Of all the considerations that determine health,
heredity is the one unalterable factor. Although
certain characteristics are obviously hereditary,—complexion,
height, and mental and physical traits
in great variety,—yet in the past heredity has
been little understood. In consequence it has
served too often as a scape goat for faults
and failings not beyond an individual's control.
Our first clear understanding of the principles
underlying heredity resulted from experiments
made by Mendel, an Austrian monk, during the
last century, and it is now possible to predict
with a high degree of accuracy the inheritance of
certain characteristics.
Many diseases, formerly considered hereditary
because their actual causes were unknown, are
now known to be communicable. Thus, it is now
understood that tuberculosis is not hereditary,
although little children may be infected by
tuberculous parents. No germ diseases are inherited
in the strict sense of the word; but a
baby may be infected with syphilis before birth
if his father or his mother has the disease.
It is true, however, that certain tissue
weaknesses of the body seem to be hereditary,
and in consequence one family is more susceptible
to digestive disorders, another to diseases of the
lungs, a third to deafness, and so on. Moreover,
general low vitality may be inherited. It should
be emphasized, however, that hereditary weakness
does not inevitably lead to disease. Many persons
have succeeded in preventing the development
of active disease by guarding against strain in
directions where they are weak by inheritance.
Of all tissue weaknesses that may be inherited,
defects of the nervous system are the most
serious. Nervous disorders of every degree of
severity, from slight nervous instability even to
insanity, may result when these tissues are defective;
but it is now a recognized fact that nervous
disorders in many cases can be prevented from developing.
Feeblemindedness, another condition
due to defective tissue, is known to be inherited in
the majority of cases, and in all cases it is incurable.
By environment is meant everything outside
the body that affects it; taken in its complete
meaning the word might include everything that
is or ever was in the whole universe. It is possible
to consider here a few only of the many
environmental and personal factors affecting
the health of individuals.
The home constitutes the important part of
environment for most persons, and for children
in particular, since they spend the greater part of
their time in or about it, and get there the
foundation on which their health in later years depends.
For persons employed away from home,
industrial and occupational hygiene is hardly less
important; but those subjects are too extensive
to be considered here.
Most people live where they must, and few
have any part in planning the construction of
their own houses. In choosing a house, however,
one should remember that rooms where sunshine
never enters are unfit for continued occupation.
For children in particular fresh air and sunshine
are essential, and it may be economy in the end to
pay a comparatively high rent for an apartment
having sunshine during at least a part of the day.
Ignorance and carelessness, unfortunately, can
spoil the best living conditions, and sometimes
even in the country fresh air and sunshine are excluded
from sleeping and living rooms.
—Ventilation has a direct bearing
on health, although, contrary to former belief, the
actual amount of oxygen in the air is not ordinarily
the most important factor; even badly ventilated
rooms contain more than enough oxygen to
support life. The factors of prime importance
in ventilation are temperature, humidity, air
movement, and the number of persons in a given
space since the greater the distance from one
another the less is the probability that diseases
will be spread.
Room temperature should not be above 70° F.
and, except for the aged or sick, it is better to be
between 60° and 65°. Some moisture in the air
is desirable; the amount needed is from 50% to
55% of the total moisture that the air can hold at
a given temperature. We have no apparatus to
decrease humidity in the air of houses, and in
summer we are obliged to endure humidity, if excessive,
no matter how uncomfortable we may be.
But in winter the air in most houses is too dry,
so that the mucous membranes of the nose and
throat often become irritated and susceptible to
infection. Most heating systems, particularly in
small buildings, make no provision for supplying
moisture. Keeping water in open dishes on or
near radiators is often recommended, and would
greatly improve the condition of the air, if people
remembered to keep the dishes filled.
The following is a simple but effective device to
increase humidity: Roll an ordinary desk blotter
into a cone about 8 inches in diameter at the base,
and keep it constantly submerged for about one
inch in a dish of water. The water rises to the
top of the blotter and a large surface for evaporation
is thus afforded.
Fig. 7.
Stagnant air is harmful. Air should be in
constant though not necessarily perceptible motion.
Air about the body, if motionless, acts like
a warm moist blanket, preventing the passage of
heat from the body.
