Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1872-03-02
SUNSHINE

Seclusion from sunshine is one of
the misfortunes of our civilized life.
The same cause which makes pOta-
to vines white and silky, when
grown in dark cellars, operate to
produce the pale sickly girls that
are reared in our parlors. Expose
either to the direct rays of the sun,
and they begin to show color health
and strength.
When in London some years ago,
/ visited an establishment which
! had acquired q wide reputation for
| the cure Of those maladies, Of which
| prostration and nervous derange-
ment were prominent features. 1
/ found in the use made of the sun
shine the secret of success. This
| slate roof had been removed and
| glass one substituted. The upper
| story had been divided into sixteen
small rooms, each one provided
with lounge, washing apparatus,
etc The patient on entering his lit
| tie apartment, removed all his cloth
| ing, exposed himself to the direct
rays of the sun, lying on the lounge,
and turning over from time to time,
each and every part of the body was
! thus exposed to the life giving rays
! of the sun Several London physi-
clans candidly confessed 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.
Many years ago a clergyman who
| for years had been, q victim Of dys-
| pepsia, and who had prayed for
death as the only door of escape,
came at length, through the advice
of mutual friend, to consult with
me- i advised the dianss of all me-
I dicines, the generouse use OF crack
ed wheat and good beef, and much
/ exposure to the sunshine. To Sc
cure the last mentioned inhusne,
| directed him to build a close fence,
covering a space of twenty feet
square, in his garden, and plant the
| earth within with something to oc-
cupy his mind. Then when the
weather was warm, shutting him
self in, he was to busy himself,
! quite nude, with the cultivation OF
his vegetables from ten to sixty
minutes q day, always indulging IN
a thorough bath and vigOrougs fric-
ton before leaving He was radi-
cally curedi
was practising my profession in
Buffalo, New York, during 1910 and
1881, those memorable cholera sea-
sons. saw at least five cases of
cholera on the shady side of the
street and house to one on the sun
ny side. One eminent physician in
New Orleans reports from his own
| practice eight cases of the yellow
fever on the shady side of the street
to one on the sunny side.
Who has not read Florence Nigh
tingale's observations in the Crimea
as between the shady and sunny
side of the hospitals? In st. Peters
burg, the shady side of the hospital
was so notoriously unfavorable to
the sick soldiers that the Gar de-
cided it into disuse.
The shade-trees about our dwell
ings have done much to make our
wives and daughters pale, feeble and
neuralgia. Trees ought never to
stand near enough to our dwellings
to cast q shade over them, and il
blinds were removed, and nothing
bu. curtain within, with which to
lessen on the hottest days the inten-
sity of the heat, it would add great
ly to the tone of our nerves and to
our general vigor. The piazzas
which project over the lower story
always make less healthy than the
upper story, especially for sleeping
purposes. / am sure i have cured a
great many cases of rheumatism by
advising patients to leave bedrooms,
shaded by trees and piazzas, and
sleep in a room and bed which was
constantly dried and purified by the
direct rays of the sun.-Dio LeI0iS.