EDWARDS’ 
CATECHISM 
* HYGIENE. EDWARDS’ 
Catechism of Hygiene 
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS. 
BY 
JOSEPH F. EDWARDS, A. M., M. D„ 
A MEMBER OF THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA.— 
EDITOR OF “THE ANNALS OF HYGIENE.”—FOREIGN ASSOCIATE 
MEMBER OF THE “ SOCIETE FRANCAISE D’HYGIENE.”— 
FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF PHILA- 
DELPHIA. — MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA 
COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.—MEMBER OF 
THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH 
ASSOCIATION, &C., &C., &C. 
PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH E. EDWARDS, M. D.„ 
223 and 225 south fifth st., 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
1893- Entered, according to Act of Congress, 
in the year 1892, by 
Joseph F. Edwards, M. D., 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, 
at Washington, D. C. This little book is intended as an introduc- 
tion to the study of hygiene. It is the frame 
work upon which the superstructure of hygienic 
knowledge is intended to be built. 
It is suggested that the questions and an- 
swers in this book should be committed to 
memory, as are the A B C’s. 
These questions and answers really contain 
the essence of the whole science of hygiene, 
and, when they have been memorized, the 
pupil will be ready to take up the more ad- 
vanced books on the subject and read them 
with intelligent understanding. This book has received the unqualified ap- 
proval of some of the most distinguished men 
of letters in the United States. A circular 
containing extracts from these letters will be 
forwarded upon application. CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
LESSON I. 
General Considerations 7 
LESSON II. 
Disease; What It Js and How to Avoid It . . . 12 
LESSON III. 
Digestion; Care of the Bowels 27 
LESSON IV. 
Eating—Food, What It Is and What It Does ... 34 
LESSON y. 
Ventilation—Pure and Impure Air—Breathing ... 42 
LESSON VI. 
Exercise . 53 
LESSON VII. 
Cleanliness—Bathing 58 
V VI 
CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
LESSON VIII. 
Sleep 69 
LESSON IX. 
Clothing 74 
LESSON X. 
Water and Drinks—Alcohol 82 
LESSON XI. 
Care of the Eyes and Ears 89 
LESSON XII. 
Our Homes 94 
LESSON XIII. 
Our Cities 101 
LESSON XIV. 
Our Habits - 103 EDWARDS’ 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
LESSON I. 
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 
Q. 1. What is hygiene? 
A. The knowledge that enables us to avoid 
disease; to preserve our health and to live to 
old age. 
Q. 2. What is the aim of hygiene ? 
A. To make growth more perfect, decay less 
rapid, life more vigorous, death more remote. 
Q. 3. Can we avoid disease ? 
A. Yes; in many cases, disease is avoidable. 
Q. 4. How can we avoid disease ? 
A. We can avoid disease by strictly obeying 
all the laws of nature. 
Q. 5. Who ordained the laws of nature ? 
A. God ordained the laws of nature; He 8 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
established certain rules and regulations for our 
guidance, and He allows us the free will to obey 
or disregard these laws as we may choose. 
Q. 6. Does not God send disease ? 
A. No; God does not send disease directly 
to us, but he allows us to be punished by dis- 
ease if we do not obey the laws of nature that 
he has established. 
Q. 7. What do you mean by the laws of na- 
ture ? 
A. By the laws of nature I mean the rules 
that govern the growth, reproduction and de- 
cay of everything that has life. 
Q. 8. If then, no one ought to die of disease, 
is it possible for us to live forever ? 
A. No; God has ordered that every living 
thing must die, but not, necessarily, of disease. 
Q. 9. How then should we die ? 
A. If we obey the laws of nature we will live 
until we have exhausted the vitality with which 
God has endowed us at birth. 
Q. 10. In what manner ought a person, who 
obeys the laws of nature, to die ? CATECHISM OP HYGIENE. 
9 
A. A person who obeys the laws of nature 
ought never to be sick, and, after having 
reached a good old age, he should grow grad- 
ually weaker, until, when his vital strength is 
exhausted, he falls asleep and wakes no more. 
Q. 11. What do you mean by vital strength? 
A. By vital strength I mean the power to 
live, that is born with each and every one of us. 
Q. 12. Is the same amount of vital strength 
born in each person? 
A. No; the amount varies according to the 
strength and health of our parents. 
Q. 13. What do you mean by vital inherit- 
ance? 
A. By vital inheritance I mean that measure 
of strength and health that is transmitted to us 
from our parents. 
Q. 14. If our parents are not strong and our 
vital inheritance is small are we, necessarily, 
doomed to a short life ? 
A. By no means; if we are careful to obey 
the laws of nature we will greatly increase and 
strengthen our vital inheritance and thus 10 
CATECHISM OF HYGIEJSE. 
escape the penalty of disease and premature 
death which we have inherited from our par- 
ents. 
Q. 15. What do you mean by hereditary dis- 
ease ? 
A. By hereditary disease I mean that what- 
ever disease has existed in the parents is very 
likely to occur in the children. 
Q. 16. Can we do anything to prevent the 
development of hereditary disease ? 
A. Yes; by a general observance of the laws 
of nature and by a special observance of meas- 
ures calculated to strengthen the part that is 
weak, by inheritance, we can prevent the de- 
velopment of hereditary disease. 
Q. 17. In what manner is hereditary disease 
perpetuated ? 
A. Whatever part may be the seat of disease 
in the parent will be wreak and liable to disease 
in the child. 
