Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1875 — Health in Summer. [ARTICLE]

Health in Summer.

We presume that even the most confirmed doubter in America will admit without argument that dog-days are upon us. The seasons are not always reliable; they have a way of bringing untimely rains, h avy winds, unexpected droughts and many other apparent ills at the most unexpected periods; .but they never fail to bring a most trying “ spell” of hot weather in August, and of giving the same heated term a faculty of continuity which even devout believers in the wisdom of Providence would fain see transferred to a more desirable sort of weather. Even the people who know that the fruits and the later grains need the August sun to do his whole duty do not perspire any the less freely on that account. Those fortunate souls who can flee to the mountains or tiff, sea-coast for the summer may not be particularly troubled by the heat of the season; butthat great body of humanity which as no vacation but that of Sunday knows by experience that the heated term is to be dreaded. We have no new methods of alleviation to suggest; but there are but few of our readers who will not do well to put into immediate practice all those precautions have always proved beneficial. Among these is the devotion of the utmost attention to personal cleanliness. In no other season do soap and water and frequent change of clothing have so much influence upon the health. The daily bath is within the reach of everyone, ana is one of the most effectual preventives of disease ; and a daily change of all clothing w’hich touches the skin richly pays for the extra labor it occasions. There is not a greater subjectof wonder among physicians than the Yair average condition of health among people who neglect these duties. Heating articles of food and drink should be carefully avoided. Those foods which contain considerable oily or sweet material are necessary in cold weather to supply the requisite amount of physical heat, but in summer they inflame the physique and depress the mind. Fruits, vegetables and farinaceous foods are not only equal to the supplying of all bodily needs in hot weather, but prevent that mental activity which is one of the peculiar torments ofthe system in the heated term. Too much ventilation in hot weather is an impossibility, and a current of air should, if possible, be secured in all living and sleeping rooms. All refuse matter should be quickly removed from residences and the vicinity thereof. In neighborhoods where there is no public arrangement for the collection of garbage each household should see that it is buried, and covered with dry earth when possible. Where neighbors neglect such precautions and pollute the air which is bteathed by more careful people, no mistaken ideas of delicacy or the requirements of friem|ehip should prevent earnest remonstrance, or, if necest, sary, legal proceedings for the removal of nuisances. Finally, nothing but matters of life and death should be allowed to be cause for excitement. The rapid waste and consequent prostration that are induced by excitement are more serious in their effects than anyone not a physiologist even dreams of. The horse who trots a mile is more exhausted than if he had walked over five times as much ground; the parallel holds good in man, but the results are more serious when the mind partakes of the excitement of the body. At best, human energy and force are severely taxed by existence in a temperature equaling that of the blood, and, as vital force is literally the body’s only fortification against disease, it cannot be too carefully husbanded. Doubtless our remarks will suggest other precautions which are well known but too frequently unheeded; too many of them cannot well be put into immediate practice, and there are few of them which will hot, when applied, speedily show beneficial results.— Christian Union.