OF CLEANLINESS >>

fiefit that might arise from them afterwa~ds. Those who make apractice of drinking generous liquors when 7 >ur>g, cannot expect toftap any benefit from them as a cordial in llie decline of life.

Drunkenness is not only in itself a most abominable vice, but is aninducement to many others. There is hardly any crime so horridthat the drunkard will not perpetrate for the love of liquor. Wehave known mothers sell their children's clothes, the food that theyshould have eaten, and afterwards even the children themselves, inorder to purchase the accursed draught.

CHAP. VIII.

OF CLEANLINESS.

THE want of cleanliness is a fault which admits of no excuse.(Vhere water can be had for nothing, it is surely in the power of everyperson to be clean. The continual discharge from our bodies by per-spiration renders frequent change of apparel necessary. Changingapparel greatly promotes the secretion from the skin, so necessary forhealth. When that matter which ought to be carried off by perspi-ration is either retained in the body, or reabsorbed from dirty clothes,it must occasion diseases.

Diseases of the skin are chiefly owing to want of cleanliness. Theymay indeed be caught by infection, or brought on by poor living, un-wholesome food, &c. but they will seldom continue long where clean-liness prevails. To the same cause must we impute the various kindsof vermin which infest the human body, houses, &c. These mayalways be banished by cleanliness alone; and wherever they abound,we have reason to believe it. is neglected.

Mr. Pott, in his Surgical Observations, mentions a disease whichfie calls the chimney sweeper's cancer, as it is almost peculiar to thatunhappy set of people. This he justly attributes to neglect of clean-liness.

One common cause of putrid and malignant fevers is the want ofcleanliness. These fevers commonly begin among the inhabitants ofclose dirty houses, who breath unwholesome air, take little exercise,and wear dirty clothes. There the infection is generally hatched,which often spreads far and wide, to the destruction of many. Hencecleanliness may be considered as an object of public attention. It isnot sufficient that I am clean myself, while the want of it in my neigh-bour affects my health as well as his. [if dirty people cannot be re-moved as a common nuisance, they ought at least to be avoided asinfectious. All who regard their health should keep at a distanceeven from their habitations.

In places where great numbers of people are collected, cleanlinessbecomes of the utmost importance. It is well known that infectiousdiseases are communicated by tainted air: every thing, thereforewhich tends to pollute the air, or spread the infection, ought with the