The three factors, heating, humidity, and air
motion, must be considered together. Every
person requires each hour about 3000 cubic
feet of air, and the problem of heating and
ventilating is that of providing this amount in
gentle motion, at a temperature of about 65° F.,
and of humidity from 50-55%. Higher temperatures
and stagnant air cause disinclination to
work, headache, nausea, restlessness, or sleepiness,
and if continued are likely to result in loss of
appetite, and anemia. The tuberculosis movement
has clearly shown the benefits both for
the sick and the well of living in the open air,
and has caused great and beneficial changes
within a generation. The more time spent in the
open air the better; since however most persons
who work must spend the greater part of the
day indoors, ventilation is a matter of great
importance.
Although fresh air enthusiasts are still too few,
yet some go to the extreme and think that because
cool air in motion is good, the colder the air
and more violent the motion the better. On the
contrary, chilling the whole body or a part of the
body lowers resistance. Draughts of air have no
bad effects upon persons in good health, particularly
those accustomed to changes in temperature.
But draughts are likely to be injurious to aged or
sick persons and babies, by diminishing their
resistance to such infections as common colds
and pneumonia. It should be remembered that
draughts or cold alone cannot cause colds; the
specific germs must be present.
—Amount and direction of light are
physiologically important. Defects of the eyes,
too prolonged use, and insufficient light are the
commonest causes of eye strain. Most eye defects
can be relieved by glasses. Children's eyes
should be examined upon entering school, and
as often afterward as the oculist advises. Prolonged
use causes fatigue of the eyes, especially
when the illumination is poor; within limits,
the amount of light needed depends on the nature
of the work. Light should come from the left
side of right handed people; never from the front.
Light reflected from snow, sand, glazed white
paper of books, or other bright surfaces is fatiguing
from its intensity, and from the unusual angle
at which it enters the eyes. Too much light
is harmful, and probably causes some of the effects,
such as nausea and headache, commonly attributed
to poor ventilation.
Almost all blindness is preventable, and
blindness due to industrial accidents and processes
is no exception to this rule. Surely no individual
precautions or legal measures are too great in
order to guard against this saddest of all physical
defects.
—A clean, well-cared
for house is desirable from every point of view,
but certain kinds of cleanliness affect health
more than others.
The most scrupulous care should be exercised
wherever food is stored or prepared. The kitchen
is in reality a laboratory; in it either intelligently
or ignorantly are formed chemical compounds
which have a far-reaching effect upon family
health. From the standpoint of health no other
room in the house is so important. It
should be bright, airy, and easy to clean. In
cleaning kitchen tables and woodwork water
should not be allowed to soak into cracks and dark
corners, carrying with it particles of food for the
nourishment of bacteria and insects. Linoleum,
if used to cover the floor, should be well fitted
at the edges to prevent water from running
underneath. There should be neither cracks nor
crevices in wall or floor, and no dark corners
or out-of-the-way cupboards in which dust, food
particles, and moisture can accumulate. Such
conditions not only attract mice and roaches,
but furnish favorable soil for the development of
moulds and fungi which by their growth affect
food deleteriously. Waging a constant warfare
against the development of bacteria constitutes
a large part of good housekeeping.
All cooking utensils should be thoroughly
washed, scalded, and dried before they are put
away; the use of carelessly washed dishes is
bad. Enameled or agate ware which has begun
to chip should be discarded. Dish-cloths and
towels should be washed and boiled after using,
and if possible dried in the sun.
Every place in which food is kept should have
constant care. The refrigerator is particularly
important. Its linings should be water-tight, and
the drain freely open at all times; otherwise the
surrounding wood will become foul and saturated
with drainings. At least once a week it should
be entirely emptied and cleaned in the following
way: The racks should be thoroughly washed in
hot soapsuds to which a small amount of washing
soda has been added, rinsed in boiling water,
dried and placed in the sun and air. All parts of
the refrigerator should be washed in the same
manner, especially grooves and projections where
food or dirt may lodge. The drainpipe should
be flushed, the whole interior rinsed again with
plain hot water, thoroughly dried with a clean
cloth, and left to air for at least an hour. The
drainage pan should be washed and scalded
frequently. Food showing the slightest evidence
of spoiling should be removed from the refrigerator
at once.
