The Water Cure.—The importance of water can hardly be overrated. No life, whether animal or vegetable, is possible without it. By water all food is dissolved, and so penetrates the system and nourishes the tissues. By water the waste particles of matter are carried off through the skin, the lungs, and the other secreting or excreting organs.
While the waters of many of the spas contain medicinal properties, a large part of the virtue claimed for the springs is due to the free flushing of the system. It is the fad, while sojourning there, to drink frequently and copiously. Any other pure, wholesome water would be nearly, if not quite, as beneficial, if used in the same quantities and under the same conditions.
CLOTHING
Influence of Dress on Health.—While this aspect of the subject of dress receives far less consideration than it deserves, its importance is to be measured only by the importance of human life and by the value that attaches to a state of perfect health. Like fresh air, pure water, and bright sunshine, health is only appreciated when it is gone. The behests of fashion often make sad inroads upon it, but the seductive siren lures us on until we can no longer follow. With scanty strength we then worship at the shrine of Hygeia, but this queenly goddess governs with stern rule, and is often unresponsive to our petitions.
Temperature.—There is a constant interchange between bodies or substances of different temperatures when they are in touch one with the other. The warmer give off heat which is absorbed by the colder, and in this way they tend toward equalization. The normal heat of the average human body is 98.4 degrees, Fahrenheit. When it is exposed to a temperature lower than this, it must be protected by clothing to retard radiation of the body-heat, and thus prevent not only the chilling of the surface but also more serious disorders of the internal organs. In very hot countries, clothing is worn as a protection against heat. The head, especially, needs protection from the sun’s rays.
Warmth.—From the standpoint of health, no other property of dress is so important as that of warmth. While certain garments are described as being warm and others as being cool, it is a well-known fact that articles of clothing possess neither warmth nor coolness in themselves. By reason of certain chemical processes constantly going on within the body, there is produced a degree of natural heat, commonly called animal heat.
The body in health seldom varies more than one or two degrees from the normal standard. Conditions of climate, season, exercise, age, or sex have but slight influence upon the average temperature of the body. By conduction, radiation, and evaporation, any excess of heat is quickly reduced. More than seventy per cent of the whole amount of animal heat lost passes through the skin.
Evaporation from the skin is very rapid, and may lead to too sudden cooling of the body. A person who, after exercise that has produced free perspiration, stands in a current of cool air, is apt to take cold. The dryer the atmosphere, the more rapid is the cooling process. The most uncomfortable and oppressive atmospheric condition is that in which the air is heavily laden with moisture and the temperature high. Evaporation from the body is then slow, and the sensation of heat is oppressive.