We have not space to describe in detail these savage little brutes, with their eight legs, armed with sharp claws, bristling heads, sharp lancets for puncturing and burrowing into the skin, and their powerful suckers for drawing the blood of their victims. We only care to impress upon the mind of the reader the fact that neglect of bathing and friction of the skin is sure to encourage the presence of millions of these parasites, and that the only remedy is scrupulous cleanliness of the whole person. Like their relatives, the itch-mite, they do not thrive under hydropathic treatment, and are very averse to soap and water. The best way to get rid of them is to drown them out. They do not produce the irritation which characterizes the presence of the itch insect, so that this evidence of their presence is wanting. But they are sure to be present in a torpid, unhealthy, unwashed skin, no matter how delicate or fastidious its possessor.
Prevention of Disease.—Neglecting to keep the skin active and vigorous by frequent ablutions is one of the most prolific causes of nearly all varieties of skin diseases, which are too often aggravated by gross dietetic habits. The relation between the cutaneous function and that of the kidneys is so intimate that neglect of the kind mentioned, resulting as it must in obstruction of function, is a very common cause of most dangerous disorders of the renal organs. Inactivity of the skin is also very commonly associated with dyspepsia, with rheumatism, gout, hysteria, and other nervous derangements. It is also a not uncommon cause of bronchial and pulmonary affections. It is quite evident, then, that the proper and most efficient means of preventing these diseases is to maintain the functional vigor of the skin by the proper application of water.
The value of water as a prophylactic, or preventive, of disease, was recognized by the ancients, and the bath was employed by them to an extent which has never been equaled in modern times. The great Hebrew lawgiver, Moses, enjoined upon his followers the most scrupulous cleanliness, making bathing a part of their religious duties. His example was followed by the ingenious founder of Mohammedanism, who required his disciples to bathe before each of their five daily prayers. Among the Greeks, and especially the temperate Spartans, the bath was regarded as one of the most essential means of securing physical health. Daily ablutions were practiced by them, every person participating in the bath, from the newborn babe to the oldest inhabitant. The Romans cultivated bathing to a remarkable extent, making it a luxury rather than the dreaded penance which many moderns seem to regard it.
Modern Neglect of the Bath.—The most celebrated physicians, from Hippocrates down to Galen, Celsus, Boerhaave, and a host of more modern physicians, have agreed in eulogizing the bath as an invaluable means for preserving the health. Notwithstanding this fact, it seems that as civilization and enlightenment have advanced, the importance of the bath has been increasingly disregarded. The magnificent public baths of the Romans were neglected as that empire declined, until they were finally destroyed. Michelet, a historian of some note, tells us that for a thousand years during the Dark Ages the bath was unknown in Europe. This fact alone is in his opinion sufficient to account for the terrible plagues and pestilences of that period. A modern writer declares that in Spain the religious instincts of the people have become so perverted that it is considered sacrilege for a woman to bathe more than once in her life, which is upon the eve of her marriage. In more enlightened countries, it is to be hoped that the condition of the feminine cuticle is not quite so bad as this; but another writer, an Englishman, asserts that a large proportion of his countrymen “never submitted themselves to an entire personal ablution in their lives, and many an octogenarian has sunk into his grave with the accumulated dirt of eighty years upon his skin.” American customs in this respect are not much better than the English; but it is gratifying to know that a very perceptible improvement is becoming evident in both countries. Our intercourse with Oriental nations and barbarians has taught us wholesome lessons in the care of the person. There is scarcely a savage tribe to be found in the deepest jungles of tropical Africa the members of which do not pay more attention to the preservation of a clean and healthy skin than the average American or Englishman.
Bathing a Natural Instinct.—All nature attests the importance of the bath. The rain is a natural shower bath in which all vegetation participates, and gains refreshment. Its invigorating influence is seen in the brighter appearance, more erect bearing, and fresher colors, of all plants after a gentle rain. The flowers manifest their gratitude by exhaling in greater abundance their fragrant odors. Dumb animals do not neglect their morning bath. Who has not seen the robin skimming along the surface of the lake or stream, dipping its wings in the cool waters, and laving its plumage with the crystal drops which its flapping pinions send glittering into the air? No school boy who has ever seen the elephant drink will forget how the huge beast improved the opportunity to treat himself to a shower bath, and perhaps the spectators as well, for he is very generous in his use of water.
If man’s instincts were not rendered obtuse by the perverted habits of civilization, he would value the bath as highly and employ it as freely as his more humble fellow-creatures, whose instinctive impulses have remained more true to nature, because they have not possessed that degree of intelligence which would make it possible for them to become so grossly perverted as have the members of the human race. Man goes astray from nature not because he is deficient in instinct, but because he stifles the promptings of his better nature for the purpose of gratifying his propensities.
PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS.
Some of the relations of water to the living system have been considered in the preceding section. In the present connection we shall consider chiefly those effects resulting from the application of water to the human body in various ways which give to it its value as a remedial agent, though its therapeutical applications will be deferred to succeeding sections.
The effects of water upon the human system are the results of the operation of its physical properties in conjunction with the vital forces. As with all other agents, its effects may be either local, or general, according to the mode of application. Different effects are also produced according as the administration is internal or external. Many other modifying circumstances, as age, sex, and physical condition, affect the results in a greater or lesser degree.
Water affects the system through three different means; viz.:—