin under them. If a cut is large and deep, 
 or if from its position it is difficult to retain the edges in 
 perfect contact by plaster, it will be necessary to take one 
 or more stitches with a needle and thread, but no one who 
 is not familiar with this operation should undertake it. 
 
 Applications of tobacco, spirit, arnica, liniment, etc., 
 should never be made to a fresh cut. They all irritate, 
 and lessen the chance of healing without a scar. If the 
 edges are rough and jagged, and especially if the part is 
 much bruised, neither x^laster nor stitches will be likely to 
 hold the wound together, but there will be more or less sup- 
 puration (formation of matter) before healing takes place. 
 In such cases a little carbolic ointment may be a23plied, or 
 a poultice of bread and milk or linseed-meal may be useful 
 to encourage the suppuration and keep the part from be- 
 coming dry and painful. But such cases should be treated 
 by a physician. If pus (matter) forms in any wound that 
 is closed by plaster or stitches, these must be at once re- 
 moved sufficiently to give free drainage. 
 
 "When bleeding is troublesome, if no large blood-vessel 
 has been severed or punctured, the bleeding may generally 
 be most effectually stanched by laying a cobweb over the 
 wound. The blood will coagulate in the meshes of the cob- 
 web, and form an air-tight covering, or scab, under which 
 the wound will heal nicely ; do not remove this scab, but 
 let it remain until it drops off itself. 
 
 But if a large blood-vessel, especially an artery, has been 
 cut or pierced, the case becomes a serious one, and not a 
 moment should be lost. It may be readily ascertained 
 
ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES. 147 
 
 whether the flow is from a large vein or from a large artery. 
 Venous blood is of a dark, purplish color, and comes out in a 
 continuous spurt or stream. All that in this case will be im- 
 mediately necessary may be to put a plug of lint — if possi- 
 ble steeped in a solution of tannic acid or other astringent — 
 into the wound, and bandage it tightly and strongly. Arte- 
 rial blood is of a bright red, and comes out in jerks. If it 
 be an artery that has been wounded, it is well that some 
 one should press his thumb or finger strongly upon the ar- 
 tery just aboye the wound, so as at least to check the flow 
 of blood. As soon as it can be done, tie a handkerchief, 
 or some other stout bandage, above the wound (supposing it 
 to be in an arm or leg), that is, between the wound and the 
 body, insert a stick between the knot and the limb, and twist 
 this around until the bandage is tight enough to compress 
 the limb so as to completely stop the flow of blood. Then, 
 after washing the blood from the wound, apply a thick 
 pad, securing it by a bandage. The pad should be com- 
 posed of layers of lint, muslin, or linen, the smallest next to 
 the wound, each succeeding layer being somewhat larger 
 than the one below it, until the pad is an inch thick over 
 the wound. When the surgeon comes, he will replace the 
 twisted handkerchief by a regular tourniquet. 
 
 Drowning. — The time during which a person can re- 
 main under water, without being absolutely drowned, is 
 somewhat uncertain. "Within very narrow limits — not 
 more than a few minutes at most — it varies with different 
 individuals. But persons apparently drowned, in whom 
 there was no visible sign of life, have been resuscitated 
 after a much longer period— several hours in some well-au- 
 thenticated cases. When a person, apparently drowned, is 
 brought to the shore, the first thing to be done is to strip 
 off his wet garments, replace them by dry ones, wrap the 
 body in warm blankets, place bottles of hot water under 
 the arm-pits, at the calves of the legs, and at the soles of 
 
148 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 the feet ; keep up a constant rubbing, especially of tbe 
 hands and feet, with the warm hand and hot flannels.* 
 
