Unwholesome air is a very common cause of diseases. Few are aware of the danger arising from it. People generally pay some attention to what they eat and drink, but seldom regard what goes into the lungs, though the latter proves often more suddenly fatal than the former.
Air, as well as water, takes up parts of most bodies with which it comes in contact, and is often so replenished with those of a noxious quality, as to occasion immediate death. But such violent effects seldom happen, as people are generally on their guard against them. The less perceptible influences of bad air prove more generally hurtful to mankind; we shall therefore endeavour to point out some of these, and to shew from whence the danger chiefly arises.
Air may become noxious many ways. Whatever greatly alters its degree of heat, cold, moisture, &c. renders it unwholesome: for example, that which is too hot dissipates the watry parts of the blood, exalts the bile, and renders the whole humour adust and thick. Hence proceed bilious and inflammatory fevers, cholera morbus, &c. Very cold air obstructs the perspiration, constringes the solids, and condenses the fluids. It occasions rheumatisms, coughs, and catarrhs, with other diseases of the throat and breast. Air that is too moist destroys the elasticity or spring of the solids, induces phlegmatic or lax constitutions, and disposes the body to agues, or intermitting fevers, dropsies, &c.
Wherever great numbers of people are crowded into one place, if the air has not a free circulation, it soon becomes unwholesome. Hence it is that delicate persons are so apt to turn sick or faint in crowded churches, assemblies, or any place where the air is injured by breathing, fires, candles, or the like.
In great cities so many things tend to contaminate the air, that it is no wonder it proves so fatal to the inhabitants. The air in cities is not only breathed repeatedly over, but is likewise loaded with sulphur, smoke, and other exhalations, besides the vapours continually arising from innumerable putrid substances, as dunghills, slaughterhouses, &c. All possible care should be taken to keep the streets of large towns open and wide, that the air may have a free current through them. They ought likewise to be kept very clean. Nothing tends more to pollute and contaminate the air of a city than dirty streets.
It is very common in this country to have church-yards in the middle of populous cities. Whether this be the effect of ancient superstition, or owing to the increase of such towns, is a matter of no consequence. Whatever gave rise to the custom, it is a bad one. It is habit alone which reconciles us to these things; by means of which the most ridiculous, nay pernicious customs, often become sacred. Certain it is, that thousands of putrid carcasses, so near the surface of the earth, in a place where the air is confined, cannot fail to taint it; and that such air, when breathed into the lungs, must occasion diseases[28].
Burying within churches is a practice still more detestable. The air in churches is seldom good, and the effluvia from putrid carcasses must render it still worse. Churches are commonly old buildings with arched roofs. They are seldom open above once a week, are never ventilated by fires nor open windows, and rarely kept clean. This occasions that damp, musty, unwholesome smell which one feels upon entering a church, and renders it a very unsafe place for the weak and valetudinary. These inconveniences might, in a great measure, be obviated, by prohibiting all persons from burying within churches, by keeping them clean, and permitting a stream of fresh air to pass frequently through them, by opening opposite doors and windows[29].
Wherever air stagnates long, it becomes unwholesome. Hence the unhappy persons confined in jails not only contract malignant fevers themselves, but often communicate them to others. Nor are many of the holes, for we cannot call them houses, possessed by the poor in great towns, much better than jails. These low dirty habitations are the very lurking-places of bad air and contagious diseases. Such as live in them seldom enjoy good health; and their children commonly die young. In the choice of a house, those who have it in their power ought always to pay the greatest attention to open free air.
The various methods which luxury has invented to make houses close and warm, contribute not a little to render them unwholesome. No house can be wholesome unless the air has a free passage through it. For which reason houses ought daily to be ventilated, by opening opposite windows, and admitting a current of fresh air into every room. Beds, instead of being made up as soon as people rise out of them, ought to be turned down, and exposed to the fresh air from the open windows through the day. This would expel any noxious vapour, and could not fail to promote the health of the inhabitants.
In hospitals, jails, ships, &c. where that cannot be conveniently done, ventilators should be used. The method of expelling foul, and introducing fresh air, by means of ventilators, is a most salutary invention, and is indeed the most useful of all our modern medical improvements. It is capable of universal application, and is fraught with numerous advantages, both to those in health and sickness. In all places, where numbers of people are crowded together, ventilation becomes absolutely necessary.
Air which stagnates in mines, wells, cellars, &c. is extremely noxious. That kind of air is to be avoided as the most deadly poison. It often kills almost as quickly as lightning. For this reason, people should be very cautious in opening cellars that have been long shut, or going down into deep wells or pits, especially if they have been kept close covered[30].
Many people who have splendid houses, chuse to sleep in small apartments. This conduct is very imprudent. A bed-chamber ought always to be well-aired; as it is generally occupied in the night only, when all doors and windows are shut. If a fire be kept in it, the danger from a small room becomes still greater. Numbers have been stifled when asleep by a fire in a small apartment, which is always hurtful.
