Warm baths are soothing in their effects, and are appropriate at bed time, particularly for persons inclined to sleeplessness. Very hot baths, especially if prolonged, may be harmful, and should not be taken often.
There is no clear connection between general cleanliness and disease. Frequent bathing does not protect a person from any particular disease, except in so far as bathing necessarily includes washing the hands. If typhoid germs for example have actually been swallowed, a clean bodily exterior is of no avail in preventing typhoid fever or in diminishing its severity. The same is true of other diseases.
But it is impossible to emphasize unduly the
importance of clean hands. Hands are prime offenders in distributing fresh bodily secretions, and germs both innocent and harmful. All health authorities agree on this point.
"Perhaps 90% of all infections are taken into the body through the mouth. They reach the mouth in water, food, fingers, dust, and upon the innumerable objects that are sometimes placed in the mouth. The fact that the great majority of infections are taken by way of the mouth gives scientific direction to personal hygiene. Sanitary habits demand that the hands should be washed after defecation and again before eating, and fingers should be kept away from the mouth and nose, and that no unnecessary objects should be mouthed. All food and drink should be clean or thoroughly cooked. These simple precautions alone would prevent many a case of infection."—(Rosenau: Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, p. 366.)
As Dr. Chapin says:
"Probably the chief vehicle for the conveyance of nasal and oral secretion from one to another is the fingers. If one takes the trouble to watch for a short time his neighbors, or even himself, unless he has been particularly trained in such matters, he will be surprised to note the number of times that the fingers go to the mouth and the nose. Not only is the saliva made use of for a great variety of purposes, and numberless articles are for one reason or another placed in the mouth, but for no reason whatever, and all unconsciously, the fingers are with great frequency raised to the lips or the nose. Who can doubt that if the salivary glands secreted indigo the fingers would continually be stained a deep blue, and who can doubt that if the nasal and oral secretions contain the germs of disease these germs will be almost as constantly found upon the fingers? All successful commerce is reciprocal, and in this universal trade in human saliva the fingers not only bring foreign secretions to the mouth of their owner, but there exchanging them for his own, distribute the latter to everything that the hand touches. This happens not once, but scores and hundreds of times during the day's round of the individual. The cook spreads his saliva on the muffins and rolls, the waitress infects the glasses and spoons, the moistened fingers of the peddler arrange his fruit, the thumb of the milkman is in his measure, the reader moistens the pages of his book, the conductor his transfer tickets, the "lady" the fingers of her glove. Every one is busily engaged in this distribution of saliva, so that the end of each day finds this secretion freely distributed on the doors, window sills, furniture and playthings in the home, the straps of trolley cars, the rails and counter and desks of shops and public buildings, and indeed upon everything that the hands of man touch. What avails it if the pathogens do die quickly? A fresh supply is furnished each day."—(Chapin: The Sources and Modes of Infection, p. 188.)
Oral Hygiene.
—Cleanliness and proper care of the mouth and teeth can hardly be over emphasized. Their bearing upon health is direct. Long ago it was recognized that persons with decayed or missing teeth frequently suffered
from dyspepsia, a natural result of inability to masticate properly, but only within recent years has it been realized that decayed teeth give rise to many other diseased conditions. Bacteria are constantly present in the mouth. If the mucus of the mouth is not removed, it forms a sticky coat upon the surfaces of the teeth and gums. In this bacteria collect, and pus or matter may also be formed, which, if carried by the blood to other parts of the body, may cause digestive troubles, rheumatism, and diseases of heart and kidneys. (See Dr. T. B. Hartzell, Health News, Oct., 1915, "The Importance of Mouth Hygiene and How to Practise it.")