Even more attention should be paid to the hands
of the cook. They should be washed always
before handling food, and always after visiting
the toilet, using the handkerchief, or otherwise
coming in contact with nose, mouth, or other
bodily secretions. Theoretically coughing and
sneezing ought not to occur in the neighborhood
of food, especially of food to be eaten raw; and
persons with coughs, colds, or other communicable
disease, however slight, ought not to handle
food. If this rule were observed in practice,
more persons would go hungry, but fewer would
be sick.
Thorough cleaning of rooms involves soap,
water, sunshine, air, and elbow grease, just as it
did before germs were discovered. Cleaning
means actually removing dirt and dust, not merely
stirring it up to settle again; consequently dry
sweeping and dusting are ineffectual. Vacuum
cleaning, and sweeping and dusting with damp or
"dustless" mops and dusters are good. Deodorants
and disinfectants do not take the place of
ordinary cleanliness.
Dust does not carry living disease germs to an
appreciable extent; the fact is now well established
that diseases formerly thought to be transmitted
by dust or even supposed to travel directly through
the air, are carried on tiny particles of moisture
and mucus expelled in coughing and sneezing.
This mode of transmission is called droplet or
spray infection; it is one of the most active agents
in spreading certain kinds of communicable
diseases.
Nevertheless dust in motion is harmful; it
irritates the lining membranes of the nose, throat,
bronchial tubes, and lungs, even causing tiny
wounds through which disease germs enter. Thus
tuberculosis is especially prevalent among stone
cutters, felt workers, and others engaged in dusty
trades. Metallic dust is especially harmful,
because it is harder and sharper than dust from
organic substances like wool and cotton. Furthermore,
presence of dust indicates a low standard
of cleanliness. People who tolerate it generally
tolerate uncleanliness in other forms, more serious
though less apparent.
Cleaning would not be so great a problem if
most houses were not littered with such dust
catchers as carpets, so-called ornaments, carved
and upholstered furniture, banners, draperies,
and a vast collection of articles that can only
be classified as Christmas presents. In actual
practice things that are difficult or expensive to
clean seldom are cleaned; carpets for example are
considered unhygienic, not because they cannot
be cleaned, but because they are not. William
Morris' advice to exclude from houses all articles
not known to be useful or believed to be beautiful
would, if followed, add years to the lives of housekeepers.
, has little bearing on health, except
in so far as it affords a breeding place for flies. If
it contains disease germs it may be dangerous,
but statistics show that garbage handlers, although
they can hardly be called especially careful, are
not more subject to sickness than other men of
their class. Garbage disposal is chiefly a question
of preventing a public nuisance; it is a matter of
cleanliness and public decency.
—Flies, cockroaches, and other scavenging
insects may carry disease germs on their feet
and thus infect food on which they walk. Typhoid,
cholera, dysentery, and other diseases have
been carried by flies. Flies are always a menace,
and should not be tolerated; moreover, the
thought of their coming to food directly from
manure piles and privy vaults is disgusting.
Houses should be thoroughly screened in the
fly season, but it is better to destroy the nuisance
at its source. The chief breeding places of flies
are garbage cans and manure piles. If the garbage
can is water tight, closely covered, frequently
emptied, and thoroughly cleaned, flies will not
develop in it; about ten days must elapse from
the time when the egg is laid until the insect is
ready to fly. Fly traps to fit on the garbage can
are useful. Manure should be screened and
removed frequently, or it can be treated chemically.
Methods for treating it are given in "Preventive
Medicine and Hygiene."—Rosenau, p.
255, and in Bulletin No. 118, of the U. S. Dept.
of Agriculture, July 14, 1914.
Fig. 8.—A Fly with Germs (Greatly Magnified) on Its Legs.
(U. S. Dept. Agri.)
Other diseases carried by insects are malaria
and yellow fever, each by a special species of
mosquito; typhus fever, by lice; and bubonic
plague, by rat fleas. Various diseases less common
in this country are carried by other insects.
Even when mosquitoes are not carrying disease
germs their bites may be harmful since they are
often rubbed, especially by children, until the
skin is broken, and various infections may enter
through the wounds. Insects of every kind,
rats, mice, and vermin should be excluded from
houses.