 Meanwhile, and as soon as possible, persistent efforts 
 should be made to bring the lungs to the exercise of their 
 natural function of breathing. This is the essential thing, 
 without which eyerything else will be of no ayail. Lay the 
 body face downward, with one arm under the forehead, to 
 facilitate the discharge of any water that may have been 
 swallowed. The old methods of holding the body uj) by the 
 feet, and rolling it upon a barrel, are wholly inadmissible ; 
 they would be quite sufficient to kill a well person, to say 
 nothing of one who at the best is just hovering between life 
 and death. To start the action of the lungs. Dr. Marshall 
 Hall directs that, as soon as the water has been discharged, 
 pressure should be made along the spine in order to expel 
 the air from the lungs ; then turn the body almost over 
 upon its back, keeping the mouth open so that the air will 
 rush in to fill the vacuum ]3roduced in the lungs ; then turn 
 the body back upon the face, and then again u|)on the back, 
 pressing upon the spine as before, and repeating the whole 
 operation every three or four minutes. Or, as suggested by 
 Dr. Sylvester, stand behind the head, the body still upon the 
 face ; take its two arms, draw them sharply up above the 
 head, so as to put the muscles on the stretch and draw the 
 ribs apart ; then press down the elbows against the sides, thus 
 making the air enter and again come out, and so imitating 
 the natural process of breathing. Do this slowly and stead- 
 ily, about twenty times a minute. Both methods may be 
 used alternately, each for some little time. Bellows have 
 sometimes been used for the inflation of the lungs, but this 
 is open to grave objections. The nostrils may be occasion- 
 ally tickled with a feather, or hartshorn or snuff may be 
 
 ■^ Some authorities say that heat should not be employed at all, but 
 that the body should be kept cold, and in a cool place. But the weight of 
 authority is altogether in favor of the employment of heat, as above. 
 
ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES, 149 
 
 applied to tliem. Do not abandon all hope for at least four 
 hours. 
 
 Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat, Foreign Substances in. — 
 Do not attempt to remove any dust, coal-ash, clinker, etc., 
 which may have entered the eye, by rubbing it ; you will 
 probably, if it is a hard body, force it still more deeply into 
 the soft external coatings of the eye. Close the lid at once ; 
 then take hold of the upper eyelashes, or get some one to do 
 it for you ; draw them forward, so as to drag the lid from the 
 eye, and if the substance be not a sharp one, a flow of fluid 
 from under the lid will probably wash it away. A very good 
 way is to souse the face in a basin of lukewarm water, re- 
 peatedly opening and shutting the eyes ; quite probably, 
 the substance, if it be not a hard one, and imbedded in the 
 eye, will be washed out ; but if you have reason to suppose 
 that it is a bit of lime, do not wash the eye at all with 
 water; but use instead a weak mixture of vinegar and 
 water. If neither of these procedures is successful, get some 
 one to take hold of the upper eyelashes, open the lid and 
 search closely for the intruder ; if it is not discovered there, 
 let him in like manner try the lower lid. If the substance 
 is found, let him gently brush it away with a camers-hair 
 pencil or the feather of a quill ; or, if that be not stiff 
 enough, use a small, smooth bit of soft wood. If he does 
 not succeed, go to the doctor or an oculist. If there be 
 painful inflammation after the removal of the substance, 
 the best thing is to drop a little castor-oil or olive-oil into 
 the eye. 
 
 Insects of various kinds occasionally creep into the ear, 
 causing serious annoyance and pain, and sometimes endan- 
 gering the sense of hearing. The best way to deal with 
 such an intruder is to turn the head over on the opposite 
 side and fill the ear with oil. Frequently this will dislodge 
 the insect at once^ and, if not, will prevent it from doing 
 any harm. 
 
150 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 Children sometimes thrust small objects into the ear or 
 nose. If these are pointed^, angular, or irregular in shape, 
 like bits of wood, there is generally not much difficulty in 
 extracting them with a pair of small forceps or tweezers. 
 Eound bodies, however, such as buttons, cherry-stones, and 
 pebbles, are often yery difficult to remove. In such a case 
 great care must be taken not to force the object farther in 
 by the efforts to dislodge it, especially if it is in the ear, as 
 it might readily produce permanent deafness by being 
 pushed through the tympanum. It is better, if the body can 
 not readily be removed, to leave it until a physician can 
 attend to it, or even until it becomes loosened and comes 
 away of itself. Sometimes such a body in the nostril can 
 be dislodged by blowing the nose, the other nostril being 
 closed ; or it may sometimes be pushed back so as to come 
 out through the mouth, but only a physician should at- 
 tempt the latter procedure. 
 
