Year: 1879

DIR. B. w. Richardson, the English
writer and lecturer on sanitary topics,
has been giving the people of Croydon,
England, a few golden rules for Sc
curing health at home" In the first
place, whether the home is large or
small, he would say, "Give it light
There was no house SO likely to be un-
healthy as dark and gloomy one. In
every point of view light stood forward
as the agent of health. A few hundred
wears AGO it became a fashion, Tor
reasons it was very hard to divine, to
place sick people in dark and closely
curtained bedrooms. The practice, to
some extent, was continued to this day.
When person went to bed with sick
ness it was often the first thing to pull
down the blinds of the windows, to set
I'D dark blinds, or, if there were Vene-
tian blinds, to close them. On body and
soul alike that practice was simply per
nicious 1t might be well, if light was
painful to the eyes of the sufferer, to
Shield the eyes from the light, or even
shut the light off from them altogether;
but to shut it out of all the room, to cut
off wholesale its precious influence, to
make the Sick-rOOm a dark cell in which
all kinds of impurities might be con-
| cealed day after day, was an offense to
nature which she ever rebuked IN the
sternest manner In sickness and in
| health-in infancy, youth, middle age,
| old aUe-in all seasons, for the benefit


of the mind and the welfare of the body,
sunlight was bearer and sustainer of


health.


DR.. Richardson next adverted to the
| subject of sleep, and observed that arti-
fetal lights were very injurious. The


fewer hours after dark that are spent IN


artificial light the better, and the sooner
they went to rest after dark the better.


They required in the cold season Of


winter. when the nights were long,


much more of sleep than they did in


summer. On the longest day in the year


seven hours of sleep was sufficient for


most men and women who were IN the


prime OF life; on the shortest day nine


hours was not overmuch, and for per-


sons who are weakly 10 or even y hours


might be taken with real advantage. In


winter children should always have 10


to II hours of sleep. 1t was not idleness


to indulge to that extent, but an actual


saving, a storing up of invigorated ex-


istence for the future. Such rest could


be obtained only by going to bed very


earlv-say at half-past s O'Clock or y.


1t was wrong at the present season that


they should be at that meeting robblng


themselves of sleep It was as wrong as


ever it could be that our Legislature


should often be sitting up as they did,


night after night, trying against life to
l.legislafe for life. 1t was foolish, too,


that public writer's and editors should be


called on to exercise their craft at time
when all their nature was calling out To


them - Rest He might be accused of
folly in saying these things, but he was
| I arH enpq lyTnu umnpT
her direction.


Turning next TO the question of beds
and bedrooms, the President insisted
? on the necessity of a separate bed for
l esch person, and said the bed should be
t neither very soft nor very hard, while
7 the furniture of the room should be as
simple as possible. A great experiment
l had been tried on this question with
D most striking results At the industrial
+, Schools at Anerley every scholar had
= his or her own bed, and the wise au-
thorities there-who had improved the
l health of the children under their charge
/. until the mortality was reduced TO three
L in one thousand annually-told him thai
+, few things had contributed so much tc
t the grand results they had achieyed a'
!, the one practice of having a separate
5 bed for every child. A daily bath with
] cold water in the summer and tepld wa
1 ter IN winter was necessary to the health
+ of every person. Every effort should be
J. made TO maintain an equal temperature
: in the house. temperature OF sixty de


grees Fahrenheit being the best-anC
y there should be a system of complet'
d household cleansing once a year. Id
r would leave his colleagues to descant OF
d ventilation, good food, good air and 9th
:. er accessories to health, and though bl


] mn
: 10 lead them direct to Salutland and 1t


hundred years of happy life, they woulC
e take those persons who would go witt
e them a long way toward even tina
n promised commonwealth Of health ant
:, / lnnU life