—Discharges from the bowels and
bladder contain various germs, and constitute one
of the most important routes by which germs of
typhoid fever, cholera and certain other diseases
travel from person to person. Keeping sewage
out of the water supply is consequently of great
importance. Where a system of sewage disposal
exists, the responsibility of making the system
adequate and thus safeguarding public health
rests upon the community as a whole. Communities
ordinarily get just as much, or just as little
typhoid fever as they are willing to endure.
Fig. 9.—How a well may be polluted. (From "The
Human Mechanism." Copyright by Theodore Hough and
William T. Sedgwick. Ginn and Company, publishers. Used
by permission.)
In places having no system of drainage privies
must be used. They can be made harmless, as
army camps prove, but they require scrupulous
care. Fecal matter must be prevented from draining
into wells and other water supplies, and must
be screened from flies. The privy should be
located at a distance from the well. The minimum
distance that is safe depends in each case
upon the nature of the soil and the direction of the
natural drainage. Even when the privy is situated
below the well on sloping ground, drainage may still
occur from the privy to the well; however, a well-made,
properly located pit privy is safe unless
it is near a limestone formation. The dry earth
system is satisfactory in places having an efficient
public scavenger system; in this system pails or
cans are used to receive the discharges, which are
then covered with sand, ashes, earth or, preferably,
chloride of lime. The buckets are frequently
emptied and the contents buried at least one foot
below the surface of the ground. The objection
to this method for more extended use is that
proper care of the cans is a disagreeable duty of
which most households soon tire.
—The main functions of
the skin are three: to protect underlying tissues,
to excrete waste matter, and to regulate bodily
heat by checking or allowing the evaporation of
perspiration. After perspiration has evaporated
solid matter is left upon the skin, and oily matter
also is deposited on it by the glands that keep the
skin lubricated. Removing these and other
materials at least once a day is desirable to improve
the bodily tone and sense of well-being.
Real cleanliness is impossible without frequent use
of warm water and soap.
Cold baths are stimulating, though not very
efficacious for cleansing purposes. They are
valuable tonics if properly used, but delicate or
elderly persons should use them only by a physician's
advice. Chilly feelings or depression
following should be the signal for any person
to discontinue cold bathing or swimming in cold
water.
Warm baths are soothing in their effects, and
are appropriate at bed time, particularly for
persons inclined to sleeplessness. Very hot baths,
especially if prolonged, may be harmful, and
should not be taken often.
There is no clear connection between general
cleanliness and disease. Frequent bathing does
not protect a person from any particular disease,
except in so far as bathing necessarily includes
washing the hands. If typhoid germs for example
have actually been swallowed, a clean bodily
exterior is of no avail in preventing typhoid fever
or in diminishing its severity. The same is true
of other diseases.
But it is impossible to emphasize unduly the
importance of clean hands. Hands are prime
offenders in distributing fresh bodily secretions,
and germs both innocent and harmful. All
health authorities agree on this point.
"Perhaps 90% of all infections are taken into
the body through the mouth. They reach the mouth
in water, food, fingers, dust, and upon the innumerable
objects that are sometimes placed in the mouth.
The fact that the great majority of infections are
taken by way of the mouth gives scientific direction
to personal hygiene. Sanitary habits demand that the
hands should be washed after defecation and again
before eating, and fingers should be kept away from
the mouth and nose, and that no unnecessary objects
should be mouthed. All food and drink should be clean
or thoroughly cooked. These simple precautions alone
would prevent many a case of infection."—(Rosenau:
Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, p. 366.)
As Dr. Chapin says:
"Probably the chief vehicle for the conveyance of nasal
and oral secretion from one to another is the fingers.
If one takes the trouble to watch for a short time his
neighbors, or even himself, unless he has been particularly
trained in such matters, he will be surprised to note
the number of times that the fingers go to the mouth and
the nose. Not only is the saliva made use of for a great
variety of purposes, and numberless articles are for one
reason or another placed in the mouth, but for no reason
whatever, and all unconsciously, the fingers are with
great frequency raised to the lips or the nose. Who can
doubt that if the salivary glands secreted indigo the fingers
would continually be stained a deep blue, and who can
doubt that if the nasal and oral secretions contain the
germs of disease these germs will be almost as constantly
found upon the fingers? All successful commerce is
reciprocal, and in this universal trade in human saliva the
fingers not only bring foreign secretions to the mouth of
their owner, but there exchanging them for his own,
distribute the latter to everything that the hand touches.
