INTRODUCTION
Origin of the Word Hygiene
Hygeia was the name given the Greek goddess of health. In her statues
she was always represented as a woman of perfect health and beauty,
and was worshipped as the goddess of health. She was supposed to be
the daughter of Esculapius, the god of medicine. In Greek mythology
Esculapius attained great fame as a physician, having power not only
to prevent dis-ease, but also to raise the dead. A temple was erected
to Hygeia near that of her father. Here the people came to worship.
There was even a statue of Hygeia in the temple of her father.
Thus we see, from time immemorial, health and medicine have been
associated.
Hygiene Defined
From the word Hygeia we get the word hygiene, which means health.
Hygiene is defined as the science and the art of promoting health;
the science of the preservation of human health by the removal of the
cause of dis-ease. It is sometimes defined as the science of health.
Hygiene is divided into two classes, personal and public.
=Personal Hygiene= is the science of the promotion of the
individual’s health and deals with personal habits, such as eating
and drinking; personal cleanliness; personal activities such as work,
recreation, self-restraint. The handling of children comes under this
branch of hygiene. The human machine is limited by the limitations
of the physical, which necessitates the observance of these laws
governing the expression of life.
=Public Hygiene= deals with the methods and processes necessary to
preserve and promote the health interests of the public. It deals
with man collectively rather than individually. This includes
consideration of the environment, such as cleaning of streets,
disposal of the dead, and proper hygienic methods in buildings and in
public places.
Sanitary Science
Sanitary science includes the sum total of the knowledge of those
principles and processes necessary to maintain personal and public
health. It is an inductive science and therefore depends upon
observation and verification in determining the general laws and
truths of health and the relation between cause and effect in public
and personal health.
Sanitary Art
Sanitary art is the practical application of those principles which
are necessary to create a proper environment for man in his present
artificial state of living, not only for the individual, but for the
public as well.
Distinction between Sanitation and Hygiene
The term sanitation or sanitary science is often used synonymous with
the term hygiene although there is a difference in their meaning and
usage. The term sanitation or sanitary science has been used largely
in Great Britain and in this country, although both terms are used in
America but with somewhat different meanings.
In reality there is a very important distinction between the two
terms hygiene and sanitation. Hygiene may be considered the broader
term which may be made to include everything relating to health, but
more particularly those things which relate to the person. Sanitation
or sanitary science relates more to the environmental conditions and
their relation to the health of the individual or the community.
This distinction is drawn more sharply by reason of the developments
along the line of sanitary engineering on the one hand and the
biological and physiological developments on the other.
Sanitary science has been largely under the supervision and in the
hands of sanitary engineers, while hygiene has been almost entirely
in the hands of the medical profession.
Aim and Function of Hygiene and Sanitation
Medically the aim and function of hygiene is to increase the internal
resistance of the individual and thus prevent dis-ease and prolong
life. The aim and function of sanitation or sanitary science is to
improve the environmental conditions and thus prevent dis-ease and
prolong life of the individual.
Doctor Price gives the aim and function of hygiene as: “The
prevention of dis-ease, the prevention of premature death, and the
promotion of normal health of individuals and the community by
the removal of the causes of dis-ease, destruction of the causes,
improvement of the environmental conditions, and by the increase of
the vital resistance of the individual and members of communities.”
The premise here is correct, but the conclusions as to the methods
which are to be used in accomplishing the desired end are erroneous.
Internal and External Cleanliness
There is a distinction between internal cleanliness and external
cleanliness. It is a mistaken idea that because the external is
clean, the internal will be correspondingly clean. Cleanliness
is absolutely essential to health, but by this we mean internal
cleanliness. There must be external cleanliness also, but perfect
external cleanliness will not necessarily result in perfect health.
