Cheraw gazette. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1835-1838, 1836-03-22

| COLI CillldtcS de iio" 'o "Cit u'iu' ee'oo
that in the army and navy its use is co.
fgently, and with great propriety, insisted
on. Captain Murray, late ofH. NJ. S. Va.
1orous, told me that he was so strongly I'M
pressed from former experience with sense
ofthe efficacy of the protection afforded by
the constant use, of flannel next the skin,
that when, on bis arrival in England in De-
| cember, 1923, after two years service amid
the .icerbergs, on the coast ofLabrador, the
ship WAS orderedto sail immediately. for the
West Indies, lie ordered the purscr to
draw two extra flannel shirts and pairs of
drawers for each man, and instituted a reg
ular daily inspection to sec that they were
Worn. These precautions were followed by
the happiest results. He proceeded to his
station with crew of150 men visited al
most every island in the West Indies, and
many ofthc ports of Mexico; and notwith.
standing the sudden transition from extreme
climates, returned to England without the
loss Of single man, or having any sick on
board on his arrival. I'm tho letter in which
Captsin Murray communicates these facts,
he adds, that every precaution was used,
bylighting stoves between Cecks and scrub
bing with hot sand to ensure the most tho
rough dryncss, and every means put in prac-
tice 10 promote. cheertulness among the
men, When in command Of the Recruit
gun-brg, which lay about nine weeks at
Vera Cruz, the same means preserved the
health ofhis crew, when the other ships Of
war anchored around him lost from twenty
10 fifty men each.
That the superior health enjoyed by the
crew ofthc Nalorous was attributable chief
" to the means employed by their humane
and intelligent commander is shown by
the analogy of the Recruit; for although
constant communication was kept up be-
tween the latter and other ships in which
sickacss prevailed, and all were exposed to
the same eStc.nal causes Of disease, yet no
case Of sickness occurred on board the Re.
cruit. Facts like t:.cse are trul instructive
bv proving how far nan possesses. the
power Of protecting himself from injury
when he has received necessary instruction
and chooses TO adopt his conduct to his
situation.
The cxhalaton from the skin being SO
constant and extensive, its bad effects, when
confined, suggest another rule Of conduct,
viz, that oftrequcntly, changing and airing
the clothes, so as TO free them from every
impurity. 1t is an excellent plan, for in-
stance, to wear sets Of flannels each beng
worn and aired by turns on alternate days.
The, effect is at first scarcely pcrcrphble,
but, in tic course Of time lis ad dvs'.t'e5eo
and comfort become very manifest, as
the writer has amply experienced. For the
same reason, a practice common IN i'aiy
merits universal adoption. Instead OF beds
being made up in tho morning the moment
tbev are vacated, and while still saturated
with the nocturnal eyhalatlons which, before
morning become sensible even to smell in a
bedroom, the bcd-clothes are thrown over
the backs of chairs, the mattresses shaken
up. and the window thrown open for the
greater part of the day, so as to secure a
thorough aid cleansing ventilation. 1ms
practice, so consonant to reason, lmparts a
freshness which is peculiarly grateful and
conducive to sleep, and its real value may
be inferred from the well known fact, that
the opposite practice, carried to an extreme
as in the dwellings, of the poor, where three
or 1o,Yt beds are often huddled up with all
their impurities in small room' IS a1ruit'
ful source of fever and bad health, even
where ventilation during the day and nourlsh'
ment arc not deficient.