Those who are obliged, on account of business, to spend the day in close towns, ought, if possible, to sleep in the country. Breathing free air in the night will, in some measure, make up for the want of it through the day. This practice would have a greater effect in preserving the health of citizens than is commonly imagined.
Delicate persons ought, as much as possible, to avoid the air of great towns. It is peculiarly hurtful to the asthmatic and consumptive. Such persons should avoid cities as they would the plague. The hypochondriac are likewise much hurt by it. I have often seen persons so much afflicted with this malady while in town, that it seemed impossible for them to live, who, upon being removed to the country, were immediately relieved. The same observation holds with regard to nervous and hysteric women. Many people, indeed, have it not in their power to change their situation in quest of better air. All we can say to such persons is, that they should go as often abroad into the open air as they can, that they should admit fresh air frequently into their houses, and take care to keep them very clean.
It was necessary in former times, for safety, to surround cities, colleges, and even single houses, with high walls. These, by obstructing the free current of air, never fail to render such places damp and unwholesome. As such walls are now, in most parts of this country, become useless, they ought to be pulled down, and every method taken to admit a free passage to the air. Proper attention to Air and Cleanliness would tend more to preserve the health of mankind, than all the endeavours of the faculty.
Surrounding houses too closely with planting, or thick woods, likewise tends to render the air unwholesome. Wood not only obstructs the free current of the air, but sends forth great quantities of moist exhalations, which render it constantly damp. Wood is very agreeable at a proper distance from a house, but should never be planted too near it, especially in a flat country. Many of the gentlemen’s seats in England are rendered very unwholesome from the great quantity of wood which surrounds them.
Houses situated in low marshy countries, or near large lakes of stagnating water, are likewise unwholesome. Waters which stagnate not only render the air damp, but load it with putrid exhalations, which produce the most dangerous and fatal diseases. Those who are obliged to inhabit marshy countries, ought to make choice of the dryest situations they can find, to live generously, and to pay the strictest regard to cleanliness.
If fresh air be necessary for those in health, it is still more so for the sick, who often lose their lives for want of it. The notion that sick people must be kept very hot, is so common, that one can hardly enter the chamber where a patient lies, without being ready to faint, by reason of the hot suffocating smell. How this must affect the sick any one may judge. No medicine is so beneficial to the sick as fresh air. It is the most reviving of all cordials, if it be administered with prudence. We are not, however, to throw open doors and windows at random upon the sick. Fresh air is to be let into the chamber gradually, and, if possible, by opening the windows of some other apartment.
The air of a sick person’s chamber may be greatly freshened, and the patient much revived, by sprinkling the floor, bed, &c. frequently with vinegar, juice of lemon, or any other strong vegetable acid.
In places where numbers of sick are crowded into the same house, or, which is often the case, into the same apartment, the frequent admission of fresh air becomes absolutely necessary. Infirmaries, hospitals, &c. are often rendered so noxious, for want of proper ventilation, that the sick run more hazard from them than from the disease. This is particularly the case when putrid fevers, dysenteries, and other infectious diseases prevail.
Physicians, surgeons, and others who attend hospitals, ought, for their own safety, to take care that they be properly ventilated. Such persons as are obliged to spend most of their time amongst the sick, run great hazard of being themselves infected when the air is bad. All hospitals, and places of reception for the sick, ought to have an open situation, at some distance from any great town, and such patients as labour under any infectious disease ought never to be suffered to come near the rest[31].
Many people look upon the necessity man is under of earning his bread by labour, as a curse. Be this as it may, it is evident from the structure of the body, that exercise is not less necessary than food for the preservation of health: those whom poverty obliges to labour for daily bread, are not only the most healthy, but generally the most happy part of mankind. Industry seldom fails to place them above want, and activity serves them instead of physic. This is peculiarly the case with those who live by the culture of the ground. The great increase of inhabitants in infant colonies, and the longevity of such as follow agriculture every where, evidently prove it to be the most healthful as well as the most useful employment.
The love of activity shews itself very early in man. So strong is this principle, that a healthy youth cannot be restrained from exercise, even by the fear of punishment. Our love of motion is surely a strong proof of its utility. Nature implants no disposition in vain. It seems to be a catholic law throughout the whole animal creation, that no creature, without exercise, should enjoy health, or be able to find subsistence. Every creature, except man, takes as much of it as is necessary. He alone, and such animals as are under his direction, deviate from this original law, and they suffer accordingly.
