Health and Temperance by S. W. Bowles, M. D.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 16, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 48.

Health and Temperance.

By S. W. Bowles, M. D.

Our Sleeping Rooms.

THE result of all modern study and investigation in regard to health, emphasizes more and more strongly the efficacy and necessity of proper hygienic surroundings, both in the prevention of disease and as a means of procuring rapid recovery from the resulting ills. . . .

Above all, it is filthy to live in a foul atmosphere. We do not bathe again and again in the same water, or enjoy eating or drinking from unwashed dishes. Why be fastidious about such matters during the day, and careless at night? The seeds of disease are floating in impure air and find ready access to our bodies. When in sleep the organs are less able to resist the noxious influences. When in earlier times, the more careless manner of building houses let the air freely into the rooms around the loosely fitting window frames, and the wide open fire-places readily drew out the fouled air, the inmates of the dwellings (according to modern ideas), were more uncomfortable, but they were cleaner. The ideal of the modern building seems to be a hermetically closed box, impervious to air from without, niggardly in the means of allowing the air to escape, economy in the use of fuel, prodigality in the waste of life.

I do not propose to criticise the carefully built house of the present day, but simply to emphasize the additional care used in making the dwelling warm and dry must be supplemented by equal painstaking in furnishing sufficient means for the proper egress and ingress of fresh air. Not necessarily cold air, but pure air, and this accomplished with as little draft as possible. The possible danger to health is in the current of air passing so quickly over the body as to rapidly exhaust the heat, producing a chill. These required conditions are readily obtained by an open fireplace on the one hand and slightly opened windows on the other hand, with a screen before the window, if needed. You can readily prove if your ventilating is sufficient, by occupying the room for a time, and then leaving the room, breathing the fresh air from out-of-doors for a few moments, and returning to your room. Now your sense of smell is a fair means of judging of the purity of the air in the room.

Bearing in mind the danger from fouled air, we should exercise care in excluding from our bedrooms all hangings or curtains of woolen or thick cotton materials, as especially liable to retain dirt and disease germs, and in this category I would include carpets made of woolen or cotton. Hard wood floors, oil cloth, straw matting, in the order named are certainly the best materials for use, if we study simply health. If for other reasons, we wish the warmth and diminution of noise, procured by using woolen or cotton carpets, lay over the first-named material rugs that can be readily removed and cleansed outside of the room.

Linen shades to exclude or mitigate the light at the windows, with lace or muslin curtains for esthetic effect, are all that is allowable in a bedroom. Of equal importance is the proper care of the bed and bedding. Bedsteads are usually made of wood. Metal is in every way preferable. A wrought iron or brass bedstead properly constructed; that is, of light weight, mounted on castors, so as to be easily moved and readily cleaned, meets every demand. Especially should we seek one readily moved, if we would have it and its surroundings properly cared for by servants.

No articles, of whatever kind, should be kept under the bed. To prevent this dispense with valances and tuck in the bedclothes. Curtains about the bed are simply filters, sure to catch and retain the impurities, as the air from the lungs passes through them. The mattress should be made of elastic material not giving way too freely to the weight of the body. Horse hair furnishes the best materials; cotton, wool, feathers, the poorer substitutes. A well-made hair mattress resting on a woven wire spring mattress, leaves nothing to be desired hygienically. Hair pillows are preferable to feather pillows where we desire to prevent heating the head. Linen is the better material for sheets and pillow cases, having less power of absorption than cotton. Blankets should be all wool and of the best quality attainable, as in this way we obtain a maximum of warmth and minimum of weight. For the same reasons cotton comfortables are not desirable.