Vital resistance of the body is not determined by the degree of
external cleanliness nor by the perfect sanitary condition of the
environment. However, it can never be said that Chiropractic does not
believe in cleanliness. Chiropractic, of all the sciences, lays great
stress on hygiene and sanitation. Our greatest teacher in all things
is Nature and if there is any one thing that Chiropractic insists
upon more than any other, it is that we live according to the laws
of Nature and the closer we live to Nature, the more normal will be
our functions. When we study the laws of Nature, we find the secret
of sanitation. Everywhere in Nature we find laws in operation which
result in the destruction of waste material and in the purification
of the environment.
From the standpoint of common decency we are interested in sanitation
or cleanliness, yet an immaculately clean environment will not result
in perfect health or in the cure of dis-ease. The streets and alleys
of the city may be kept clean and in a sanitary condition, yet the
inside of the homes may be filled with filth. So the environment of
man may be in a perfect condition so far as sanitation is concerned,
yet the body may be filled with all kinds of poison and refuse.
Sewerage System of the Body
The human body is a machine which performs certain functions and in
order that these functions be performed there is a constant process
of activity; this means that the tissues which make up the body are
being constantly worn out the same as the part of any other machine.
This necessitates a constant process of repair.
In order that this process of reparation be carried on, new material
must be added to the machine; this is done by means of food. The food
is taken into the mouth and properly masticated and mixed with the
secretions of the glands of the mouth; it is then carried through the
esophagus into the stomach. Here other digestive juices are added
to it and thoroughly mixed by the vermicular motion of the stomach
until the process of gastric digestion is completed; then this chyme,
as it is now called, passes into the small intestines, where other
secretions are added and chemical changes are brought about until
this process of intestinal digestion is completed. This product is
given the name of chyle.
During the time these processes have been going on, the process of
absorption has been taking place whereby this digested food has been
utilized in building up the tissue cells that are being constantly
worn out by the activities of the body. The digested products are
being taken up by the serous circulation and carried to every cell in
the body. That which one cell gives off as an elimination, another
may take up as food, finding just the chemical composition necessary
to its life and development. Finally all of the waste material
is collected and eliminated from the body through the organs of
elimination. Innate Intelligence has provided a wonderful sewerage
system for the purpose of taking care of the sewage of the body. This
system is much more perfect than any system ever invented by man, but
it is possible for it to get out of order. The remarkable thing about
it is that the Intelligence within the body is capable of correcting
the disorders if the interference with transmission to the affected
parts is removed. All that is necessary from the outside is to
remove that which is interfering with the transmission of the mental
impulses.
As long as there is interference with the transmission of mental
impulses we may apply all the laws and principles of hygiene and
sanitation, yet the internal condition will not be hygienic or
sanitary. We may, by an artificial means, remove the waste material
that has accumulated, but this will not stop the process of
accumulation.
In view of the fact that the above mentioned processes of absorption
and elimination are taking place, let us assume that there is a
subluxation at the kidney place (K.P.) impinging the nerves and
interfering with the transmission of mental impulses to the kidneys.
With decreased current the kidneys are unable to perform their normal
amount of function and as a result the waste material, poisons, or
in other words the sewage that is supposed to pass out through this
channel of excretion, are retained in the body. The poison thus
retained is spread over the entire body and there is likely to be
excessive perspiration which will have a strong odor of urine. This
is because the skin, in its excretory function, is called upon to
throw off the waste material which normally should be excreted by the
kidneys. Although there is no perspiration there will still be a very
offensive and objectionable urinary odor from the patient’s body.
From a hygienic standpoint it is necessary for that patient to bathe
very often, but no matter how often he bathes, there is still that
odor of urine and it is impossible for him to get rid of it. One may
thoroughly and frequently cleanse that patient externally, but there
will remain that unsanitary internal condition.
Trying to get rid of the odor of urine and to create a sanitary
internal condition in a case of this kind by external bathing and by
the observance of sanitary laws would be like trying to keep a boat
from sinking by dipping the water out when it was running in twice as
fast as one could dip it out. It would be better to stop the leak. If
the roof of one’s house leaks he does not try to keep the house dry
by mopping up the water and putting chlorid of lime about the rooms
to absorb the moisture. This may be done as an adaptative measure to
the condition that exists because of the defect in the roof, but to
correct the condition one must go directly to the roof and repair it
so that no more damage may be done the interior of the house.
