Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1851-12-05

From the Chicago Literary Review.
DRESS VENTILATION AND HEALTH.

There Is nothing which parents and teachers
more ardently desire, both for themselves and
their children, than good health. And yet few
! very few, take any care to study those circum.
stances and laws on which depend, directly or
indirectly, not only their bodily health, but also
their mental activity and Improvement The
| commencement of the cold season reminds us
of some of those errors that are fruitful sources
of i'll health and unhappiness, especially TO chill
dren. And hence, our readers will excuse Us
| if we now and then hold very familiar talk with
them about commonplace matters. Ii is, in
deed, much to be regretted, that education is
confined so exclusively to what are technically
termed sciences, with so little regard TO cor
! rect and familiar understanding of those circum-
! stances, conditions, and influences which mme-
! dately surround us, including the habits and
customs of our daily life. Low many thousands
have carefully studied the sublime mechanism
! of the heavens, without so much rs inouiring in
to the function of their own skin, and the effect
! that the varying seasons and the still more va
! rying modes of dress, have on it! How many
! have made themselves familiar with tho Ian
guage of Homer, Virgil. and Cicero. without
ever inquiring why they breathe, or what chan
ges the air breathed undergoes, and what intlu-
ence it exerts in the maintenance of life and
health?
Reader. let us stop and think little about
ourselves. The skin which covers the surface
of the human body is 80 constructed that il 10
constantly giving off a fluid containing several
saline substances that have become useless and
| hurttu in the system. When the akin is kept
at an ordinarily comfortable temperature, the flu
I'd passes off in the form of insenshle vapor and
is wholly unnoticed; but if the temperature IL
high or the individual be subject to violent ex-
ercise, the quantity OF fluid is increased faster
than it eyaporates and becomes visible on the
skin in the form of drops of sweat Now, the
quantity of waste matter that is thrown out of
the human system through the skin, when kept
at comfortable temperature and in healthy
condition, amounts TO between one and two pints
every twenty-four hours.
During the same time, and under the same
circumstances, the kidneys throw off nearly
twice as much more. And it is through these
two outlets, aided, as we shall soon see by the
lungs, that far the larger part of the waste and
useless matter which is constantly forming in
the system is thrown out, and the blood kept pure
and healthy. So important is the secretion from
the skin III maintaininga healthy condition of the
! blood and nervous system, that if you cover tho
entire surface of an animal with any adhesive
substance which is entirely mpervons 10 water
| thereby completely preventing the fluid matter
from passing off, it will speedily do
These facts show that the preservation Of n
healthy and natural condition of the skin is an
essential requisite in the maintenance of general
good health. If the S in is kept too warm, the
evaporation from the surface becomes excessive,
producing sense of laaguor and weakness, and
such degree of sensniyeness, that the indivt-
nal suffers from every exposure, however slight.
Such is the case with many who sleep on fenth.
bod, IN,
the winter. Children, especially, who are kept
much within doors during the day, and made to
sleep on feathers during the night, suffer so
I much from this cause that they become slender,
and so sensitive that they almost sure 70 takc
cold whenever they undergo the slightest expos
ure. Many parents commit this error and mourn
over the delicate physical constitution of their
children, without even suspecting tho cause
On the other hand, if the skin is kept too cold
the amount OF evaporation is so small that much
Of the useless matter, which ought to be thrown
out, is retained in the blood whereby its gradual
accumulation it imperceptibly laws the founda-
OF numerous protracted and serious diSorders.--
The extremely poor often suffer from this cause
But the children and youth Of the wealthy, or
such as have competence, more frequently
suffer from both the foregoing causes acting al.
ternaely Nothing is more common than for
W OG htpl III NuTH close TOOIll3 DOtD AZ
home and in school, with a feather bed and album
dant covering at night. BY these means the
secretion from the skin is rendered very abund-
ant, and the skin itself unduly sensitive. And
yet, whenever they go out iGto the open and cool
air, they are often clothed as to expose largo
portion of their skin TO degrec Of cold sufcieI
to suddenly diminish, or even entirely arrest its
natural action.
Such is the effect on all those, whether old or
young, who 90 ont during the cold season with
thin shoes and cotton stoC kings, linen shirts, and
dresses that leave much Of the neck, uppe, part
OF the chest, and arms bare or only thinly cover
ed. Let parents, and especially mothers think
of these things and let them be careful to -
adjust the clothing and habits Of their children
that uniform and nealthy action Of the skin is
preserved at all times. Avoiding, on the one
hand, close and heated rooms and beds too warm
and SOFT which inevitably induce languor, deb-
ity and great sensitivcness; and on the other,
too great or too sudden cold, which is so apt to
result from following foolish habits Of dress,
merely because they are fashionable II should
be constantly BONE in mind that consumption,
scroiuIa, and almost all slow nervous diseases,
arise from slight causes acting through long Pc
RODS, and slowly disturbing those functions that
are essential to the maintenance Of health and
vigor.