Then, aside from cooling and nourishing the skin and the system through
the pores, cleanliness and health demand oft and repeated ablutions of the
whole body. In order that the perspiration may be unobstructed, it is
absolutely necessary to wash the whole surface of the body in water, and
on account of the _acid_ and oily substance collecting on the skin, using
a small quantity of alkali, as soap or soda in the water, and thus, by
good brisk rubbing, using the hand in preference to a cloth or sponge,
thoroughly cleansing the little mouths referred to, else their action is
retarded and suspended. This should be done daily during the summer
season.
This is a simple process, indispensable to health, and the unwashed can
hardly believe what beneficial results follow such a plain course, or know
the healthful influence or the comfort derived from a frequent use of pure
water.
Those who bathe thus daily seldom take colds. During the winter, in cold
climates, weekly or semi-weekly bathing may suffice.
[Illustration: "IT COSTS NOTHING."]
A statesman, in seeking an illustration of the difference between price
and value, very happily hit upon water, which costs nothing, and yet is of
inestimable worth. Water, next to air, is the most indispensable of all
the productions of nature. "Unlike most good things providentially
supplied for our use, it is hardly capable of abuse. The more common
danger to be feared is from too little, not too much, water.
"Simple a thing, however, as it may be to quench the thirst from the
running stream, or the mountain spring, there are but few people who know
how to drink. Most people, in the eagerness of thirst, swallow with such
avidity the welcome draught, that they deluge their stomachs without
proportionately refreshing themselves. The slowly sipping of a single
goblet of water will do more to alleviate thirst than the sudden gulping
down of a gallon. It is more frequently the dryness of the mouth, during
hot weather, than the want of the system, which calls for the supply of
fluid. When larger quantities, moreover, are poured into the stomach than
are required, that organ becomes oppressed mechanically by the distention,
and the digestion is consequently weakened."
The prescribed ablutions of the Jews and Mohammedans have not only a
spiritual but a hygienic value. "The washing of the body not only whitens
the outside of the sepulchre, but purifies the internal organs, and renews
the spiritual man as well.... Hence, when the body becomes foul by the
retention of worn-out and corrupt material accumulated on the surface and
the interior of the structure, it becomes a cage suitable only for the
dwelling of unclean birds, and no others will descend and make their nests
therein. It is a vessel fitted to receive only the lower passions and
feelings of human nature.
"Public bathing-houses are as important a means of grace as our poorly
ventilated churches, and many an unhappy soul would be brought nearer to
heaven by a judicious application of soap and water than he could be by
listening to a sermon about that of which he comprehends little and cares
less."--_Rev. W. F. Evans's "Mental Cure."_