Part 6 (1/2)
Let no consideration blind you, either in sickness or in health, to the imperative necessity of plenty of fresh air.
The next great natural agency, and one to which scant attention is paid, compared with its hygienic importance, is Light, but more especially Sunlight.
Light is essential to life. If by some monstrous cataclysm the sun was suddenly extinguished, it is impossible to conceive the misery that would follow. In the event of such a fearful calamity it would require but a very short time to depopulate the earth. We repeat, light is a necessity of existence, and it behooves us all to allow it free access to our dwellings. What if it does bleach carpets and draperies! Its beneficent effects are not to be measured by yards of wool and silk.
Love of light is as instinctive as the aversion to darkness. Plants growing in a dark cellar, where but one struggling ray of light enters, will instinctively grow in the direction of that ray. It is questionable whether defective lighting is not productive of as much physical deterioration in the crowded tenement districts as defective ventilation--certainly it is only secondary in degree. Light is necessary. Light is free to all, and why human beings endowed with reason should attempt to exclude it from their dwellings is a thing that pa.s.ses comprehension. Give the light free access to your dwelling. ”Let there be light,” is as imperative now as when the fiat went forth at the dawn of creation.
But Sunlight is the great health-giving agent. The sun is the great source of life. Its rays stimulate the growth of every living organism, and there is no doubt but they exert a chemical action upon living tissue with which we are as yet but imperfectly acquainted.
This fact has been recognized of late years, hence our winter resorts are liberally supplied with sun parlors, in which those in quest of health may enjoy the rejuvenating effect of solar heat without exposing themselves to the inclemency of wintry weather. This is a revival of an old Roman custom, for the more opulent of that nation had sun baths on the roofs of their dwellings. Suns.h.i.+ne is as necessary to robust, vigorous health as either air or water. Then seize the full enjoyment of it whenever opportunity offers! It is a stimulant and tonic that has no superior. Go forth into the sunlight on every possible occasion! It is one of Nature's greatest therapeutic agents, and she bestows it ungrudgingly, without money and without price. If you are wise you will avail yourself of her bounty.
Do not be afraid to let the sunlight penetrate your dwellings, especially the morning sun. Thrifty housewives are p.r.o.ne to regard the actions of the sun's rays on their carpets and draperies as disastrous in the extreme, but its exclusion from their dwelling is far more disastrous to the health of the inmates. There is, of course, a happy medium in all things, and, therefore, it is not necessary to have the sun's rays streaming in through every door and window during the whole day; but the entire dwelling should be (as far as possible) thrown open to the vivifying beams of old Sol for a couple of hours in the morning, which at the same time will thoroughly ventilate the building. There is more virtue in sunlight than most people are aware of. Its bactericidal effects are only just beginning to be understood; but if you desire a healthful dwelling, let G.o.d's bright suns.h.i.+ne freely and frequently penetrate every corner of it.
It is astonis.h.i.+ng how few people there are who properly estimate the hygienic value of the sun's rays. A valuable lesson on this point may be learned by observing the lower animals, none of which ever neglect an opportunity to bask in the sun And the nearer man approaches to his primitive condition the more he is inclined to follow the example of the animals. It is a natural instinct which civilization has partially destroyed in the human race.
The effect of suns.h.i.+ne is not merely thermal, to warm. and raise the heat of the body; its rays have chemical and electric functions. As a clever physician lately explained, it is more than possible that suns.h.i.+ne produces vibrations and changes of particles in the deeper tissues of the body, as effective as those of electricity. Many know by experience that the relief it affords to wearing pain, neuralgic and inflammatory, is more effective and lasting than that of any application whatever.
Those who have faceache should prove it for themselves, sitting in a sunny window where the warmth falls full on the cheek.
For nervous debility and insomnia the treatment of all others is rest in suns.h.i.+ne. Draw the bed to the window and let the patient lie in the sun for hours. There is no tonic like it--provided the good effects are not neutralized by ill-feeling. To restore a withered arm, a palsied or rheumatic limb, or to bring a case of nervous prostration up speedily, a most efficient part of the treatment would be to expose the limb or the person as many hours to direct sunlight as the day would afford. With weak lungs let the sun fall on the chest for hours.
If internal tumor or ulceration is suspected, let the sun burn through the bear skin directly on the point of disease for hours daily. There will be no doubt left in the mind that there is a curative power in the chemical rays of the sun.
For the chilliness which causes blue hands and bad color, resort to the sun; let it almost blister the skin, and the circulation will answer the attraction. It is a finer stimulous than wine, electricity or ma.s.sage, and we are on the verge of great therapeutic discoveries concerning it.
Some years ago a London surgeon, by using the sun's rays (presumably with a lens), removed a wine mark from a lady's face, and destroyed a malignant growth in the same way.
Says Dr. Thayer, of San Francisco:
”During a practice of more than a quarter of a century I have found no caustic or cautery to compare with solar heat in its beneficial results. Unlike other caustics, it can be applied with safety on the most delicate tissues and the system receives this treatment kindly.
The irritation and inflammation following are surprisingly slight and of short duration, the pain subsiding immediately on removal of the lens. There is a curative power in the chemical rays of the sun yet unexplained.”
Women especially need to make systematic trial of the sun's healing and rejuvenating rays. The woman who wants a cheek like a rose should pull her sofa pillows into the window and let the sun blaze first on one cheek and then on the other, and she will gain color warranted not to wash off.
Thus it will be seen that the curative properties of sunlight are in nowise overestimated, but in cases of sickness its beneficial action is purely supplementary. The system must first be thoroughly cleansed by ”flus.h.i.+ng the colon,” then, the ground work of improvement being laid, Fresh Air and Sunlight will prove themselves worthy and efficient colleagues in the task of restoring health.
Singly, each is of intrinsic value, but inadequate to cope with disease single-handed (although they may mitigate it), but combined they form a Trinity so powerful that disease can never successfully oppose them.
The other two factors in Nature's great Health curriculum, namely, Exercise and Diet, will be considered under separate headings.
PART VI.
EXERCISE.
Motion is life. The health of both body and mind depend upon it.
Inaction means stagnation, a condition fatal to health. Hence the necessity of exercise. As before stated, disuse is as fatal to a piece of machinery as excessive use; in fact, it is far more likely to rust out than to wear out. Activity is essential to life and health and can never be prejudicial, provided that moderation is observed and the muscular system not strained or overworked.
There are thousands of miles of minute tubing in the human body--the arterioles, veins, capillaries and lymphatic vessels. They ramify through every portion of the body tissues, the first carrying the vitalized blood for nourishment of the parts, the second returning the impure blood, charged with the waste of the structures, the third being the intermediate stage between the first and second, while the fourth and last, the lymphatic vessels, collect the surplus nutrition and return it to the circulation. In addition the lymphatics a.s.sist in the conveyance of effete matter. Whenever disease germs are present in the system, they first manifest themselves in the lymph, but this fluid being densely populated with phagocyctes (white blood corpuscles), the micro-organisms are speedily destroyed, if the body is in a healthy, vigorous condition.
In view of the vital character of the fluids, activity of motion is indispensable for the best performance of their separate functions and exercise supplies the desired stimulus. Whenever a muscle is contracted the blood is wholly or partially expelled from it proportionately to the force of the contraction, and in its escape it carries with it the waste material; but as soon as the muscle is relaxed fresh blood from the arterial supply re-enters the structure, bearing fresh nutrition.