The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-03-27
HEALTH STUDIES.
Questions and Answers.

COeS. Lie N1dlly peTSOUS
do not value apples sufficiently as an i'm
portant article of diet. Besides containing
a large amount of sugar, mucilage, and
other nutritive matter, this fruit contains
vegetable acids, aromatic qualities, etc.,
which act powerfully in the capacity of
refrigerants, tonics and antiseptics, and
when freely used at the season of mellow
iipeness prevents debility, Indigestion, and
which flesh is heir to- The operators of
nearly as nourshing as bread, and far
more so than potatoes. In 1910, which was
year of much scarcity, apples, instead of
the poor and the laborers asserted that
they could stand their work. on baked
apples without meat; whereas q potato
diet required either meat or some other sub
stantial nutriment. The French and Ger
mans use apples extensively, as do the
inhabitants of all European nations.
The laborers depend upon them as
an article of food, and frequently make
dinner of sliced apples and bread. There
is no fruit cooked in as many different ways
in our country, nor is their any fruit whose
value, as an article of nutriment, is so
great.
"An old gentleman recently stated to us
that every fall he used to have a severe
sickness, but since he bought, during the
season, a barrel of good apples, for himself
alone, and ate the whole barrel in two or
three months, he had every year saved
himself from this sickness, without want
ing DOCTOR"
BAKING APPLES.
.,, h. Ill,
Pile?
ANs..-F. G. says, and we believe him,
that to bake an apple perfectly can only be
done by giving it time, keeping it under
heat-steady at that-for from four to six
hours, depending upon the size and quality
of the fruit. 1t requires this length of time
to reduce it to fine pulp, and destroy all
rawness. The favor is changed and i'm
proved, making-if Spitzenburg or some
other fruit--one of the choicest and dainti-
est of dishes. The point in baking is to
give all the heat that can be borne without
bursting the skin, thus retaining the mois-
ture.
Should the earth closet be generally
used?
ANs.--It should be introduced every
where. The ordinary farm house priyies
are very dangerous. The Builder saws
at is now nearly four years since the dry
earth system of sewage-the invention of
Rev. Henry Moule, of rockingham, Eng
land-was introduced into this country,
under the auspices of the Earth Closet
company of Hartford.
" During the whole of this time the sys-
tenn has steadily won its way to the favor
of the people. All question as to its en-
tire efficacy has long ceased, and the only
remaining obstacles to its universal adoption
are the fancied one Of the difficulty fprovid-
ing earth, and the very serious one of the
indifference of common people to the dam
gers and annoyances of the common prvy,
which still stands as an emblem of our in
herent barbarism.
'tWe have said that the question of
earth supply is q fancied obstacle only,
and the experience of all who have used
the earth closet will fully sustain our opin
ion. The quantity of earth required for a
years supply is trifling, and even this may
be replaced, in whole or in part, by the
coal ashes which constitute an almost
universal annoyance in the household.
Compared with the mere labor of going to
q privy at distance from the house, the
labor of providing earth is nothing: and
the fact that the product of the closet con-
stitutes the best, the most powerful and
the most clearly of all manures, will,
wherever the value Of manure is at all appre-
ciated, more than compensate fsr the little
trouble that is required. The writer has
now used the Moule system for over three
years, and with four closets in constant
use-three in the house and one in an ada
cent street.-the has never the least occasion
for the preparation of earth. The ashes of
the house fires furnish, without cost, all
the material required for perfect dsinfec-
ton.
"The popular indifference to cleanliness
and decency is more serious obstacle to
the rapid adoption of the earth-closet among
the masses; but is powerful agent for over
coming this now active in the frequent out
break of typhoid and scarlet fevers, and
other diseases whose fatality is in almost
exact proportion to the neglect Of proper
sanitary measures. The most noted case
that has arisen is to be found in the re-
cent illness of the Prince of Wales, who
barely escaped death from typhoid fever
a disease which caused the death of
friend and his valet, who were poisoned at
the same time from the same source. The
common privy, sshich is the curse of our
country and village life, acts in a different
manner, but no less fatally, by reason of
its poisoning the water of wells. This
subject cannot be fairly discussed within
the limits of this article, but it is a well
authenticated fact. that nine-tenths of the
typhoid fever and a large proportion of
many other fatal diseases, are directly
caused or are greatly increased in violence,
by the criminal neglect to take proper care
that human eXcrement be not allowed to
endanger human life.
"The water closet, which although so
dangerous to health and so wasteful of
manure, has achieved an almost universal
popularity, from the decency, comfort and
convenience it secures, must give way to
the earth closet; which, with all its adj
vantages, has none of its objections.
''As to that relic of barbarism' which
disfgures our country homes with its sug-
gestive architecture, and whose sitting
summer stencil and chilling winter draughts
make us daily ashamed of our human
needs, it is doomed to disappear as fast as
the people shall reach point of refine
ment equal to that of the cats and dogs"
TREATMENT OF sCALDs AND BURNS
How shall we manage scald or a
burn?
ANs.-A simple burn, which does not
form blister, may be treated by a cold
wet bandage, or a scraped potato poutice.
Change often. After the pain abates, apply