The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1875-06-23
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Medical College, delivered very Instructive
lecture on Saturday evening, in the large hall
of the Cooper Institute, in the Cooper Union
free course of lectures, upon s The Skin and
the Use of the Bath The hall was we'll
filed and the lecture was listened to with
much interest. DR.. Crosby commenced by
giving series Of stereoptican illustrations Of
the structure Of the skin, explaining the i'm
portant functions 1t performed In the general
economy of the human system. The lecturer
said that he thought 1t was Charles Lamb
who once said npon meeting Il man with very
dirty hands, My friend, If dirt were trumps
what hands you would hold y However
that might be, he regretted to be Obliged to
open his lecture by remarking that man was
dirty animal. He said the amount Of fluid
formed by the sweat glands underneath the
skin was ordinary abous two pounds, or two
pints in the day upon the whole body when
the person is comparatively at rest. If exer-
else was taken to any great extent much
more of this secretion or perspirstion would
be thrown off. When the skin is viewed with
a magnifying glass of moderate power it Is
seen that minute particles of moisture ooze
from the pores which speedily evaporate. 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 process going on by which
oxygen was being taken out of the blood by
the arteral blood, and that carbonio acid was
being taken away by the veins. The normal
temperature of the blood was about ninety
eight degrees, and were it not for the process
of perspiration, which cools the system, we
would get a temperature that would be incon-
sistent with life. The temperature of the
body could not be carried ten degrees above
or below this normal temperature without
life ceasing. 1t would, then, be seen that the
limits Of temperature within which life can be
sustained lay within a very narrow range, and
hence the Importance Of perspiration by which
the temperature of tho body was regulated. =
among the incidents, aud said the first act of
hospitality shown to visitor was to prepare
a bath, as mentioned in the case of Ulysses
and Telemachus whenever they we're hos
pitably received in their travels. In Greece
the bath wasboth public and private iustitu-
ton. In Athens the practice of bathing was
joined with that of the gymnasium, and Plato
recognized the necessity Of bathing so much
that he made the bath one of the institutions
of the State. When the explorations were
made in Pompeii in 1924 the ruins of baths
were found similar TO those that existed in
Rome, covering 10000 square feet. The Ro-
mans were in the habit of bathing seven or
Turks had cultivated the use of the bath more
than any other nation. Mohammed ordained
that there should be prayer five times day
with ablutions, and he was morally certain
that we prayed no more and bathed much
less. In India the bath had always been as
ISOLATED with shampooing. Referring to the
Turkish bath, he said it might be supposed
that person getting into such perspiration,
and exposed to such extremes of temperature,
would be in danger of taking cold. But, he
said, there was nothing whatever to be feared
upon this account. He referred to the prac-
tice of the Russian noblemcn in filling certain
rooms in their houses with steam, heated to
temperature OIL from liz ueg 10 iSu ueP. ana
then passing into cold bath and also of their
serfs, who, for want Of similar accommoda-
tion, after taking the steam bath jumped
through the window aud plunged themselves
in the snow. These baths were beneficial to
all persons in moderate health and were dan
gerous only to persons suffering from heart
disease. The cold bath was one in which the
temperature ranged from SO deg. to 60 deg,
and the warm bath from 81 deg: TO 1i2 deg.
There were two classes of bathers, the ducks
and the chickens, or those who were contin-
ually bathing themselves and those who sell
dom battle at all. To much bathing was in
furious to health, but the judicious use of bath
was highly beneficial. He concluded by ex-
pressing a hope that the day was not far
distant when the authorities Of this and other
large cities in the Union would afford in
creased bathing facilities to the masses of the
people, and thus vastly improve the public
health.