"Dietary is the princ.i.p.al point in the treatment of corpulence (also in rheumatic diseases, and even in incipient paralysis). If properly regulated, it becomes in a certain sense a medicine. It purifies the blood, strengthens the muscles and viscera, and sweetens life if it does not prolong it."

1769. Advantages of a Regular Life.

The advantages to be derived from a regular mode of living, with a view to the preservation of health and life, are nowhere better exemplified than in the precepts and practice of Plutarch, whose rules for this purpose are excellent; and by observing them himself, he maintained his bodily strength and mental faculties unimpaired to a very advanced age. Galen is a still stronger proof of the advantages of a regular plan, by means of which he is said to have reached the great age of 140 years, without having ever experienced disease. His advice to the readers of his "Treatise on Health" is as follows:

"I beseech all persons who shall read this work not to degrade themselves to a level with the brutes, or the rabble, by gratifying their sloth, or by eating and drinking promiscuously whatever pleases their palates, or by indulging their appet.i.tes of every kind. But whether they understand physic or not, let them consult their reason, and observe what agrees, and what does not agree with them, that, like wise men, they may adhere to the use of such things as conduce to their health, and forbear everything which, by their own experience, they find to do them hurt; and let them be a.s.sured that, by a diligent observation and practice of this rule, they may enjoy a good share of health, and seldom stand in need of physic or physicians."

1770. Health in Youth.

Late hours, irregular habits, and want of attention to diet, are common errors with most young men, and these gradually, but at first imperceptibly, undermine the health, and lay the foundation for various forms of disease in after life. It is a very difficult thing to make young persons comprehend this. They frequently sit up as late as twelve, one, or two o'clock, without experiencing any ill effects; they go without a meal to day, and to-morrow eat to repletion, with only temporary inconvenience. One night they will sleep three or four hours, and the next nine or ten; or one night, in their eagerness to get away into some agreeable company, they will take no food at all, and the next, perhaps, will eat a hearty supper, and go to bed upon it. These, with various other irregularities, are common to the majority of young men, and are, as just stated, the cause of much bad health in mature life. Indeed, nearly all the shattered const.i.tutions with which too many are cursed, are the result of a disregard to the plainest precepts of health in early life.

1771. Disinfecting Liquid.

In a wine bottle of cold water, dissolve two ounces acetate of lead (sugar of lead), and then add two (fluid) ounces of strong nitric acid (aquafortis). Shake the mixture, and it will be ready for use.

A very small quant.i.ty of the liquid, in its strongest form, should be used for cleansing all kinds of chamber utensils. For removing offensive odours, clean cloths thoroughly moistened with the liquid, diluted with eight or ten parts of water, should be suspended at various parts of the room.--In this case the offensive and deleterious gases are neutralized by chemical action.

Fumigation in the usual way is only the subst.i.tution of one odour for another. In using the above, or any other disinfectant, let it never be forgotten that _fresh air_, and plenty of it, is cheaper and more effective than any other material.

1772. Disinfecting Fumigation.

Common salt, three ounces; black manganese, oil of vitriol, of each one ounce; water two ounces; carried in a cup through the apartments of the sick; or the apartments intended to be fumigated, where sickness has been, may be shut up for an hour or two, and then opened.

1773. Coffee a Disinfectant.

Numerous experiments with roasted coffee prove that it is the most powerful means, not only of rendering animal and vegetable effluvia innocuous, but of actually destroying them. A room in which meat in an advanced degree of decomposition had been kept for some time, was instantly deprived of all smell on an open coffee-roaster being carried through it, containing a pound of coffee newly roasted. In another room, exposed to the effluvium occasioned by the clearing out of the dung-pit, so that sulphuretted hydrogen and ammonia in great quant.i.ties could be chemically detected, the stench was completely removed in half a minute, on the employment of three ounces of fresh-roasted coffee, whilst the other parts of the house were permanently cleared of the same smell by being simply traversed with the coffee-roaster, although the cleansing of the dung-pit continued for several hours after.

The best mode of using the coffee as a disinfectant is to dry the raw bean, pound it in a mortar, and then roast the powder on a moderately heated iron plate, until it a.s.sumes a dark brown tint, when it is fit for use. Then sprinkle it in sinks or cess-pools, or lay it on a plate in the room which you wish to have purified. Coffee acid or coffee oil acts more readily in minute quant.i.ties.

1774. Charcoal as a Disinfectant.

The great efficacy of wood and animal charcoal in absorbing effluvia, and the greater number of gases and vapours, has long been known.

Charcoal powder has also, during many centuries, been advantageously employed as a filter for putrid water, the object in view being to deprive the water of numerous organic impurities diffused through it, which exert injurious effects on the animal economy. Charcoal not only absorbs effluvia and gaseous bodies, but especially, when in contact with atmospheric air, oxidize, and destroys many of the easily alterable ones, by resolving them into the simplest combinations they are capable of forming, which are chiefly water and carbonic acid. It is on this oxidizing property of charcoal, as well as on its absorbent power, that its efficacy as a deodorizing and disinfecting agent chiefly depends.

