The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-12-25
THE sOAPLESS AGE.



Apparently very little was done in
the way Of municipal sanitation, ex-
cept that some cities were well sup
piled with Water. Soap was unknown
10 the classical age both in Greece
and Rome. Pliny mentions a COM
pound which he calls sapo made by
the Gauls and Germans, and the in
gradients that entered into il. He al
so informs us that IL was more used
! by the men among the latter than
! by the women. 1t appears, however,
to have been a pomade for the hair
| rather than a soap. Whether the
! term is Celtic or Teutonic we do not
positively know; probably the latter.
! That the word was later borrowed
! by the Greeks from the Romans ap-
| pears certain from the name sapon
| still in common use among them. The
| name eventually was adopted by most
| Of the people of Europe, the Turks
| calling this article so much In de-
mand in our day sabun and the Firms
saippio. In its stead the ancient
| Greeks used flesh scrappers These
were so highly esteemed that they
were sometimes made of gold and
given as prizes in athletic contests.
Herein we see how mems ideas of
the fitness of things change with the
/, people and the age. Nowadays one
would hardly commend himself to a
friend or an acquaintance by the gift
Of a cake OF soap or comb.
mi l. IA AH
Athens. The mortality does not seem
to have been much greater than IL is
in our own day. Five hundred years
Il. G. the average of human life was
reckoned at about thirty-three years.
We are often astonished at the enor-
nous population assigned to some
countries. There are few large cities
in the 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
went out Of doors; the men spent
most OF their time in the open air
What effect occasional overcrowding
produced may be seen from the de.
scription OF the terrible plague in
Athens near the end Of the fifth cen.
tury, b. c., as given by Thucydides.
when the surrounding population was
driven into the capital by the exi.
gencies of war. AS the countries OF
which we know most were grouped
around the Mediterranean Sea, where
the climate is mild. outdoor life oc.
ing of habit. In some parts OF Italy
whole families still live in caves. IE
Spanish cities the tourist who is out
late at nights is surprised to find the
streets Uttered with persons lying
asleep; to the natives it is the most
natural thing in the world. The pop.
ulation of China is evidence that filth
is not incompatible with an exception.
ally large number of inhabitants tG
the square mile, notwithstanding the
prevalence of infanticide. The writ.
ers who have made the most careful
study of the economic condition OF
France have reached the conclusion
that the population Of the country at
the close of the Middle Ages was as
great as it is now. 1t was, however
fearfully cut down by the Hundred
Years War and the plague. Yet dur
ing all this period there was no ia.
tional practice of medicine. Until
quite recently most of the villages OF
continental Europe were without
resident physician. Such Is still the
case in many parts of the worlL that
are reckcned civilized.
While nobody doubts that medical
practice fills an important want in
modern civilization, there is no ques
ton that 1t is largely due to civiliza'
tion that the want exists. New York
Medical Journal.