This happens not once, but scores and hundreds of times
during the day's round of the individual. The cook
spreads his saliva on the muffins and rolls, the waitress
infects the glasses and spoons, the moistened fingers
of the peddler arrange his fruit, the thumb of the milkman
is in his measure, the reader moistens the pages
of his book, the conductor his transfer tickets, the
"lady" the fingers of her glove. Every one is busily engaged
in this distribution of saliva, so that the end of
each day finds this secretion freely distributed on the doors,
window sills, furniture and playthings in the home, the
straps of trolley cars, the rails and counter and desks
of shops and public buildings, and indeed upon everything
that the hands of man touch. What avails it if the pathogens
do die quickly? A fresh supply is furnished each
day."—(Chapin: The Sources and Modes of Infection,
p. 188.)
—Cleanliness and proper care
of the mouth and teeth can hardly be over emphasized.
Their bearing upon health is direct.
Long ago it was recognized that persons with
decayed or missing teeth frequently suffered
from dyspepsia, a natural result of inability to
masticate properly, but only within recent years
has it been realized that decayed teeth give rise
to many other diseased conditions. Bacteria are
constantly present in the mouth. If the mucus
of the mouth is not removed, it forms a sticky
coat upon the surfaces of the teeth and gums.
In this bacteria collect, and pus or matter may
also be formed, which, if carried by the blood to
other parts of the body, may cause digestive
troubles, rheumatism, and diseases of heart and
kidneys. (See Dr. T. B. Hartzell, Health News,
Oct., 1915, "The Importance of Mouth Hygiene
and How to Practise it.")
To keep the mouth and teeth healthy they must
have:
1. Proper use.
2. Proper care.
3. Proper treatment.
1. Teeth, like other parts of the body, need
exercise. Foods that require a considerable
amount of chewing should be included in the
diet. Such food is needed by children as soon
as their first teeth have come, but care must
be exercised to see that the food is actually chewed
before it is swallowed.
2. A good brush should be provided. The
stiffness of the bristles should be regulated according
to the individual. The brush should
be thoroughly rinsed after using, and discarded
as soon as it is worn. Dental floss is generally
needed to remove particles that have lodged
between the teeth.
Brushing the teeth by passing the bristles
across them is not efficacious. They should be
brushed not across but with the cracks, as a good
housewife sweeps a floor.
"In the light of recent investigation conducted by
some of the leading students of mouth hygiene, the
most effective way to use the toothbrush is to place the
bristles of the brush firmly against the teeth, applying
firm pressure, as though trying to force the bristles between
the teeth, using a slight rotary or scrubbing motion....
After a little practice the user of this method
will be surprised at the results obtained. Care should
be used to go over all the surfaces of the teeth in this
manner."—(See Dr. W. G. Ebersole. "The Importance
of Mouth Hygiene and How to Practice it," Health
News, Oct., 1915.)
After brushing the teeth, the mouth should
be rinsed by forcing lukewarm water about the
teeth, using all the force that can be brought
to bear by the cheeks, lips, and tongue.
3.
—The teeth, including the first
teeth of children, should be inspected by a competent
dentist at least twice a year. Periodic
cleansing by a dentist, and early attention to
small cavities, may prevent serious ill health
and impairment of the body, as well as the acute
suffering generally accompanying treatment of
advanced dental defects.
—Clothing was originally used for
purposes of ornament. Desire for protection
from cold and dampness came later. The amount
of clothing required varies greatly according to
individual needs and habits, but it is increasingly
recognized that light clothing is best, provided
that the wearer is really protected from cold.
Clothing should be porous in order to allow ventilation
of the body, supported so far as possible
from the shoulders, and clean and well aired.
Dampness favors the growth of germs which may
cause irritation of the skin.