Inactivity never fails to induce an universal relaxation of the solids, which disposes the body to innumerable diseases. When the solids are relaxed, neither the digestion, nor any of the secretions, can be duly performed. In this case, the worst consequences must ensue. How can persons who loll all day in easy chairs, and sleep all night on beds of down, fail to be relaxed? Nor do such greatly mend the matter, who never stir abroad but in a coach, sedan, or such like. These elegant pieces of luxury are become so common, that the inhabitants of great towns seem to be in some danger of losing the use of their limbs altogether. It is now below any one to walk, who can afford to be carried. How ridiculous would it seem, to a person unacquainted with modern luxury, to behold the young and healthy swinging along on the shoulders of their fellow-creatures! or to see a fat carcase, over-run with diseases occasioned by inactivity, dragged through the streets by half a dozen horses[32]!
Glandular obstructions, now so common, generally proceed from inactivity. These are the most obstinate of maladies. So long as the liver, kidnies, and other glands, duly perform their functions, health is seldom impaired; but, when they fail, nothing can restore it. Exercise is almost the only cure we know for glandular obstructions; indeed, it does not always succeed as a remedy; but there is reason to believe that it would seldom fail to prevent these complaints, were it used in due time. One thing is certain, that, amongst those who take sufficient exercise, glandular diseases are very little known; whereas the indolent and inactive are seldom free from them.
Weak nerves are the constant companions of inactivity. Nothing but exercise and open air can brace and strengthen the nerves, or prevent the endless train of diseases which proceed from a relaxed state of these organs. We seldom hear the active or laborious complain of nervous diseases; these are reserved for the sons of ease and affluence. Many have been completely cured of these disorders by being reduced, from a stare of opulence, to labour for their daily bread. This plainly points out the sources from whence nervous diseases flow, and the means by which they may be prevented.
It is absolutely impossible to enjoy health, where the perspiration is not duly carried on; but that can never be the case where exercise is neglected. When the matter which ought to be thrown off by perspiration is retained in the body, it vitiates the humours, and occasions the gout, fevers, rheumatism, &c. Exercise alone would prevent many of those diseases which cannot be cured, and would remove others where medicine proves ineffectual.
A late author[33], in his excellent treatise on health, says, that the weak and valetudinary ought to make exercise a part of their religion. We would recommend this, not only to the weak and valetudinary, but to all whose business does not oblige them to take sufficient exercise, as sedentary artificers[34], shop-keepers, studious persons, &c. Such ought to use exercise as regularly as they take food. This might generally be done without any interruption to business or real loss of time.
No piece of indolence hurts the health more than the modern custom of lying a-bed too long in a morning. This is the general practice in great towns. The inhabitants of cities seldom rise before eight or nine o’clock; but the morning is undoubtedly the best time for exercise, while the stomach is empty, and the body refreshed with sleep. Besides, the morning air braces and strengthens the nerves, and, in some measure, answers the purpose of a cold bath. Let any one who has been accustomed to lie a-bed till eight or nine o’clock, rise by six or seven, spend a couple of hours in walking, riding, or any active diversion without doors, and he will find his spirits cheerful and serene through the day, his appetite keen, and his body braced and strengthened. Custom soon renders early rising agreeable, and nothing contributes more to the preservation of health.
The inactive are continually complaining of pains of the stomach, flatulencies, indigestions, &c. These complaints, which pave the way to many others, are not to be removed by medicines. They can only be cured by a vigorous course of exercise, to which indeed they seldom fail to yield.
Exercise, if possible, ought always to be taken in the open air. When that cannot be done, various methods may be contrived for exercising the body within doors, as the dumb bell, dancing, fencing, &c. It is not necessary to adhere strictly to any particular kind of exercise. The best way is to take them by turns, and to use that longest which is most suitable to the strength and constitution. Those kinds of exercise which give action to most of the bodily organs, are always to be preferred, as walking, running, riding, digging, swimming, and such like.
It is much to be regretted, that active and manly diversions are now so little practised. Diversions make people take more exercise than they otherwise would do, and are of the greatest service to such as are not under the necessity of labouring for their bread. As active diversions lose ground, those of a sedentary kind seem to prevail. Sedentary diversions are of no other use but to consume time. Instead of relieving the mind, they often require more thought than either study or business. Every thing that induces people to sit still, unless it be some necessary employment, ought to be avoided.
The diversions which afford the best exercise are, hunting, shooting, playing at cricket, handball, golf[35], &c. These exercise the limbs, promote perspiration, and the other secretions. They likewise strengthen the lungs, and give firmness and agility to the whole body.
Such as can, ought to spend two or three hours a-day on horseback; those who cannot ride, should employ the same time in walking. Exercise should never be continued too long. Over-fatigue prevents the benefit of exercise, and instead of strengthening the body tends to weaken it.
Every man should lay himself under some sort of necessity to take exercise. Indolence, like other vices when indulged, gains ground, and at length becomes agreeable. Hence many who were fond of exercise in the early part of life, become quite averse from it afterwards. This is the case of most hypochondriac and gouty people, which renders their diseases in a great measure incurable.