So in the case of the K.P. subluxation and the unsanitary condition
resulting from the accumulation of waste material in the body, it
is folly to try to correct the condition by any other method than
by removing the cause. The sewage must be carried out through the
natural channels and any attempt to dispose of it by any other or
artificial means will meet with absolute failure.
Three Viewpoints on Hygiene
According to Dr. B. J. Palmer there are three viewpoints of hygiene;
that is to say, there are three aspects from which the subject of
cleanliness may be considered: namely, the medical, layman’s and
chiropractic hygiene. The chief differences are: the medical hygiene
tries to make the internal condition sanitary by the application of
external means; the layman’s hygiene makes the external condition
sanitary by the application of external means; the chiropractic
hygiene makes the internal condition sanitary by permitting the
internal forces to operate unhindered in the body.
We see that from every viewpoint, hygiene means cleanliness. The only
real difference in these viewpoints consists in the methods used to
obtain this desired end. The layman maintains a sanitary external
condition by observing the laws of Nature. When dirt accumulates on
the outside which creates an unhygienic and objectionable condition,
he uses soap and water to cleanse the outside. His unhygienic
condition is outside of the body and he uses outside means to
rid himself of that condition. It is very obvious that this is a
perfectly proper procedure and if correctly and systematically
applied it will produce a hygienic external in so far as that
condition is influenced by external environment.
The most baffling unsanitary and unhygienic conditions are the
internal, and yet if these conditions are considered in the light
of the same common sense as is applied to the external conditions,
no great amount of difficulty will be experienced in coping with
them. However, great difficulties will be experienced if an effort
is made to keep the internal in a proper sanitary condition by the
application of external means. This has been well demonstrated in
the application of medical hygiene. However, the author does not
want to be understood as implying that a great deal of good has not
been accomplished in the investigations that have been made along the
line of hygiene and more especially in sanitary science. But when
chiropractic philosophy is properly understood, it will be readily
seen that it is far better to clean the inside from the inside
than to attempt cleaning the inside from the outside. With all due
regard it must be said that up to the time of the introduction of
chiropractic hygiene all the efforts were to clean the inside from
the outside, but Chiropractic says the inside must be cleansed from
the inside and this contention has been amply proven in the results
obtained through chiropractic adjustments.
Advantages of a Proper Sanitary Environment
The body is capable of great possibilities in intellectual
adaptation. It is possible for Innate Intelligence to maintain a
degree of health in widely different conditions. Even where the
environment is extremely adverse and objectionable Innate will adapt
herself to the abnormal condition and maintain the normal processes
of life in the body. However, it must be remembered that a greater
amount of internal force is required to bring about an intellectual
adaptation to an adverse environment than to a normal, natural or
more perfect environment.
There must be a constant process of adaptation to the environment
even though that environment be a most desirable one. All internal
processes must of necessity be adaptative to external conditions.
Drummond says, “Life is uninterrupted correspondence with proper
environment.” This is true of the expression of life. If the
correspondence with the environment is interfered with there will be
a corresponding interference with the expression of the life in the
body.
The more adverse the environment the greater the amount of force
required to bring about this adaptation. Likewise, the reverse is
true—adaptation to a more desirable environment requires less
internal force. We should not compel Innate Intelligence to do things
that we could do educationally and save the body that extra amount of
internal force. To illustrate, one should not unnecessarily expose
his body to the cold and thus force Innate to expend internal energy
to adapt the body to that condition. One might better put on proper
clothing to protect the body. On the other hand, one should not go to
the other extreme and make a hothouse plant of his body.
A proper sanitary environment should at all times be maintained that
there may not be an unnecessary drain on the adaptative forces of the
body.