Clothing should not constrict the body or
hamper its movements. Perhaps the worst health
menace for which clothing is to blame comes from
the high heeled shoes on which many women prefer
to limp through life. From the health standpoint
shoes are of great importance. Bad shoes
are responsible for many cases of flat feet, whose
muscles have degenerated through non-use, and
for much so-called "rheumatism," which is merely
the protest of abused muscles. Bad shoes also,
by distorting the feet, prevent comfortable walking,
which is the only out-of-door exercise readily
available for the vast majority of people; and
still worse, the resulting unnatural position of the
body sometimes has serious consequences by
bringing injurious strains on other muscles and
organs.
—Two distinct problems are encountered
here: the problem of nutrition, and the problem
of preventing sickness. Nutrition, or proper
feeding, is a subject beyond the scope of this book;
it is nevertheless one of the most important, if
not the most important, factor in maintaining
health. Food preparation and care of children,
the two most important functions of the home,
are unfortunately relegated to the least intelligent
and least interested members of most households
in which servants are employed.
Most American families eat too much protein
food, such as meat and eggs. Excess of protein
probably leads to degeneration of tissues, and
plays a part in causing the degenerative diseases
already mentioned. Habit is important here as
in other ways of living, but cereals and vegetables
should in large measure make up the diet of
sedentary persons and indeed of everyone in
warm weather.
The amount of food required in 24 hours depends
on many factors: age, height, weight,
occupation, season, and habit. Underweight and
overweight are both abnormal conditions; probably
the latter is the more easily remedied.
Both require the advice of a physician. Rapid
reduction of weight involves certain dangers,
especially for persons with weak hearts.
Food may cause sickness either because it is
in itself harmful, or because it carries disease
germs. Meat from diseased animals should be
destroyed before it reaches the market, but bacterial
activities in food originally wholesome may
form in it poisonous substances.
The chief diseases known to be carried by food,
water, or milk are typhoid fever, paratyphoid,
dysentery and other diarrhœal diseases, scarlet
fever, diphtheria, septic sore throat, and tuberculosis.
The sole problem here is to keep human
and animal excretions out of food, water, and milk.
Since thorough cooking kills disease germs, danger
arises chiefly from raw foods. All fruits and
vegetables eaten raw should first be thoroughly
washed.
Water is essential to health. At least three
pints should be taken daily, the amount varying
somewhat according to diet, exercise, temperature,
and so forth. Most persons drink too little
water.
Cities and towns should of course have public
supplies of pure water. Contamination of water,
when it occurs, is caused chiefly by sewage from
cesspools, privies, and drains. All well or spring
water must be constantly watched and Boards
of Health are always ready to examine samples
of water and to report whether it is safe to drink.
At the present time a porcelain filter is the only
satisfactory kind for a household, but many
domestic filters are so badly cared for that in actual
practice they are worse than none. Danger from
a filter containing an accumulation of impurities
is greater than the danger from most ordinary
water supplies. Boiling water for ten minutes
kills all pathogenic germs, but this method is
inconvenient on a large scale and is not practical
for continued family use.
Every effort should be made to insure a regular
supply of pure water in every house. It is not
satisfactory to have two kinds, one for drinking
and one for other purposes, since mistakes are
sure to be made, especially by children. Some
families who use only bottled or filtered water
for drinking purposes habitually run the risk involved
in using impure water from the tap for
cleaning the teeth.
Freezing destroys most germs, but ice is not
necessarily free from bacterial life, and should be
used in drinking water only when known to be
free from impurities. Neither does freezing milk
or cream necessarily kill germs that may be contained
in it.
Raw milk plays so important a part in the spread
of disease that its fitness for human consumption
is open to serious question. Certified milk, where
obtainable, is safe but expensive. Boiled milk is
safe, but changed in taste and to some extent in
quality. If milk is heated to 142°-145° F. and
kept at that temperature for 30 minutes all disease
germs in it are killed. This process, called pasteurization,
renders milk safe. The objection is
sometimes made that continued use of pasteurized
milk for infants causes scurvy, but in New York
City where over 90 per cent. of the milk is pasteurized
no increase in scurvy has been noticed, while
a large diminution in deaths of infants from diarrhœal
diseases has resulted, as in all cities where
pasteurization is required.
The following is a simple method for pasteurizing
a quart bottle of milk. If the directions
are exactly followed the milk will be pasteurized
at the end of the process; no thermometer need
be used. To prevent the bottle from breaking,
it is first warmed by placing it for a few minutes
in a pail of warm water.