In some countries laws have been made, obliging every man, of whatever rank, to learn some mechanical employment. Whether such laws were designed for the preservation of health, or the encouragement of manufacture, is a question of no importance, Certain it is, that if gentlemen were frequently to amuse and exercise themselves in this way, it might have many good effects. They would at least derive as much honour from a few masterly specimens of their own workmanship, as from the character of having ruined most of their companions by gaming or drinking. Besides, men of leisure, by applying themselves to the mechanical arts, might improve them, to the great benefit of society.
Indolence not only occasions diseases, and renders men useless to society, but promotes all manner of vice. To say a man is idle, is little better than to call him vicious. The mind, if not engaged in some useful pursuit, is constantly in quest of ideal pleasures, or impressed with the apprehension of some imaginary evil. From these sources proceed most of the miseries of mankind. Certainly man was never intended to be idle. Inactivity frustrates the very design of his creation; whereas an active life is the best guardian of virtue, and the greatest preservative of health.
Sleep, as well as diet, ought to be duly regulated. Too little sleep weakens the nerves, exhausts the spirits, and occasions diseases; and too much renders the mind dull, the body gross, and disposes to apoplexies, lethargies, and other complaints of a similar nature. A medium ought therefore to be observed; but this is not easy to fix. Children require more sleep than grown persons, the laborious than the idle, and such as eat and drink freely, than those who live abstemiously. Besides, the real quantity of sleep cannot be measured by time; as one person will be more refreshed by five or six hours sleep, than another by eight or ten.
Children may always be allowed to take as much sleep as they please; but, for adults, six or seven hours is certainly sufficient, and no one ought to exceed eight. Those who lie a-bed more than eight hours may slumber, but they can hardly be said to sleep; such generally toss and dream away the fore-part of the night, sink to rest towards morning, and dose till noon. The best way to make sleep sound and refreshing is to rise betimes. The custom of lying a-bed for nine or ten hours, not only makes the sleep less refreshing, but relaxes the solids, and greatly weakens the constitution.
Nature points out night as the proper season for sleep. Nothing more certainly destroys the constitution than night-watching. It is great pity that a practice so destructive to health should be so much in fashion. How quickly the want of rest in due season will blast the most blooming complexion, or ruin the best constitution, is evident from the ghastly countenances of those who, as the phrase is, turn day into night, and night into day.
To make sleep refreshing, the following things are requisite: First, to take sufficient exercise in the open air; to avoid strong tea or coffee; next, to eat a light supper; and lastly, to lie down with a mind as cheerful and serene as possible.
It is certain that too much exercise will prevent sleep, as well as too little. We seldom however hear the active and laborious complain of restless nights. It is the indolent and slothful who generally have these complaints. Is it any wonder that a bed of down should not be refreshing to a person who sits all day in an easy chair? A great part of the pleasure of life consists in alternate rest and motion; but they who neglect the latter can never relish the former. The labourer enjoys more true luxury in plain food and sound sleep, than is to be found in sumptuous tables and downy pillows, where exercise is wanting.
That light suppers cause sound sleep, is true even to a proverb. Many persons, if they exceed the least at that meal, are sure to have uneasy nights; and, if they fall asleep, the load and oppression on their stomach and spirits occasion frightful dreams, broken and disturbed repose, the night-mare, &c. Were the same persons to go to bed with a light supper, or sit up till that meal was pretty well digested, they would enjoy sound sleep, and rise refreshed and cheerful. There are indeed some people who cannot sleep unless they have eat some solid food at night, but this does not imply the necessity of a heavy supper; besides, these are generally persons who have accustomed themselves to this method, and who do not take a sufficient quantity of solid food and exercise.
Nothing more certainly disturbs our repose than anxiety. When the mind is not at ease, one seldom enjoys sound sleep. The greatest of human blessings flies the wretched, and visits the happy, the cheerful, and the gay. This is a sufficient reason why every man should endeavour to be as easy in his mind as possible when he goes to rest. Many, by indulging grief and anxious thought, have banished sound sleep so long, that they could never afterwards enjoy it.
Sleep, when taken in the fore-part of the night, is generally reckoned most refreshing. Whether this be the effect of habit or not, is hard to say; but as most people are accustomed to go early to bed when young, it may be presumed that sleep, at this season, will prove most refreshing to them ever after. Whether the fore-part of the night be best for sleep or not, surely the fore-part of the day is fitted both for business and amusement. I hardly ever knew an early riser who did not enjoy a good state of health[36].
The clothing ought to be suited to the climate. Custom has no doubt a very great influence in this article; but no custom can ever change the nature of things so far, as to render the same clothing fit for an inhabitant of Nova Zembla and the island of Jamaica. It is not indeed necessary to observe an exact proportion between the quantity of clothes we wear, and the degree of latitude which we inhabit; but, at the same time, proper attention ought to be paid to it, as well as to the openness of the country, the frequency and violence of storms, &c.
