SKIN EXERCISE by Dr. C. W. Lyman

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 12, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 53.

SKIN EXERCISE.

By Dr. C. W. Lyman

BY DR. C. W. LYMAN.

MENTION was made in a preceding article of the importance of a daily exercise or manipulation of the skin and of the body. This was well understood and practiced by the ancients. It is perhaps the leading measure used in training pugilists into perfect condition, next to diet and muscular exercise. The skin is an important adjunct to the lungs, absorbing oxygen and exhaling poisonous gases. It plays an important part in nutrition and the conversion of digested food into blood. Its pores are channels through which various volatile and solid excretions are constantly thrown off, which are not easily or not at all disposed of in other ways, and cause weariness, depression, or stupefaction while retained in the body. In a word, the immediate causes of the sense of fatigue are largely gotten rid of by a healthy and active skin. Hence the daily rubbings with the palms of strong, soft hands, stroking downward always, which so increase the circulation of blood in

the skin of a man in training as to make it seem like rose petals washed over with milk, or a red shawl covered with thin white tulle. When we remember the thousands on thousands of nerve endings in the skin, it is easy to see how much the brain and general consciousness may be influenced by little messages from the skin all over the body, telling of an active, happy business going on at all points between the blood and the air, there brought into an open-life exchange. Hence largely the high spirits and buoyancy of men in training, recalling the ancient belief that the so-called "animal spirits" were "compounded of blood and air."

There are several good ways in which the skin can get a daily working over. A dry flesh brush agrees with some best, a wet brush with others. Hand rubbing with or without cold water does very well indeed. Rubbing with a suitable oil does wonders with some people who find other methods too rough. The writer uses a square of cloth, knit expressly for the purpose out of macrame cord, which is first saturated with soap and water. This brings a high color without irritation, is followed by a cold douche, and, after drying, by a little oil. Guided by their own sensations and the after effects, each person can soon make a good choice of means, if only the end in view is distinctly realized—namely, to work off all impurities and effete matter, and to keep the blood supply at a maximum of amount and activity.—N. Y. Voice.