"From the results of the experiments it was concluded
that any housewife can pasteurize a one quart bottle of
milk by:
1. Boiling 2½ quarts of water in a large agate saucepan;
or better
2. Boiling 2 quarts of water in a 10 pound tin lard pail,
placing the slightly warmed bottle from the ice chest in it,
covering with a cloth and setting in a warm place. At the
end of one hour the bottle of milk should be removed and
chilled promptly. The water must be boiled in the container
in which the pasteurization is to be done."—(Ruth
Vories, in "Health News," Sept., 1916.)
—Careful attention should be paid
to elimination through the bowels and kidneys.
Constipation is responsible for many common ailments;
among them are headache, disinclination to
work, irritable temper, and lowered resistance. If
long continued, constipation becomes serious both
from congestion and displacement of pelvic organs,
and from absorption over a considerable time of
even small amounts of the poisonous substances
resulting from decomposition of food in the large
intestine. The bowels can best be regulated by
diet, water, exercise, and habit. The habitual use
of cathartic and laxative drugs is most unwise,
because they tend to aggravate the trouble.
Moreover the habitual and continued use of injections
and "internal baths" is harmful, and
would not be considered necessary if bran and
coarse flour and vegetables were substituted for
concentrated foods. Greed, laziness, and lack of
intelligence lead most persons suffering with constipation
to prefer pills to the restraints demanded
by hygienic living. The habit of evacuating the
bowels at a regular time, if established in early
childhood and rigidly adhered to, will prevent constipation
among most healthy people. Any person
who thinks drugs necessary should consult a
physician, and be prepared to follow the régime he
advises over a considerable period of time and at
the cost of some self-denial.
For healthy people, voiding urine presents no
difficulty if a sufficient amount of water is taken;
but some persons reduce the amount of liquid
taken in order to escape the inconvenience of urination.
This practice is harmful, and may involve
insufficient cleansing of the entire system. If
frequent urination disturbs sleep, liquids may
be withheld during the evening; but the total
amount of water taken in 24 hours should not be
diminished.
—A fatigued person is a
poisoned person. Muscular exertion burns the
fuel constituents of the body, as we recognize by
the greater heat generated within us during muscular
exertion. Waste products, resulting from
this burning process, accumulate if not removed,
and clog the body in somewhat the same way that
ashes and cinders clog a furnace. The fatigued
person remains fatigued, consequently, until the
accumulations of waste matter are removed by the
normal action of the lungs, skin, and kidneys.
Fatigue is caused by both mental and physical
work, and when excessive, affects the nervous
system most disastrously. The body can and
should respond to occasional extra drafts on
strength and endurance; its flexibility and power
of adjusting to varying conditions may even be
stimulated thereby. But even slight fatigue, if
continued and especially if associated with anxiety
or worry, has caused many nervous and mental
breakdowns.
Work carried beyond the point of normal fatigue
requires a proportionately longer time for recovery.
For example, if the point of fatigue has been
reached by a certain finger muscle after 15 contractions,
and if half an hour is required to rest it completely,
one might suppose that one hour would
rest it after 30 contractions. This is not so, however;
after 30 contractions 2 hours are required, or 4
times as much rest for twice the amount of work, if
continued beyond the point of fatigue. Laboratory
experiments and experience alike show that this
principle holds true in other forms of fatigue.
Thus the output of factories has been shown in
many instances to be greater, other things being
equal, when operatives work 8 hours a day than
when they work longer. Excessive hours in any
kind of work are the poorest economy.
Fatigue is increased in direct proportion not
only to muscular exertion but also to the amount of
speed, complexity, responsibility, monotony, noise,
and confusion involved in an occupation. Ability
to bear fatigue differs greatly with different people,
as ability varies to bear other kinds of strain.
Rest at night and on Sunday, and the annual
vacation should be enough to keep a person in
good condition. If not, there is probably something
wrong with the worker's health, the nature
of his work, or his adaptation to his particular kind
of work. This statement is not only true of persons
regularly employed, but of those living at home,
including children in school, women in "society,"
and especially mothers of families.
—A sufficient amount of sleep is essential
to health, but individual requirements vary
widely. Each person should know and regard his
own need, and children and young people should
be obliged to go to bed early. Ability to sleep is
largely habit; good habits should be formed and
continued. Sleep-producing drugs should never
be taken, except by a doctor's prescription.
