The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-10-25


fortunes Of civilized life The same cause
which makes potato-vines white and sickly
when grown in dark cellars, operates to pro-
duce pale, sickly girls that ara reared in
our parlors. Expose either to the direct
rays of the sun, and they begin to show
color, health AMI strength When in Lon
don, some years ago, visited an establish
ment which had acquired wide reputation
for the cure Of those maladies in which pros
tration and nervous arrangements were
prominent features. I found, in the use
made Of sunshine, the secret of success. The
slate roof had been removed, and . glass one
substituted. The upper story had been d.
vided into sixteen small rooms, each one
provided with lounge, washing apparatus,
etc. The patient, on entering each his little
apartment, removed all his clothing, and ex-
posed himself to the direct rays of the sun.
Lying on the lounge, and turning, from time
to time, each and every part Of the body was
exposed to the life giving rays of the sum-
Several London physicians candidly con-
fessed'to me that many cases which seemed
waiting only for the shroud were galvanized
into life and health by this baptism in the
blessed sunshine.
NMany years ago, clergyman, who had
for years been victim of dyspepsia, who had
prayed for death as the only means ofescape
came, at length, through the advice of q
mutual friend, to consul: with me- advis.
cd the disuse of all me- iicines. the generous
use Of cracked wheat and good beef and
much exposure to sunshine. To secure the
last-named influence, directed him to build
. close fence, covering aspace twenty feet
square, in his garden, and plant the earth
within with something to occupy his mind.
Then, when the weather was warm, shut
ting himself in, he was to busy himself,
quite nude, with the cultivation Of his vege.
tables, from ten to sixty minutes day, al
ways indqlging in thorough bath and vig-
orous friction before leaving. He was radi-
cally cured. I was practicing my profes-
sion in Buffalo, N. Y, during 40 and 81
those memorable cholera seasons. saw at
least five cases Of cholera on the shady side
Of the street and houses, to one on the sun
ny side. One eminent physician in New
Orleans reports from his own practice eight
cases Of yellow fever on the shady side Of
the street, to one on the sunny side.
; Who has not read Florence Nightingale's
observations in the Crimea in respect to the
shady and sunny side of the hospitals In
st. Petersburg the shady side of the hospi-
tails was so notoriously unfavorable to the
sick soldier that the czar decreed It into dis
use. The shade-trees about our dwellings
have done much to make our wives and
daughters pale, siokly and neuralgia. Trees
ought never to stand near enough TO our
dwellings to cast q shade upon them: and il
the blinds were removed, and nothing but
thin curtain within with which to lesson on
the hottest days the intensity of the heat, it
would greatly add to the tone Of our nerves
and general vigor. The piazzss which pro-
ject over the lower stories always make that
less healthy tina the upper story, especial
" for sleeping purposes. am sure have
cured great many cases Of rheumatism by
advising patients to leave bed. rooms shaded
by trees or piaxzas, and sleep in room and
bed which were constantly dried and puria-
ed by the direct rays of the sun.--Dio
Lescis