In youth, while the blood is hot and the perspiration free, it is less necessary to cover the body with a great quantity of clothes; but, in the decline of life, when the skin becomes rigid and the humours more cool, the clothing should be increased. Many diseases in the latter period of life proceed from a defect of perspiration: these may, in some measure, be prevented by a suitable addition to the clothing, or by wearing such as are better calculated for promoting the discharge from the skin, as clothes made of cotton, flannel, &c.
The clothing ought likewise to be suited to the season of the year. Clothing may be warm enough for summer, which is by no means sufficient for winter. The greatest caution, however, is necessary in making these changes. We ought neither to put off our winter clothes too soon, nor to wear our summer ones too long. In this country, the winter often sets in very early with great rigour, and we have frequently cold weather even after the commencement of the summer months. It would likewise be prudent not to make the change all at once, but to do it gradually; and indeed the changes of apparel in this climate ought to be very inconsiderable, especially among those who have passed the meridian of life[37].
Clothes often become hurtful by their being made subservient to the purposes of pride or vanity. Mankind in all ages seem to have considered clothes in this view; accordingly their fashion and figure have been continually varying, with very little regard either to health, the climate, or conveniency: a farthingale, for example, may be very necessary in hot southern climates, but surely nothing can be more ridiculous in the cold regions of the north.
Even the human shape is often attempted to be mended by dress, and those who know no better believe that mankind would be monsters without its assistance. All attempts of this nature are highly pernicious. The most destructive of them in this country is that of squeezing the stomach and bowels into as narrow a compass as possible, to procure, what is falsely called, a fine shape[38]. By this practice the action of the stomach and bowels, the motion of the heart and lungs, and almost all the vital functions, are obstructed. Hence proceed indigestions, syncopes, or fainting fits, coughs, consumptions of the lungs, and other complaints so common among females.
The feet likewise often suffer by pressure. How a small foot came to be reckoned genteel, I will not pretend to say; but certain it is, that this notion has made many persons lame. Almost nine-tenths of mankind are troubled with corns: a disease that is seldom or never occasioned but by strait shoes. Corns are not only very troublesome, but by rendering people unable to walk, they may likewise be considered as the remote cause of other diseases[39].
The size and figure of the shoe ought certainly to be adapted to the foot. In children the feet are as well shaped as the hands, and the motion of the toes as free and easy as that of the fingers; yet few persons in the advanced periods of life are able to make any use of their toes. They are generally, by narrow shoes, squeezed all of a heap, and often laid over one another in such a manner as to be rendered altogether incapable of motion. Nor is the high heel less hurtful than the narrow toe. A lady may seem taller for walking on her tiptoes, but she will never walk well in this manner. It strains her joints, distorts her limbs, makes her stoop, and utterly destroys all her ease and gracefulness of motion: it is entirely owing to shoes with high heels and narrow toes, that not one female in ten can be said to walk well.
In fixing on the clothes, due care should be taken to avoid all tight bandages. Garters, buckles, &c. when drawn too tight, not only prevent the free motion and use of the parts about which they are bound, but likewise obstruct the circulation of the blood, which prevents the equal nourishment and growth of these parts, and occasions various diseases. Tight bandages about the neck, as stocks, cravats, necklaces, &c. are extremely dangerous. They obstruct the blood in its course from the brain, by which means head-achs, vertigoes, apoplexies, and other fatal diseases are often occasioned.
The perfection of dress is to be easy and clean. Nothing can be more ridiculous, than for any one to make himself a slave to fine clothes. Such a one, and many such there are, would rather remain as fixt as a statue from morning till night, than discompose a single hair or alter the position of a pin. Were we to recommend any particular pattern for dress, it would be that which is worn by the people called Quakers. They are always neat, clean, and often elegant, without any thing superfluous. What others lay out upon tawdry laces, ruffles, and ribands, they bestow upon superior cleanliness. Finery is only the affectation of dress, and very often covers a great deal of dirt.
We shall only add, with regard to clothing, that it ought not only to be suited to the climate, the season of the year, and the period of life; but likewise to the temperature and constitution. Robust persons are able to endure either cold or heat better than the delicate; consequently may be less attentive to their clothing. But the precise quantity of clothes necessary for any person cannot be determined by reasoning. It is entirely a matter of experience, and every man is the best judge for himself what quantity of clothes is necessary to keep him warm[40].
A modern author[41] observes, that temperance and exercise are the two best physicians in the world. He might have added, that if these were duly regarded, there would be little occasion for any other. Temperance may justly be called the parent of health; yet numbers of mankind act as if they thought diseases and death too slow in their progress, and by intemperance and debauch seem as it were to solicit their approach.