—Owing to the speed, complexity,
and worry of modern life among all classes, and to
the monotony of work in industry, recreation has
become a matter of vital importance for everyone.
Some muscular activity, preferably in the open air,
is needed by every healthy person. Recreation
should be as unlike the regular occupation as
possible: going to the theatre, for example, is not
the best exercise for sedentary workers employed
all day in artificially lighted offices. The element
of pleasure is essential. Hoisting dumb-bells
purely from conscientious motives is seldom
beneficial, and is generally soon abandoned.
The part played by habit in matters of health is
often overlooked. Although the body adjusts
itself to widely varying conditions and even to
unfavorable ones, the importance of forming
desirable habits cannot be overemphasized.
Sudden or radical changes in living, however,
particularly among people no longer young, may
play havoc. New and violent systems of exercise,
weight reduction, and food fads forced on families
by enthusiastic discoverers involve considerable
risk.
Many elements enter into health; in no single
one is found hygienic salvation. Temptation
always exists to emphasize one element at the
expense of others. For instance, people who insist
upon overventilating rooms regardless of others'
comfort may themselves be utterly careless in
regard to necessary sleep, and more than one fastidiously
clean person has disregarded the highly
unclean condition of constipation. To maintain
sound health only a rational program will
suffice: properly balanced work and play, sleep
and food and all other elements must be included
in due proportion. And over-anxious health
seekers might well remember that health is not so
much an end in itself, as a means to a happy and
productive life; even in concern over health, it
is possible for him that saveth his life to lose it.
- Explain the difference between an hereditary disease
and hereditary susceptibility to a disease. How may
hereditary susceptibility to a disease be combatted?
- What are the essentials of good ventilation?
- What is the proper temperature for a living room?
What are the effects of higher temperatures? Of lower
temperatures?
- Describe methods for maintaining household cleanliness.
- Discuss the importance from the point of view of
health, of dust; of insects; of garbage; of sewage.
- What principles should guide one in deciding
whether a certain water supply is safe to use for drinking
purposes? What are the dangers of impure water?
How can impure water be rendered safe?
- What diseases may be carried by milk? How can
milk be rendered safe?
- Explain the health aspects of personal cleanliness.
-
What care should be given the teeth and mouth?
Why?
- What bad results frequently follow constipation?
How should constipation be remedied?
- Name seven factors that are important in causing
fatigue. Why is it uneconomical to continue work, either
physical or mental, beyond the point of fatigue?
- What facilities for recreation, especially in the open
air, does your community provide for little children?
For school children? For working boys and girls? For
grown people?
- Health and Disease—Roger I. Lee, Introduction and Chapters
I, III-V, VII-IX.
- How to Live—Fisher and Fisk, Chapters I, III-V.
- The Human Mechanism—Hough and Sedgwick, Chapters V,
XXII-XXIX.
- Disease and Its Causes—Councilman, Chapters X, XII.
- Fatigue and Efficiency—Goldmark, Chapters II, III.
- Preventive Medicine and Hygiene—Rosenau.
- A Manual of Personal Hygiene—6th Edition, Edited by Walter
L. Pyle.
- Four Epochs of a Woman's Life—Galbraith.
- Hygiene and Physical Culture for Women—Galbraith.
- The Home and Its Management—Kittredge.
- Exercise and Health—F. C. Smith, Supplement 24 to the Public
Health Reports, Government Printing Office, Washington.
- The Sanitary Privy—Farmers' Bulletin 463, United States
Department of Agriculture, Government Printing Office,
Washington.
- Safe Disposal of Human Excreta at Unsewered Homes—Lumsden,
Stiles and Freeman, Bulletin 68, Public Health Reports,
Government Printing Office, Washington.
-
The Disposal of Human Excreta and Sewage of the Country
Home—New York State Department of Health, Albany.
- Milk and Its Relation to Public Health—Bulletin 56, Hygienic
Laboratory, Government Printing Office, Washington.
- Milk and Its Relation to Health—New York State Department
of Health, Albany.
- Other Publications of the United States Public Health Service
and of the Departments of Health of the different states
and cities.