 In case of a bone or other hard substance lodging in the 
 throat, it will commonly excite coughing, which should 
 be encouraged with a view of dislodging it. If this fails, 
 sometimes another person may be able to see and remove it 
 through the mouth. If it is a small object, such as a fish- 
 bone, and can not be so removed, it may perhaps be carried 
 down into the stomach by swallowing a mouthful of bread- 
 crumb, or it may be pushed down with the finger. Some- 
 times such a body is drawn into the windpipe, where its 
 presence may be known by continued obstruction to breath- 
 ing and frequent frightful attacks of coughing and gasping 
 for breath. In every such case the patient should lie down 
 and keep as quiet as possible until the arrival of a surgeon 
 who should be sent for at once. 
 
 If pins or other small, pointed bodies have been swal- 
 lowed, there is nothing to do but to wait the result. In most 
 cases they do no harm, but, if they do, there is no means of 
 preventing it. Emetics and cathai'tics sliould not be given. 
 
ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES. 151 
 
 Fainting, — Lay the person flat on the back, and do not 
 raise the head. Loosen the clothing at the neck and waist. 
 Have as much fresh air as possible, and prevent people from 
 crowding around. Apply ammonia, smelling-salts, or some 
 other pungent substance to the nostrils. Sprinkle the face, 
 and, if needful, the neck and chest, with cold water. For 
 slight faintness, put the person in a chair, bend down his 
 head until it is nearly on a level with the pit of his stom- 
 ach, and the sensation of faintness will probably pass off in 
 a few seconds. 
 
 Fits. — When a paroxysm seems to be coming on, it 
 may often be warded off by placing a smelling-bottle to the 
 nose. If it does occur, unloose the clothing of the neck 
 and chest, and take off the shoes ; give as much air as pos- 
 sible, and bathe the forehead with cold water. To prevent 
 the tongue from being bitten, place a large cork or piece of 
 wood wrapped with several folds of cloth between the teeth. 
 Put the feet into hot water, and apply a strong mustard- 
 poultice to the back of the neck. Put the patient to bed 
 as soon as possible. During the convulsions do not hold 
 the limbs tight ; restrain, but do not violently oppose his 
 struggles. After the fit has passed away, the diet should 
 be of the very lightest — ^beef-tea, toast, rice, chicken-broth, 
 milk, tea, and the like. 
 
 Falls of Young Children. — Some one has said that it 
 is a providential arrangement that babies' heads are large, 
 heavy, and soft, to serve as cushions for their frequent 
 falls. Infants, in falling, commonly strike the head first, 
 and it is a fact that when they do so strike they are rarely 
 seriously hurt, because the bones of the head are not firmly 
 united, and the brain thus has s]3ace in which it can adapt 
 itself to pressure. The bones and joints throughout the 
 bodies of young children, however, from their soft and im- 
 perfect condition are peculiarly liable to injury. When a 
 young child falls upon its head, therefore, if it cries lustily 
 
152 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 and there is no appearance of great injury, little concern 
 need usually be felt ; but, if it falls beayily ujDon its back, 
 shoulder, or hip, it should be examined carefully to ascer- 
 tain the exact extent of the injury, and if, after a few hours, 
 any soreness remains in a joint thus injured, the child 
 should be placed in the care of a physician, otherwise a 
 crooked back or a deformed shoulder or hip may be the 
 life-long penalty. 
 
 Fractures and Dislocations. — A fracture is a break of 
 any kind in a bone. A dislocation is the slipping of a bone 
 out of joint. A fracture may occur close to a joint, and 
 there is often difficulty in distinguishing between such a 
 fracture and a dislocation. As a rule, in case of a fracture, 
 the part admits of freer motion than is natural, and in case 
 of a dislocation there is commonly much less motion than 
 is natural. Frequently the projection of the ends may be 
 seen or felt through the skin, and these by their form and 
 position may determine the character of the accident. The 
 injured limb should be carefully compared with the corre- 
 sponding one on the other side, in order that any differ- 
 ences may be observed. In either accident the limb is 
 liable to be shortened, though this does not always occur, 
 and in a few cases of dislocation it may be lengthened. 
 When a fractured bone is moved, the fingers being clasped 
 closely over it, a peculiar grating or rasping may often be 
 felt by the examiner. In a few cases, owing to the swell- 
 ing of the part or to other circumstances, it is impossible 
 for the most skillful surgeon to determine whether a frac- 
 ture or a dislocation has or has not occurred. 
 
