OF CLEANLINESS
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Were every j>erson, for example, after visiting the sick, handling adead body, or touching any thing that might convey infection, towash before he went into compony, or sat down to meat, he wouldrun less hazard either of catching the infection himself, or of com •municating it to others.
Frequent washing not only removes the filth and sordes which ad-here to the skin, but likewise promotes the perspiration, braces thebody, and enlivens the spirits. How refreshed, how cheerful, andagreeable, does one feel on being shaved, washed, and shifted; espe-cially when these offices have been neglected longer than usual!
The eastern custom of washing the feet, though less necessaryin this country, is nevertheless a very agreeable piece of cleanli-ness, and contributes greatly to the preservation of health. Thesweat and dirt with which these parts are frequently covered, can-not fail to obstruct the perspiration. This piece of cleanliness wouldoften prevent colds and fevers. Were people careful to bathe theirfeet and legs in lukewarm water at night, after being exposed to coldor wet through the day, they would seldom experience the ill effectswhich often proceed from these causes.
A proper attention to cleanlines is no where more necessary thanon shipboard. If epidemical distempers break out there, no one canbe safe. The best way to prevent them, is to take care that thewhole company be cleanly in their clothes, bedding, &c. When in-fectious diseases do break out, cleanliness is the most likely means toprevent their spreading; it is likewise necessary to prevent their re-turning afterwards, or being conveyed to other places. For this purpose, the clothes, bedding, &c. of the sick ought to be carefully wash-ed and fumigated with brimstone. Infection will lodge a long timein dirty clothes, and afterwards break out in the most terrible manner.In places where great numbers of sick people are collected together,cleanliness ought to be most religiously observed. The very smell in^uch places is often sufficient to make one sick. It is easy to imaginewhat effect that is likely to liave upon the diseased. In an hospital orinfirmary, where cleanliness is neglected, a person in perfect health hasa greater chance to become sick, than a sick person has to get well.Few things are more unaccountable than that neglect, or ratherdread of cleanliness, which appears among those who have the careof the sick; they think it almost criminal to suffer any thing that isclean to come near a person in a fever, for example, and would ratherallow him to wallow in all manner of filth, than chawge the least bitof his linen. If cleanliness be necessary for persons in health, it iscertainly more so for the sick. Many persons may be cured by clean-liness alone; most of them might be mitigated by it; and where it isneglected, the slightest disorders are often changed into the most ma-lignant. The same mistaken care which prompted people to preventthe least admission of fresh air to the sick, seems to have inducedthem to keep them dirty. Both these destructive prejudices will, wehope, be soon entirly exploded.
Cleanliness is certainly agreeable to our nature. We cannot helpupprovmg it in others, even though we should not practice it ourselves.
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