The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-02-04
Bathingsand Health.l

DR.. A. B. Crosby, of the Belleview
medical college, New York, delivered q
lecture On Saturday evening in the
Cooper institute upon ss The Skin and
the Use of the Bath" DR.. Crosby
commenced by giving q series Of steYe-
optican illustrations of the structure Of
the skin, explaining the important funo-
tions it performed IN the general econ
omy of the human system. The leo
turer said he thought it was Charles
Lamb who once said upon meeting 8
man with very dirty hands, =" My friend,
if dirt were trumps what hands you
would hold I" However that might be,
he regretted to be Obliged TO open his
lecture by remarking that man was a
dirty animal. He said the amount Of
fuid formed by the sweat glands under
meath the skin was ordinarily about two
pounds, or two pints in the day upon
the whole body when the person Is COM
paratively at rest. IF exercise was
taken to any great extent much more
Of this secretion of perspiration would
be thrown OF. When the skin Is
viewed with magnifyipg glass OF mod
crate power It is seen that minute parti-
eleS of moisture ooze from the pores
which speedily evsporate. The object
Of perspiration was to regulate the
temperature of the body. It was found,
IN connection with the circulation of
the blood, that there was q process
going on by which oxygen was being
taken out Of the blood by the aFterial
blood, and that carbonic acid was being
taken away by the veins. The heat of
the body was constantly being formed.
The normal temperature of the blood
was about ninety-eight degrees, and
e.. II
ton, which cools the system, we would
get temperature that would be incon-
sistent with life. The temperature of
the body could not be carried ten de-
grees above or below its normal tenn
perature without life ceasing. It would,
then, be seen that the limits of temper
ature within which life can be sustained
lay within very little range, and hence
the Importance of perspiration by
which the tempera ure of the body
was regulated. He then referred
to the practice of bathing among
the ancients, and said the first
act of hospitality shown to q visitor
was to prepare q bath, as mentioned in
the case of Ulysses and Telemachus
whenever they were Hospitality received
in their travels. In Greece the bath
was both public and private institu-
tion. In Athens the practice of bath
ing was Joint with that of the gymna-
siHm, and Plato recognized the neces-
sity of bathing so much that he made
the bath one of the institutions of the
state. When the explorations were
made in Pompeii in 1921, the ruins of
baths were found similar to those that
existed in Rome, covering 10, 600 square
feet. The Romans were in the habit of
hnk1rTv.rr aSrrl,k Afrt,Gg "a
In modern times the Turks had culti-
waited the use of the bath more than any
other nation. Mohammed ordained
that there should be prayer five times q
day with abluGons, and he was morally
certain that We prayed no more and
bathed much less. In India the bath
had alway been associated with sham
pooing. Referring to the Turkish bath,
he said it might be supposed that a per-
son getting into such extremes of tenn
perature, would be in danger of taking
cold. But, he said, there was nothing
whatever to be feared upon this account.
He referred to the practice of the Rus
sian noblemen in filling certain rooms
in their houses with steam, heated TO a
| temperature of from 112 to 100 deg.
| and then passing into cold bath and
also of their serfs, who, for want of
similar 8ccOmMO1HtlOuf AFTER taxing bile
steam bath, jumped through the win
| dow and plunged themselves in the
snow. These baths were beneficial to
all persons in moderate health and were
/ dangerous only to persons suffering
| from heart disease. The cold bath was
one in which the temperature ranged
from 80 deg. to 60 deg, and the warm
bath from 80 deg. to 112 deg. There
were two classes of bathers, the ducks and
the chickens, or those who were contin-
ually bathing themselves and those who
seldom bathed at all. Too much bath
ing was injurious to health, but the
iudicious use of tho bath was highly
hanaficiaI