Cause of Dis-ease
Chiropractic does not accept the theory that dis-ease is caused
by extrinsic conditions. There may be a great variation in the
environment and yet Innate Intelligence be able to maintain health.
If there is sufficient interference with the transmission of mental
impulses through the nerves, there will be dis-ease in the body
regardless of the perfect environment that may be artificially
produced. If the transmission is normal the individual may take the
so-called dis-ease germs into his body and feel no ill effects for
they will be excreted as so much waste material which can not be
used in the metabolism of the body. But if there are subluxations
which interfere with the transmission of mental impulses and reduce
the process of excretion the tissues will become abnormal and proper
culture media will be formed in which there will be developed the
germs which act as scavengers for the purpose of destroying the waste
matter which accumulates. The cause of dis-ease is within the body
itself. The cause of dis-ease is interference with transmission of
mental impulses from the brain to the periphery, thus preventing the
organ from performing its full and normal function. This results
in a lack of coördinate action between the organs of the body and
interferes with the intellectual adaptation to external conditions.
The question may be raised at this time relative to the effects
produced by the introduction of poison into the body and relative to
germs being classed as poisons producing certain effects in the body.
We will not endeavor at this time to fully deal with these questions,
for in order that the student understand thoroughly the chiropractic
idea of these things, it will be necessary to study many points,
both in connection with the hygiene and also with the philosophy of
Chiropractic.
This point is thoroughly covered in the philosophy under the head of
the Poison Cycle. We will simply state briefly here that a poison
is anything which can not be used in the metabolism of the body and
which, if allowed to remain in the body, will be carried to the
tissue cells and do harm. In this event Innate will at once begin a
process of elimination. If the channels of excretion are not normal
and the organs are unable to do their work properly because of the
interference with the transmission of mental impulses, it can readily
be seen that the poison will be retained in the body and do harm.
The character of the injury will be governed by the character of the
poison retained.
Again, it is clearly explained in the philosophy how the introduction
of poison into the body may produce subluxations and thus cause an
interference with transmission and reduce the adaptative action on
the part of Innate to the poison introduced. The student is referred
to Volume V, Chiropractic Library, for further explanation on this
point.
Sources of Communication
Generally speaking, there are two main sources whereby dis-ease is
communicated: (a) man himself; (b) the animals. Almost all of the
so-called communicable dis-eases of man are peculiar to man alone and
are not found in animals except as they are communicated to them
for experimental purposes. It is interesting to note that the lower
animals are much more free from contagious dis-eases than man. As a
matter of fact, the lower animals are seldom found to be infected. It
is true that the domesticated animal is more susceptible to dis-ease
than the wild animal living in the natural state.
Following is a list commonly given as communicable dis-eases peculiar
to man and according to medical theory communicable from man to man.
Even among those who accept this theory there is quite a difference
of opinion as to the dis-eases that should be included in this list.
Smallpox, chickenpox, cholera, leprosy, dengue, relapsing fever,
measles, mumps, scarlet fever, infantile paralysis, typhus fever,
yellow fever, malaria, syphilis, tuberculosis and typhoid fever. It
is maintained by hygienists that the greatest source of infection is
man himself. No longer is it thought that the environment is the main
source of infection. It is believed by Rosenau and others that the
water, soil, air and food may be the media conveying dis-ease from
man to man; these, however, are not now considered as the main source
of infection. Rosenau says, “Most of the microörganisms causing
the communicable dis-eases of man are frail and soon die in our
environment, as in the air, soil or water. Most of them are obligate
pathogens and can not, or do not, grow and multiply under the adverse
conditions of our environment.” And yet these frail little creatures
are supposed to cause dis-ease in man. We wish the student to bear
this in mind for we will have more to say in this respect later on.
It is sufficient to state here that the above named dis-eases
maintained by some to be caused by germs are corrected by
chiropractic adjustments. Chiropractic has proven that instead
of dis-ease being caused by the germ the germ is produced by the
dis-ease.