 In every case where either of these injuries is known or 
 suspected, a physician should see it at the earliest possible 
 moment, for, although in many cases a few hours more or 
 less will make no difference in the results, there is always 
 danger that swelling may occur to such an extent as to 
 hide the real nature of the injury, and to make its treatment 
 
ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES. 153 
 
 difficult and unsatisfactory. No one except a thoroughly 
 qualified physician should attempt to treat any such injury. 
 If a bone of a finger or hand, or one of the bones of the 
 fore-arm, only, has been broken, or if there is a dislocation 
 in the upper extremity not higher than the elbow, the 
 patient may go to the doctor if that is preferred, the arm 
 being supported by a sling. Otherwise the doctor must 
 come to the patient. In fractures other than those men- 
 tioned, the patient should be laid on a hard bed, in a posi- 
 tion the most easy for him, which will depend upon what 
 bone is fractured. If an arm is broken, whether above or 
 below the elbow, it rests most easily half bent upon a 
 pillow ; if a leg, it rests best upon the outer side, with the 
 knee bent. 
 
 Frost-Bites. — First and chiefly, do not approach a fire 
 or enter a warm room. If snow is to be had, keep it con- 
 stantly applied to the frozen member ; if snow can not be 
 had, use cloths wet with cold water, and thus thaw out the 
 frozen part gradually. A member frozen stiff, and quickly 
 thawed out, is almost sure to gangrene and drop ©ff. The 
 ears, tip of the nose, fingers, and toes are the parts most 
 liable to be frost-bitten. 
 
 Sprains, — If an arm or hand be badly sprained, do not 
 try to use it ; if a knee or foot, do not walk upon it. Lie 
 down and get some one to pour water, as hot as can be 
 borne without discomfort, oyer the sprain steadily for half 
 an hour or until the pain and soreness haye disappeared. 
 The part will still be weak, and should be used with much 
 caution, if at all, for some weeks or eyen months. A bad 
 sprain is often more tedious than an ordinary fracture. 
 
 Sunstrohe. — This is caused by exposure to great heat, 
 either from the sun or from some other source. Cases not 
 unfrequently occur in hotel - kitchens, sugar - refineries, 
 foundries, and other places where there is great heat but 
 no exposure to the sun. The greater number of cases. 
 
154 HEALTH AT HOME. 
 
 however, are caused apparently by the direct heat of the 
 sun. Exhaustion, especially when induced by severe mus- 
 cular exercise and mental anxiety, is a powerful predispos- 
 ing cause, and it is said that the use of stimulants operates 
 in the same direction. 
 
 By way of precaution one should avoid exposure to the 
 direct rays of the sun on a very hot day. A straw or 
 ventilated felt hat, with a wide brim, should be worn, and 
 it is well to put a wet handkerchief or sponge or a cabbage- 
 leaf in the crown. If one's occupation will admit it, when 
 much in the sun an umbrella should be carried, for the ill 
 effects of the heat may be received through the body as well 
 as through the head, though probably not quite so readily. 
 Or, a piece of white cloth or handkerchief may hang down 
 from the hat to cover the nape of the neck and protect the 
 spinal cord. If possible, one should avoid exposure di- 
 rectly after dinner, as this is the most frequent time for an 
 attack. 
 
 In some cases the ajoparent attack will not come on 
 until some time after the injury has really been inflicted. 
 It may come on in the night, but this is exceptional. 
 
 The symptoms of sunstroke are sudden and violent pain 
 in the head, giddiness, a sense of fullness and oppression 
 in the pit of the stomach, sometimes with nausea and vom- 
 iting, a feeling of weakness, dimness of vision and confu- 
 sion of colors, quickly followed by more or less complete 
 insensibility. Sometimes there are convulsions. The heat 
 of the body is generally much increased. The breathing 
 sometimes has a snoring sound, at other times it is sighing 
 and accompanied by moaning. 
 