The danger of intemperance appears from the very construction of the human body. Health depends on that state of the solids and fluids which fits them for the due performance of the vital functions; and, while these go regularly on, we are sound and well; but whatever disturbs them necessarily impairs health. Intemperance never fails to disorder the whole animal œconomy; it hurts the digestion, relaxes the nerves, renders the different secretions irregular, vitiates the humours, and occasions numberless diseases.
The analogy between the nourishment of plants and animals affords a striking proof of the danger of intemperance. Moisture and manure greatly promote vegetation; yet an over-quantity of either will entirely destroy it. The best things become hurtful, nay destructive, when carried to excess. Hence we learn, that the highest degree of human wisdom consists in regulating our appetites and passions so as to avoid all extremes. It is that chiefly which entitles us to the character of rational beings. The slave of appetite will ever be the disgrace of human nature.
The Author of Nature hath endued us with various passions, for the propagation of the species, the preservation of the individual, &c. Intemperance is the abuse of these passions; and moderation consists in the proper regulation of them. Men, not contented with satisfying the simple calls of Nature, create artificial wants, and are perpetually in search of something that may gratify them; but imaginary wants can never be gratified. Nature is content with little; but luxury knows no bounds. Hence the epicure, the drunkard, and the debauchee, seldom stop in their career, till their money or their constitution fails: then indeed they generally see their error when too late.
It is impossible to lay down fixt rules with regard to diet, on account of the different constitutions of mankind. The most ignorant person, however, certainly knows what is meant by excess; and it is in the power of every man, if he chuses, to avoid it.
The great rule of diet is to study simplicity. Nature delights in the most plain and simple food, and every animal, except man, follows her dictates. Man alone riots at large, and ransacks the whole creation in quest of luxuries, to his own destruction. An elegant writer[42] of the last age speaks thus of intemperance in diet: “For my part, when I behold a fashionable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy that I see gouts and dropsies, fevers and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers, lying in ambuscade among the dishes.”
Nor is intemperance in other things less destructive than in diet. How quickly does the immoderate pursuit of carnal pleasures, or the abuse of intoxicating liquors, ruin the best constitution! Indeed these vices generally go hand in hand. Hence it is that we so often behold the votaries of Bacchus and Venus, even before they have arrived at the prime of life, worn out with diseases, and hasting with swift pace to an untimely grave. Did men reflect on the painful diseases, and premature deaths, which are daily occasioned by intemperance, it would be sufficient to make them shrink back with horror from the indulgence even of their darling pleasures.
Intemperance does not hurt its votaries alone; the innocent too often feel the direful effects of it. How many wretched orphans are to be seen embracing dunghills, whose parents, regardless of the future, spent in riot and debauch what might have served to bring up their offspring in a decent manner? How often do we behold the miserable mother, with her helpless infants, pining in want, while the cruel father is indulging his insatiate appetites?
Families are not only reduced to misery, but even extirpated, by intemperance. Nothing tends so much to prevent propagation, and to shorten the lives of children, as the intemperance of parents. The poor man who labours all day, and at night lies down contented with his humble fare, can boast a numerous offspring, while his pampered lord, sunk in ease and luxury, often languishes without an heir to his ample fortunes. Even states and empires feel the influence of intemperance, and rise or fall as it prevails.
Instead of mentioning the different kinds of intemperance, and pointing out their influence upon health, we shall only, by way of example, make a few observations on one particular species of that vice, viz. the abuse of intoxicating liquors.
Every act of intoxication puts Nature to the expence of a fever, in order to discharge the poisonous draught. When this is repeated almost every day, it is easy to foresee the consequences. That constitution must be strong indeed, which is able long to hold out under a daily fever! but fevers occasioned by drinking do not always go off in a day; they frequently end in an inflammation of the breast, liver, or brain, and produce fatal effects.
Though the drunkard should not fall by an acute disease, he seldom escapes those of a chronic kind. Intoxicating liquors, when used to excess, weaken the bowels and spoil the digestion; they destroy the power of the nerves, and occasion paralytic and convulsive disorders; they likewise heat and inflame the blood, destroy its balsamic quality, render it unfit for circulation, and the nourishment of the body. Hence obstructions, atrophies, dropsies, and consumptions of the lungs. These are the common ways in which drunkards make their exit. Diseases of this kind, when brought on by hard drinking, seldom admit of a cure.
Many people injure their health by drinking, who seldom get drunk. The continual habit of soaking, as it is called, though its effects be not so violent, is not less pernicious. When the vessels are kept constantly full and upon the stretch, the different digestions can neither be duly performed, nor the humours properly prepared. Hence most people of this character are afflicted with the gout, the gravel, ulcerous sores in the legs, &c. If these disorders do not appear, they are seized with low spirits, hypochondriacal affections, and other symptoms of indigestion.
