Bathing by John Harvey Kellogg

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 11, 1876

Bathing.

By John Harvey Kellogg

THE utility of water for purposes of bathing is due to its two most prominent properties: 1. It is a fluid and is one of the best solvents known. 2. It will absorb more heat than any other substance, when equal weights are compared. In other words, the value of water when used in the form of the bath is due to its cleansing and cooling properties.

In order to secure the best results it is essential that pure, soft water should be employed. Rain water is generally the best, though this is unfit when allowed to become tainted by standing long. It should then be filtered. Hard water is injurious to the skin, and is almost useless as a cleansing agent on account of the oily secretions of the skin. Hard water may be rendered less harmful by prolonged boiling.

There is no advantage to be gained by the use of mineral waters, since they are only very strong solutions of sundry salts, alkalies, and other mineral poisons. The purer and softer the water the better.

Sponge Bath.—The sponge or hand bath is perhaps the simplest and most useful mode of applying water to the surface of the body. It can be employed by any one, requires no elaborate preparation, and can be administered under almost any circumstances. A great quantity of water is not required. A few quarts are a plenty, and a pint will answer admirably in an emergency. A soft sponge, or a linen or cotton cloth, and a soft towel or a cotton sheet, are the other requisites. The hand may be used instead of a sponge or cloth in applying the water.

The temperature of the room should be about 80 degrees, that of the water should be not more than 95 degrees, and 90 is generally better. Some people can bathe habitually in water of a cooler temperature without injury, but the plan is not a good one for most persons, and is sometimes productive of great injury.

Fever patients and weakly persons should be bathed with as little disturbance as possible. With some care on the part of the attendant, a patient may receive a sponge bath in bed with very little disturbance indeed. In such cases, great care should be taken to avoid chilling the patient by exposing too great a portion of the body at once.

The sponge bath is always useful in cases of fever, being one of the best known means for reducing the temperature. For purposes of personal cleanliness, it is absolutely indispensable. Persons in health should bathe at least once a week, even during the colder months. In the warm season a bath each day, or at least two or three times a week, is required to keep the skin free from impurities. When a bath is taken so infrequently as once a week, a little fine soap should be used to aid in removing foul matter from the skin.

Bathing does not, as many people suppose, render a person more liable to colds than he would otherwise be, though a little extra clothing may sometimes be required immediately after bathing, especially if the bath has been taken at too high a temperature. Failure to wipe every portion of the body perfectly dry is one of the most common causes of taking cold after bathing. Frequent bathing is the best known preventive against taking cold.—J. H. KELLOGG, M. D., in Reformer.