1775. Charcoal as an Antiseptic.

Charcoal is an antiseptic, that is to say, a substance which arrests the decay and decomposition of animal substances. Meat, poultry, game or fish, &c., may be preserved for a longer period in hot weather by sprinkling it with powdered charcoal, which should be washed off in clean cold water before the article is cooked.

1776. Charcoal Respirators.

It has been proposed to employ charcoal ventilators, consisting of a thin layer of charcoal enclosed between two thin sheets of wire gauze, to purify the foul air which is apt to acc.u.mulate in water-closets, in the close wards of hospitals, and in the impure atmospheres of many of the back courts and mews-lanes of large cities, all the impurities being absorbed and retained by the charcoal, while a current of pure air alone is admitted into the neighbouring apartments. In this way pure air may be obtained from exceedingly impure sources. The proper amount of air required by houses in such situations might be admitted through sheets of wire gauze or coa.r.s.e canvas, containing a thin layer of coa.r.s.e charcoal powder.

A tolerably thick charcoal ventilator, as described above, could be very advantageously applied to the gully-holes of common sewers, and to the sinks in private dwellings, the foul water in both cases being carried into the drain by means of tolerably wide syphon pipes, retaining always about a couple of inches of water. Such an arrangement would effectually prevent the escape of any effluvia, would be easy of construction, and not likely to get soon out of order.

In respirators for the mouth the air is made to pa.s.s through a quarter of an inch of coa.r.s.ely powdered charcoal, retained in its place by two sheets of silvered wire gauze, covered over with thin woollen cloth, by which means its temperature is greatly increased. The charcoal respirator possesses a decided advantage over respirators of the ordinary construction, in that all disagreeable effluvia are absorbed by the charcoal, so that comparatively pure air is alone inhaled.

Adaptations may be made to cover the nostrils as well as the mouth, for protecting the wearer against fevers and other infectious diseases, and chiefly for use in chemical works, common sewers, &c., to protect the workmen from the noxious effects of the deleterious gases to which they are frequently exposed.

1777. Charcoal applied to Sores, &c.

Charcoal powder has been most successfully employed at hospitals, to arrest the progress of gangrene and other putrid sores. The charcoal does not require to be put immediately in contact with the sores, but is placed above the dressings, not unfrequently quilted loosely in a little cotton wool. In many cases patients who were rapidly sinking have been restored to health.

1778. Disinfection of Rooms.

Any room, however offensive it may be, can be perfectively deodorized by means of a few trays filled with a thin layer of freshly-heated wood charcoal. From these and other considerations it is evident that charcoal is one of the cheapest and best disinfectants. Unlike many other disinfectants, it evolves no disagreeable vapours, and if heated in close vessels will always act, however long it has been in use, quite as effectively as at first. The efficiency of the charcoal may be greatly increased by making it red-hot before using it. This can easily be done by heating it in an iron saucepan covered with an iron lid. When the charcoal is to be applied to inflammable substances, such as wooden floors, &c., of course it must be allowed to cool in close vessels before being used.

1779. Sir William Burnett's Disinfecting Fluid.

Of late years new disinfectants for the removal of disagreeable and offensive odours, and the preservation of meat, &c., have been brought into use. Sir William Burnett's disinfecting fluid is too well known to require description. It is invaluable in a sick room, and is sold by all chemists and druggists.

1780. Glacialine.

This is a new disinfectant and antiseptic, which is highly recommended and largely used for the preservation of meats, liquids, and all goods of a perishable character from acidity, as in the case of beer, or decomposition. It is sold by most chemists, druggists, and oilmen.

1781. Chloride of Lime.

This substance, which is well known for its bleaching properties is a useful disinfectant. It will neutralise the foul smell arising from drains, closets, &c., when mixed with water and thrown down the pipes whence the smell proceeds. A little dissolved in a bucket of water, when used in scrubbing rooms and pa.s.sages, will purify them and render them wholesome, and also whiten the boards. It is sold by oilmen &c., at 3d. or 4d. per lb.--a much lower rate than that at which it is sold by chemists.

1782. Carbolic Powder and Fluid.

Carbolic acid in a fluid state is a highly concentrated disinfectant, and a strong irritant poison. Care should be taken in its use and storage, as many lives have been lost through taking carbolic acid under the impression that it was some medicine or beverage. It is far safer when in the form of powder which has been impregnated with the acid. The powder has a pink colour, is recommended by the Government, and is sold at the rate of 2d. per pound by oilmen, &c.

1783. Domestic Hints (Sheep Near Sea).

_Why is the flesh of sheep that are fed near the sea more nutritious than that of others?_

Because the saline particles (sea salt) which they find with their green food give purity to their blood and flesh.

1784. Domestic Hints (Marbled Fat in Meat).

_Why does the marbled appearance of fat in meat indicate that it is young and tender?_

Because in young animals fat is dispersed through the muscles, but in old animals it is laid in ma.s.ses on the outside of the flesh.