 The patient should be at once removed to the coolest 
 place that is near at hand, and in which there is plenty of 
 pure air, but sliould not he carried far ; the clothing should 
 be taken off and the body sponged with cold water, if pos- 
 sible with ice-water, unless the surface is already cool, when 
 
ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES. 155 
 
 warm water may be used. If the lieat of the body is very 
 great, the j)ulse slow and full, the temples throbbing, the 
 breathing snoring, sighing, or moaning, with profound 
 unconsciousness, there is no time to be lost in the use of 
 more active measures. The patient being turned upon the 
 face, the head and shoulders should be somewhat raised, 
 and cold water should be poured upon the head and upper 
 part of the spine from a height of three or four feet, in a 
 continuous stream for several minutes, taking care, of course, 
 that the nose and mouth are so j)laced that breathing will 
 not be interfered with. If, on the contrary, with the un- 
 consciousness, the pulse is very frequent and feeble, the 
 breathing free from the characters mentioned, and the sur- 
 face of *the body cool, the treatment just described would 
 be very dangerous, and instead of it a stimulating plan 
 must be pursued, small doses of brandy or whisky and 
 water being given by the mouth if they can be swallowed 
 and do not excite vomiting, or, what is much better, if a 
 syringe is at hand, being injected into the bowel. At the 
 same time a blister or mustard-plaster may be applied to 
 the nape of the neck. In all cases the nearest physician 
 should be summoned at once. 
 
 Cases that recover generally do so quite rapidly after 
 the improvement begins, but it is best that they should lie 
 perfectly quiet and undisturbed, in a darkened and well- 
 ventilated room for a day or two.- 
 
 f 
 
 THE ^^-D^^'Ty ..^^^J^ 
 
 <h^ 
 
PARCHMENT-PAPER SERIES. 
 
 Square 16mo Tolumes, 30 cents eacli. 
 
 English as She is Spoke; 
 
 Or, A Jest ix Sober Earnest. Compiled from the celebrated "Xew 
 Guide of Conversation in Portuguese and English." 
 
 " ' We expect then, who the little book (for the care what we vrrote blm, and 
 for her typo2:raphical correction) thai may be worth the acceptation of the stu- 
 dious persons, and especially of the yontli, at which we deoicate him particu- 
 larly.' This is a literal quotation trom the preface of one of the most excru- 
 ciatingly fimny little booKS that bas ever been given to the world, 'The Isew 
 Guide of Conversation in Portuguese and English.' Copies of the original 
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 with serious purpose this little book, compiling it with the aid of a Portuguese- 
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 A Manual of Mistakes and Improprieties more or less preta- 
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 "In a condensed form, this little volume gives a great variety of useful hints 
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 erring.''''— School Journal. 
 
 "Finally, we would add on our own account. 'Don't fail to read. mark, learn, 
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 60 — and if you remember what it says, the recording scribe of the habits of good 
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 every one."— .Boston, Globe. 
 
 in. 
 
 English as She is Wrote: 
 
 Showing curious "ways in which the English language may be 
 MADE TO convey IDEAS OR OBSCURE THEM. A Companion to "Eng- 
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 Kew York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
APPLETONS' HOME BOOKS. 
 
 A Series of New Hand- Volu??ies at low price ^ devoted to all 
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 Handsomely printed, and bound in cloth, flexible, with illuminated design. 12mo. 
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 Building a Home. 
 
 By A. F. Oakey. Illustrated. 
 
 " Mr. Oakey discusses house-building for the purposes of people of moderate means 
 in the Middle States, and gives plans and elevations of cottages from the very cheapest 
 to a house to be built at a cost of $9,000. The conditions of building, with reference 
 to the climate and material, are fully set forth, and the class of readers whom the book 
 contemplates will find it of advantage." — ISiew York Wor'ld. 
 
 How to Furnish a Home. 
 
 By Ella Rodman Church. Illustrated. 
 
 "Mrs. Church's directions for house-furnishing, while very artistic and cheerful, are 
 adapted to the wants of the great army of limited incomes. The chapters wend their 
 way from vestibule, hall, and staircase, the 'living-rooms,' kitchen, parlor, library, and 
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 tions are particularly apt. What may be done in the way of home decoration and up- 
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 By Ella Rodman Chukch. Illustrated. 
 