Consumptions are now so common, that it is thought one-tenth of the inhabitants of great towns die of that disease. Hard drinking is no doubt one of the causes to which we must impute the increase of consumptions. The great quantities of viscid malt liquor drank by the common people of England, cannot fail to render the blood sizy and unfit for circulation; from whence proceed obstructions, and inflammations of the lungs. There are few great ale-drinkers who are not phthisical: nor is that to be wondered at, considering the glutinous and almost indigestible nature of strong ale.
Those who drink ardent spirits or strong wines run still greater hazard; these liquors heat and inflame the blood, and tear the tender vessels of the lungs to pieces; yet so great is the consumption of them in this country, that one would almost be induced to think that the inhabitants lived upon them[43].
The habit of drinking proceeds frequently from misfortunes in life. The miserable fly to it for relief. It affords them indeed a temporary ease. But, alas! this solace is short-lived; and when it is over, the spirits sink as much below their usual tone as they had before been raised above it. Hence a repetition of the dose becomes necessary, and every fresh dose makes way for another, till the unhappy wretch becomes a slave to the bottle, and at length falls a sacrifice to what at first perhaps was taken only as a medicine. No man is so dejected as the drunkard when his debauch is gone off. Hence it is, that those who have the greatest flow of spirits while the glass circulates freely, are of all others the most melancholy when sober, and often put an end to their own miserable existence in a fit of spleen or ill humour.
Drunkenness not only proves destructive to health, but likewise to the faculties of the mind. It is strange that creatures who value themselves on account of a superior degree of reason to that of brutes, should take pleasure in sinking so far below them. Were such as voluntarily deprive themselves of the use of reason, to continue ever after in that condition, it would seem but a just punishment. Though this be not the consequence of one act of intoxication, it seldom fails to succeed a course of it. By a habit of drinking, the greatest genius is often reduced to a mere idiot[44].
Intoxication is peculiarly hurtful to young persons. It heats their blood, impairs their strength, and obstructs their growth; besides, the frequent use of strong liquors in the early part of life destroys any benefit that might arise from them afterwards. Those who make a practice of drinking generous liquors when young, cannot expert to reap any benefit from them as a cordial in the decline of life.
Drunkenness is not only in itself a most abominable vice, but is an inducement to many others. There is hardly any crime so horrid that the drunkard will not perpetrate for the love of liquor. We have known mothers sell their children’s clothes, the food that they should have eat, and afterwards even the infants themselves, in order to purchase the accursed draught.
The want of cleanliness is a fault which admits of no excuse. Where water can be had for nothing, it is surely in the power of every person to be clean. The continual discharge from our bodies by perspiration, renders frequent change of apparel necessary. Changing apparel greatly promotes the secretion from the skin, so necessary for health. When that matter which ought to be carried off by perspiration, is either retained in the body, or resorbed from dirty clothes, it must occasion diseases.
Diseases of the skin are chiefly owing to want of cleanliness[45]. They may indeed be caught by infection, or brought on by poor living, unwholesome food, &c. but they will seldom continue long where cleanliness prevails. To the same cause must we impute the various kinds of vermin which infest the human body, houses, &c. These may always be banished by cleanliness alone, and wherever they abound, we have reason to believe it is neglected.
One common cause of putrid and malignant fevers, is the want of cleanliness. These fevers commonly begin among the inhabitants of close dirty houses, who breathe unwholesome air, take little exercise, and wear dirty clothes. There the infection is generally hatched, which often spreads far and wide, to the destruction of many. Hence cleanliness may be considered as an object of public attention. It is not sufficient that I be clean myself, while the want of it in my neighbour affects my health as well as his own. If dirty people cannot be removed as a common nuisance, they ought at least to be avoided as infectious. All who regard their health should keep at a distance even from their habitations.
In places where great numbers of people are collected, cleanliness becomes of the utmost importance. It is well known that infectious diseases are communicated by tainted air. Every thing, therefore, which tends to pollute the air, or spread the infection, ought with the utmost care to be guarded against. For this reason, in great towns, no filth, of any kind, should be permitted to lie upon the streets. Nothing is more apt to convey infection than the excrements of the diseased.
In many great towns the streets are little better than dunghills, being frequently covered with ashes, dung, and nastiness of every kind. Even slaughterhouses, or killing shambles, are often to be seen in the very centre of great towns. The putrid blood, excrements, &c. with which these places are generally covered, cannot fail to taint the air, and render it unwholesome. How easily might this be prevented by active magistrates, who have it always in their power to make proper laws relative to things of this nature, and to enforce the observance of them!
We are sorry to say, that the importance of general cleanliness does not seem to be sufficiently understood by the magistrates of most great towns in Britain; though health, pleasure, and delicacy, all conspire to recommend an attention to it. Nothing can be more agreeable to the senses, more to the honour of the inhabitants, or more conducive to their health, than a clean town; nor can any thing impress a stranger with a more disrespectful idea of any people than its opposite. Whatever pretensions people may make to learning, politeness, or civilization, we will venture to affirm, that while they neglect cleanliness, they are in a state of barbarity[46].
