BATHS AND BATHING Historians say that the civilization of a community can be estimated by the quantity of soap it consumes.
Similarly the refinement of a family is indicated by the amount of water it uses.
Records of cities show that the amount used each day on an average by each person runs from seven or eight gallons among the poor, where there is only one faucet in the house, to about sixty gallons in the homes of wealthy persons. The average of an ordinary family in cities may be taken as about twenty gallons daily for each member. More water is used in the summer than in the win ter—which is an argument in favor of a bathroom, even where there is no furnace in the house. About ten barrels of water would be required every day on this basis by a family of ten persons.
A humorist has said that may be divided into two classes— those who take a full bath every day, and those who do not. Many folks would think this writer a snob, but the daily bath is common in house holds which enjoy all the modern conveniences. The daily " tub " of the English gentlemen is proverbial, and laughable stories are told of the efforts made by Englishmen to keep up this practice under difficulties. A great many English officers took fold ing bath tubs with them on baggage trains during the recent war in South Africa, and tried to enjoy their daily morning tub even under fire. This is extreme. But most families ought to approach nearer to this ideal than they ordinarily do.
The weekly bath, however, is cus tomary in homes where there is no bathroom, but this custom might be even more generally observed. The habit of bathing grows, in most cases, out of regard for appearances rather than regard for health. The grimly facetious remark of a certain wid ower, who had been bereaved a num ber of times, that he was going to take a bath, because he always made it a point of doing so before being married, whether he needed it or not, hints at a habit of mind which is quite common, Cleanliness is said to be next to godliness, and it is certain that the habit of church attendance is in many households a strong incentive to the custom of weekly bathing.
The same remark applies to social gatherings, and such events as wed dings, christenings, and funerals.
The bath is the foundation of the toilet. Most persons naturally take a bath preparatory to putting on their Sunday clothes or other holiday at tire. If this were not the case we fear that consideration of the health, based on modern hygienic science, would not of itself be sufficient in ducement to bathe. But when a per son is half persuaded by custom to take a weekly bath, any knowledge he may have of its advantages to health will help him to decide in its favor.
In " Trilby " the Jew Svengali laughed immoderately at the two English gentlemen for bathing daily, when they " were not dirty." He overlooked the point that the proper function of the bath is not to make us clean, but to keep us so.
The human skin contains millions of pores. The business of these pores is to bring to the surface the waste materials of the body, which other wise pass off principally through the kidneys. If the pores become clogged by the accumulation of effete matter they are unable to fulfill their proper functions, and the kidneys are obliged to do extra work, which may bring on chronic diseases of those or gans.
Colds are caused by lack of proper contraction of the pores of the skin when the body is exposed from draughts or otherwise. As a result the blood is cooled too rapidly and has a tendency to chill and congest the internal organs, as the mucous surfaces of the head and nose, and also of the alimentary canal, the kid neys, etc. The resulting symptoms show in acute form the- bad effects of neglect of bathing. In fact, fre quent bathing is almost a sure pre Vcntive of colds. If the pores are kept clean they are active, and resist the chills which tend to produce cold. If they are not kept clean they are sluggish and inactive, and in no con dition to offer normal resistance to sudden changes in temperature.