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 By A. F. Oakey. Illustrated. 
 " In ' Home Grounds,' Alexander F. Oakey tells, in a very suggestive way, how the 
 surroundings of a suburban home may be made beautiful at comparatively little ex- 
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 Amenities of Home. 
 
 By M. E. W. S. 
 
 " The author has not spared good sense, right feeling, or sound principle. ... A 
 better book for reading in the family circle it would be hard to name." — Literary 
 World. 
 
 '• Old rules for happy homes are made to appear fresh ; indeed, vivacity is the 
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 Household Hints; 
 
 A Book of Home Receipts and Home Suggestions. By Mrs. Emma W. 
 
 Babcock. 
 
 "The author has evidently been used to the nice economics of Ufe, and her experi- 
 ence is of more than ordinary value. The book is not entirely given up to culinary 
 items ; there are talks on various subjects that occupy nearly half its pages, and the in- 
 troduction is full of sound advice and happy suggestions on making and ordering a 
 pleasant home, that shall have a ' certain physiognomy of its own.' ''''—Boston Courier. 
 
APPLETONS' HOME BOOKS.— {Continued.) 
 
 Home Decoration: 
 
 Instructions in and Designs for Embroidery, Panel and Decorative Paint- 
 ings, Wood-carving, etc. By Janet E. Ruutz-Rees, author of 
 " Horace Vernet," etc. With numerous Designs, mainly 
 by George Gibson. 
 
 Contents: I. Introductory; II. General Remarks ; III. Materials and Prices ; IV. 
 Stitches and Methods ; V. Window-Hangings and Portieres ; VI. Screens ; VII. Lam- 
 brequins and Small Panels; VIII. Incidental Decorations ; IX. Wood-carding. 
 
 Home Amusements. 
 
 By M. E. W. S., author of " Amenities of Home," etc. 
 
 Contents: T. Prefatory; II. The Garret; III. Private Theatricals, etc. ; IV. Ta- 
 bleaux Vivants ; V. hrain Games; VI. Fortune-Telling; VII. Amusements for a Eainy 
 Day; VIII. Embroidery and other Decorative Arts: IX. Etching; X. Lavrn Tennis; 
 XI. Garden Parties; XII. Dancing; XIII. Gardens and Flower-Stands; XIV. Caged 
 Birds and Aviaries; XV. Picnics; XVI. Playing with Fire. Ceramics ; XVII. Arch- 
 ery; XVIII. Amusements for the Middle-Aged and the Aged; XIX. The Parlor; 
 XX. The Kitchen ; XXI. The Family Horse and other Pets; XXII. In Conclusion. 
 
 The Home Needle. 
 
 By Ella Rodman Church. Illustrated. 
 
 Contents: I. "Go Teach the Orphan-Girl to Sew"; IT. Beginning Eight— Under^ 
 Garments: III. Under- Garments— (Continued); IV. "The Song of the Shirt"; V. 
 Eudiments of Dress-making; VI. Dress making in Detail; VII. Sewing and Finish- 
 ing; VIII. The Milliners Art; IX. Children's Garments; X. House-Linen; XI. 
 The Mending Basket; XII. A Patchwork Chapter. 
 
 Home Occupations. 
 
 By Janet E. Ruutz-Rees. Hlustrated. 
 
 Contents: I. Introductory; II. What can he Done with Leather; III. The Possi- 
 bilities of Tissue- Paper; IV. Modeling in Wax: Flowers; V. Modeling in Wax: 
 Fruits, etc.; VI. The Preservation of Flowers and Grasses; VII. Spatter- Work ; 
 VIII. Frame-Making: IX. Collections; X. Making Scrap-Books; XI. The Uses of 
 Card-Board; XII. What can be Done with Beads; XIII. Amateur Photography; 
 XIV. Miscellaneous Occupations. 
 
 The Home Library. 
 
 By Arthur Penn, editor of " The Rhymester." Hlustrated. 
 
 Contents : I. A Plea for the Best Books : II. On the Buying and Owning of Books ; 
 III. On Beading; IV. On Fiction (with a List of a Hundred Best Novels); V. On 
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 Books: X. Hints Here and There; XI. Appendix- List of Authors whose Works 
 should be found in the Home Library. 
 
 New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
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