The peasants in most countries seem to hold cleanliness in a sort of contempt. Were it not for the open situation of their houses, they would often feel the bad effects of this disposition. One seldom sees a farm-house without a dunghill before the door, and frequently the cattle and their masters lodge under the same roof. Peasants are likewise extremely careless with respect to change of apparel, keeping their houses, &c. clean. This is merely the effect of indolence and a dirty disposition. Habit may indeed render it less disagreeable to them, but no habit can ever make it salutary to wear dirty clothes or breathe unwholesome air.
As many articles of diet come through the hands of peasants, every method should be taken to encourage and promote habits of cleanliness among them. This, for example, might be done by giving a small premium to the person who brings the cleanest and best article of any kind to market, as butter, cheese, &c. and by punishing severely those who bring it dirty. The same method should be taken with butchers, bakers, brewers, and all who are employed in preparing the necessaries of life.
In camps the strictest regard should be paid to cleanliness. By negligence in this matter, infectious diseases are often spread amongst a whole army; and frequently more die of these than by the sword. The Jews during their encampments in the wilderness, received particular instructions with respect to cleanliness[47]. The rules enjoined them ought to be observed by all in the like situation. Indeed the whole system of laws delivered to that people has a manifest tendency to promote cleanliness. Whoever considers the nature of their climate, the diseases to which they were liable, and their dirty disposition, will see the propriety of such laws.
It is remarkable that, in most eastern countries, cleanliness makes a great part of their religion. The Mahometan, as well as the Jewish religion, enjoins various bathings, washings, and purifications. No doubt these might be designed to represent inward purity; but they were at the same time calculated for the preservation of health. However whimsical these washings may appear to some, few things would tend more to prevent diseases than a proper attention to many of them. Were every person, for example, after visiting the sick, handling a dead body, or touching any thing that might convey infection, to wash before he went into company, or sat down to meat, he would run less hazard either of catching the infection himself, or of communicating it to others.
Frequent washing not only removes the filth and sordes which adhere to the skin, but likewise promotes the perspiration, braces the body, and enlivens the spirits. How refreshed, how cheerful, and agreeable does one feel on being shaved, washed, and shifted; especially when these offices have been neglected longer than usual!
The eastern custom of washing the feet, though less necessary in this country, is nevertheless a very agreeable piece of cleanliness, and contributes greatly to the preservation of health. The sweat and dirt with which these parts are frequently covered, cannot fail to obstruct the perspiration. This piece of cleanliness would often prevent colds and fevers. Were people careful to bathe their feet and legs in lukewarm water at night, after being exposed to cold or wet through the day, they would seldom experience the ill effects which often proceed from these causes.
A proper attention to cleanliness is no where more necessary than on shipboard. If epidemical distempers break out there, no one can be safe. The best way to prevent them, is to take care that the whole company be cleanly in their clothes, bedding, &c. When infectious diseases do break out, cleanliness is the most likely means to prevent their spreading; it is likewise necessary to prevent their returning afterwards, or being conveyed to other places. For this purpose, the clothes, bedding, &c. of the sick ought to be carefully washed, and fumigated with brimstone. Infection will lodge a long time in dirty clothes, and afterwards break out in the most terrible manner.
In places where great numbers of sick people are collected together, cleanliness ought to be most religiously observed. The very smell in such places is often sufficient to make one sick. It is easy to imagine what effect that is likely to have upon the diseased. In an hospital or infirmary, where cleanliness is neglected, a person in perfect health has a greater chance to become sick, than a sick person has to get well.
Few things are more unaccountable than that neglect, or rather dread of cleanliness, which appears among those who have the care of the sick; they think it almost criminal to suffer any thing that is clean to come near a person in a fever, for example, and would rather allow him to wallow in all manner of filth, than change the least bit of his linen. If cleanliness be necessary for persons in health, it is certainly more so for the sick. Many diseases may be cured by cleanliness alone; most of them might be mitigated by it; and, where it is neglected, the slightest disorders are often changed into the most malignant. The same mistaken care which prompted people to prevent the least admission of fresh air to the sick, seems to have induced them to keep them dirty. Both these destructive prejudices will, we hope, be soon entirely eradicated.
Cleanliness is certainly agreeable to our nature. We cannot help approving it in others, even though we should not practice it ourselves. It sooner attracts our regard than even finery itself, and often gains esteem where that fails. It is an ornament to the highest as well as the lowest station, and cannot be dispensed with in either. Few virtues are of more importance to society than general cleanliness. It ought to be carefully cultivated every where; but in populous cities it should be almost revered[48].