Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-11-23
THE SOhPLESS AGE.
Health Without Sanitation or Rational
Medicine.

Apparently very little was don" in
the Way OF municipal sanitation. except
that some cities We're well supplied
with water Soap was unknown to
thu classical age both in Greece and
Rome Plny mentions a compound
which he calls sapo made by The GaulS
and Germans and the ingredients that
entered into it. He also informs US
that it was more used by the men
among the latter than by the women.
1t apnGarS, however, to have been q
Ionadc for the hair rather than a
soap Whether the term is Celtic or
Tcutonic We do not positively know,
probably the latter. That the word
was later borrowed by the Greeks from
the Romans appears certain from the
name sapon still in common use among
tnern The namc eventually was
atiu1te by most Of the people of
Europe. the Turks calling this article
50 much in demand in our day sabrn
aud the Firms saippio. In its stead
the ancient Greeks used flesh SCRAP
eIS These We're 50 highly esteemed
that they We're sometimes made of gold
ana given as prizes i'll athletic con-
tests Herein we soc how mems ideas
of ,Ir2 fitness of things change with the
pc pl!a and the age Nowadays ono
would hardly commend himself to a
fri,ud or an acquaintance by the gift
ot 2 cake Of SOAP or comb,
This can. however. not be said Of
Athens. The mortality does not seem
t. have been much greater than it is in
our own day Five hundred years l..
10. tho average human life was
rccknned al about thirty-three years.
We arc often astonshed ut the enor-
NOUS population assigned t" some
countries There We're few largo
cities in tho modern sense of the term:
as the houses were seldom more than
two stories in height the population
cannot have been very dense. In
Athens the reputable women seldom
wont ;.ut of doors: the men spent most
Of their tim" in the open air. what
effect occasional ovcrcroWding pro-
duccd may be seen from the deScrlp-
ton Of the torrihl" plague in Athens
lear the end of the fifth century Il. G.,
as given by Thucydides. Whom tho
surrounding population WAS driven into
the capital by tie eXiscncios Of war,
As the countries of which we know
most were grouped around the MeH-
.crrlnean sea. where the climate is
nlld. outdoor life occasioncd NJ dis
comfort to say nothin" Of habit In
some parts Of Italy whole families
still live in caves In Spanish cities
the tourist who is out late night
is surprise to find the streets Uttered
With persons lying asleep: to the ma
tiVcs it is the most natural thing fr
the wGrld. The population of China is
evidence that filth is not Incompatible
with an exceptionally large number Of
inhabitants to the square mile, not
W,thstan,iing the prevalence of in
fanticidc The writers who have
MADE the r:cst careful study of the
economic condition of France have
reached tho conclusion that the nonu-
lation of the country at the close of the
middle age was as great as it is nov.
1t vas. however. fearfuly cut down by
the hundred years war and the plague
Yet during al this period there was
no rational practice of medicine. Until
quit" recently most of the villages Of
continental F,urooe were without q
resident physician Such is still the
case in manv parts of the world that
are reckoncd civilized.
Witt nobody doubts that medical
practice fills an important want in
modern civilization. there is no uues-
ton that il is largely due to civiliza-
ton that the want cxists-New York
Medical Journal.