Internal Sanitation by D. H. Kress

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 7, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 35.

Internal Sanitation

By D. H. Kress

By D. H. KRESS, M. D.

THE eminent sanitarian, Dr. Joseph von Foder, compiled the following facts relating to the surroundings of fatal cases of typhoid fever in Budapest, Hungary, during fifteen years, 1863-77:

Deaths from typhoid per hundred houses when the interior of the dwelling was—

Very clean 165
Clean 177
Dirty 182
Very dirty 356

There was gradual increase from “very clean” to “dirty,” and a very great increase from “dirty” to “very dirty.” Compared with the “very clean,” there were more than twice the proportion of deaths in the “very dirty” dwellings.

With yards surrounding the houses, the result was as follows:

Typhoid fever deaths per one hundred houses when yard was—

Very clean 159
Clean 186
Dirty 208
Very dirty 282

The evidence was conclusive that want of cleanliness outside the dwelling had great influence in the causation of typhoid fever, but not nearly so great as had want of cleanliness inside the dwelling.

But to avoid germ diseases, sanitation must extend still further. Not only must the back yard and the interior of the dwelling be cleaned up, but the body itself must be kept clean internally. The person who has the most foreign matter stored up in his tissues is the fittest subject for germ diseases.

When we find mold growing upon the leaves of a tree, we say the tree is sick. We recognize that mold does not grow on the leaves of a healthy tree.

A germ-coated tongue is regarded as a very trivial matter, but germs do not grow on the tongue of a healthy being. They thrive only on tissues that are saturated

with organic impurities and have in consequence lost their vitality. The man with coated tongue and foul breath, creates a pestilential and polluted atmosphere, which he is compelled to breathe. He is a subject for the plague, for pneumonia, or for any other germ disease to which he may be exposed. There can be no growth of seed without soil. Cultivation of the soil precedes the growth of the seed. So long as the body soil is unfavorable, germs are helpless and harmless.

Dr. William Hall, of Leeds, England, who examined 1,200 school children among gentiles and Jews, discovered that the Jewish children were physically superior in every respect. They were heavier and taller, the teeth were better, there were fewer cases of rickets, and germ diseases were less common.

It is also a well-known fact that the average age of the Jews is considerably above that of the gentiles. This is not due to their being housed under superior sanitary conditions, for the Jewish children were known to be housed the worst. The chief cause of the Jews’ being so much healthier is that they are better fed. Whole meal breads, milk, eggs, oil, and occasionally a little fish, constitute their chief food, while the child of the gentile is fed on meats, etc. Not house sanitation, but body sanitation, is the secret of these results.

So far, health boards have given special attention to public hygiene. Very little has been said about personal hygiene. As a result, physical degeneracy is more marked than ever before. Never has more been paid out for poisons in the form of alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, and for flesh meats.