Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1877 — The Air-Bath. [ARTICLE]

The Air-Bath.

One needs but to understand that ccnstant contact of the whole surface of the body with atmospheric air is essential to health, and that even a prolonged exclusion of air from the entire exterior of our bodies would be fatal, in order to have confidence in an occasional cold or cool air-bath unobstructed by our clothing. Wherever was man’s original or natural habitat, he has become a cosmopolite; but lacking the hirsute protection of the lower animals, he need? artificial protection from cold it he goes much north of the tropics. That protection, however, must be-of a material pervious to air, although it be ot necessity a hindrance to its free circulation. Our dwellings can hardly be made air-tight, but we Know, through the testimony of our sensations, that an occasional foil ventilation of our bodies has a kindred effect. We all understand the necessity of air to be inspired and expired by the lungs in order to vitalize the blood and maintain the heat, but the physiologists tell us that the skin breathes, too, and though in a less degree and without muscular effort, it is for the same purpose and has, in a measure, the same effect. We learn that when uncomfortably cold, vigorous exercise relieves us: now how is that brought about except by increasing the amount of air inhaled, and thereby increasing the internal combustion t And we shall find, when sitting of a winter’s evening In a room just comfortablv warm, that if we denude ourselves and sit as far from the fire as possible, the chiilnoss that first string fill* soon replaced by' a vigorous glow of warmth and comfort, the com* plete ventilation of the skin adding to its powsr to generate heat. Dr. Franklin evidently appreciated this air-bath, as appears in his essay entitled “ How to avoid unDleasant dreams.” The ftiror for cold water bathing that raged some twenty-five years ago has abated, and the thing stands now more on its merits. I have no doubt this practice has been beneficial in many cases and injurious in others. This and the air-bath may easily be carried to ex-

cess. I have seen a child almost converted into an idiot through its dread of the cold douche to which it had been daily subjected. mbit has much to do in the relish or disrelish of our customary ablutions of the hands and face. The child dreads them, the man finds them a pleasure and & necessity. Cleanliness is a virtue and a health-promoting practice, but I see no more reason in the daily water bath, for the purpose of keeping the pores of the skin open, as many claim,‘than there would be in Inserting a gag to keep the mouth open. The fluid Into which man is bom, and in which he is destined to live, is the atmosphere. He was not made amphibious, else be would have been provided With flippers like a seal; neither has he been created aquatic, or he would have webbed feet or hands. I have no doubt, however, that it was foreordained that he should occasionally fall into the water and be caught out in a shower, but he does not swim by instinct, as do nearly all quadrupeds and birds, when placed in the water either by accident or design. Man in sach cases, if beyond his depth, must drown if he has not learned to swim. The air bath is Nature’s bath, and whoever tries it will most likely find it one of the best remedies for ennui and sleeplessness, either in cold or w»rm weather, by day or by night. I would not detract one iota from the merits of water as a cleanser in all cases, as a cooler in fevers, a warmer in chills, a universal beverage and a most valuable medicine—but its administration in the latter case is not as well understood by the laity as that of calomel or ipecac. I have always thought that the benefits claimed from the ordinary water bath, if they were real, were due to the air bath, that generally precedes and follows the water bath.— Cor. Rural New Yorker.