Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1884 — Baths and Bathing. [ARTICLE]

Baths and Bathing.

The skin is to be regarded as an important organ, richly supplied with blood vessels and nerves, sweat and oilforming glands; it encases and covers all the other organs and tissues, protects from injury from without, is the chief regulator of the temperature of the body in general, and is the remover of certain waste products. The blood-vessels vary greatly in size and the amount of their contents according to circumstances; cold and fear, for instance, contract the ves-els and the muscular elements of the skin, rendering it pale; heat, irritants, and shame, on the other hand, relax the skin and its vessels, producing a more or less deep redness. An increased supply of blood tends to increase the amount of the perspiration, the evaporation of which keeps the body in general from becoming overheated. There is no immediate danger of sun-stroke as long as the perspiration is free; and it is truly wonderful how nearly constant the temperature of the human blood remains under the most varying external circumstances, in absolute repose or during the severest toil, on the nolar sea or at the equator. A thermometer placed in the arm-pit or under the tongue of a healthy person registers 98.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and a variation of ten degrees either way is almost surely fatal: In perfect health there is scarcely a degree of variation in either direction. The perspiration also serves the purpose of softening and detachfog the older and used-up layers of cells on the surface, together with particles of dirt, clothes, etc., which adhere to it. The oil-forming glands keep the skin soft and supple; the roots of the hair are supplied with them, and in some situations they are found independently of hairy growth. These hints as to the anatomy and physiology of the skin will serve to indicate to you the important functions which the organ has to perform, and make it easier for you to understand how cleanliness and bathing are of service.

In general terms a bath and the subsequent rubbing to dry the skin primarily increase the blood supply, or the rapidity of the blood current, or both together, in the skin; cleanse the skin from its own and other impurities, and thus free the little openings of the sweat and oil glands from obstructions tending to prevent the proper discharge of their secretions upon the surface; the secondary effect lies in the promotion of the health of the body as a whole, in so far as the proper functional performance of a most important organ exerts an influence on that of all the others. Spring is at hand, and a few words about bathing may be timely. A daily bath is even more important for a baby than for a grown person for. obvious reasons; and indeed, the delight which babies manifest in a properly managed bath is good evidence as to its usefulness. Up to three months of age the bath should have a temperature of ninety degrees, and may be given in a large basin; after that period, or even before, according to the size of the child, a larger bath will be needed, and the temperature may be gradually reduced not more than two degrees at a time until, at six months, it reaches eighty degrees. It may then be reduced gradually again to seventy-five degrees, but at these low temperatures the bath must of course be short. Always use a thermometer, that you may know exactly what you are doing; a suitable one costs a trifle. But, above all, observe closely the effect on the child. If the child is pale, tired, or bluish for some time afterward, the bath was either too prolonged or the water was too cold. For children between the ages of three and twelve to fifteen it is impossible to do more than give the most general directions. Use your observation and common-sense in each individual case; children of the same family differ nearly as much as those of different families. Bear only in mind these few principles which I firmly believe to be safe as well as sound, and which apply to grown persons as well as to children. A daily washing of the whole body on arising in the morning with the use of soap on certain parts, at least, and with cool fresh water, followed with vigorous rubbing with not too soft a towel, is a valuable aid to health. Let the bath be short and cautiously make it as ccfld as is consistent with thorough reaction, reaction meaning that the person is in a glow all over and warmer after than before the bath was taken. A basin full of water is sufficient for a bhth if a tub, for any good reason, cannot be used.— Youth’s Companion.