Q. 18. Does God object to our learning the 
laws of nature ? 
A. No; God has given us intelligence in CATECHISM OF HYGIEEjt,: 
11 
order that we should learn how best to love 
Him and to serve Him, and if we learn how to 
have good health we will be better able to 
serve Him, and it will make us better Christians. 
Q. 19. Why will good health make us better 
Christians ? 
A. Because good health of the body makes 
good health of the mind and a healthy mind 
will be more inclined to goodness, purity and 
morality than will be a mind that is diseased. 
Q. 20. Is it sinful to neglect our health ? 
A. It is sinful to neglect our health; it is a 
mortal sin to commit suicide, and he who neg- 
lects his health is, thereby, committing slow 
suicide. 
Q. 21. Is it wrong to take medicine without 
advice ? 
A. Yes; medicines used when they are not 
required are very injurious to health. 12 
CA TECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
LESSON II. 
DISEASE; WHAT IT IS; HOW DIVIDED AND 
HOW TO AVOID IT. 
Q. 22. What is disease? 
A. A derangement of some portion of the 
body by which the function of this part is in- 
terfered with. 
Q. 23. What do yon mean by function ? 
A. By function I mean the duty that any 
particular part of the body plays in the main- 
tenance of life. 
Q. 24. Give some illustrations of function. 
A. It is the function of the eye to see; of the 
ear to hear; of the nose to smell; of the tongue 
to taste. 
Q. 25. Into how many grand divisions is dis- 
ease divided ? 
A. Disease is divided into two grand divis- 
ions, acute and chronic CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
13 
Q. 26. What do you mean by acute disease ? 
A. By acute disease I mean a disease gener- 
ally caused by the introduction of some poison 
from without into the body. 
Q. 27. What do you mean by chronic disease? 
A. By chronic disease I mean a disease that 
is characterized by a change in the tissue or 
structure of the organ that is affected. 
Q. 28. What are the distinguishing points of 
acute disease ? 
A. Acute disease generally makes the person 
very sick, confines him to bed or to the house 
for a time and terminates either in death or 
restoration to health. 
Q. 29. What are the distinguishing points of 
chronic disease ? 
A. Chronic disease is slow in its course; it 
may last for many years and, usually, it does 
not make the person feel very sick until near a 
fatal termination; acute disease is open and 
frank and easily recognizable; chronic disease 
is masked, insidious and must be carefully 
looked for or it will not be found. 14 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 30. Does acute disease ever become 
chronic ? 
A. Yes; very often, if an acute disease is 
neglected it will result in a chronic disease. 
Q. 31. Is acute disease always fatal? 
A. No; only about one out of every five per- 
sons sick with acute disease will die. 
Q. 32. Is chronic disease always fatal ? 
A. Yes; chronic disease is, all the time, 
tending toward a fatal termination. 
Q. 33. Can we cure chronic disease ? 
A. No; we cannot cure chronic disease, but, 
by obeying the laws of nature, we can hold it 
in check and thus ward off a fatal termination. 
Q. 34. Can you give me a popular illustra- 
tion of the difference between acute and chronic 
disease ? 
A. Yes; if you take a new carriage, with a 
broken wheel, it will represent acute disease, 
because the carriage is sound except for one 
weakness, and when you repair this wheel the 
carriage is as good as ever; but, if you take a 
carriage the axles and wheels and springs and CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
15 
body of which are all old and weak and worn 
out, it will represent chronic disease, because 
you can never make this carriage sound and 
strong again, but, if you are careful, you can 
drive it about for a long time before it will 
break down. 
Q. 35. How do you divide acute diseases? 
A. Into contagious and non-contagious dis- 
eases. 
Q. 36. What do you mean by a contagious 
disease? 
A. By a contagious disease I mean a disease 
that can be caught by one person from another. 
Q. 37. Name the contagious diseases. 
A. Scarlet Fever; Measles ; Diphtheria; 
Whooping Cough; Small-pox; Yellow Fever; 
Cholera; Chicken-pox. 
Q. 38. What is the best way to avoid con- 
tagious diseases ? 
A. The best way to avoid contagious diseases 
is to keep as far away as possible from the 
neighborhood of any one who is sick with any 
of them. 16 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 39. What is the duty of the parents of a 
family in which there is some contagious dis- 
ease ? 
A. It is the duty of the head of every family 
in which there may be a contagious disease to 
tack a card on the front door stating that such 
disease exists so that visitors may be warned 
away from the danger. 
Q. 40. What is the cause of contagious dis- 
ease ? 
A. The cause of contagious disease is a little 
germ, or seed, so small that it cannot be seen 
with the naked eye. 
Q. 41. How does this germ cause disease? 
A. When this germ enters the body it grows 
and multiplies, and when a vast number of 
them have accumulated in the body they give 
out a poison that causes the sickness. 
Q. 42. Can these germs be carried in letters? 
A. Yes; it is very dangerous for any one to 
receive a letter or anything else that has come 
from the room of a person who is sick with a 
contagious disease. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
17 
Q. 43. How long will these germs retain 
their power to cause disease ? 
A. For a very long time; it is not safe to 
ever handle anything that has been in contact 
writh, or close to, a person who has had a con- 
tagious disease, until it has been disinfected. 
Q. 44. What do you mean by disinfection ? 
A. By disinfection I mean the destruction of 
the life of these germs. 
Q. 45. Are these germs alive ? 
A. Yes; the germs of disease are just as 
much alive as is my own body; they are capa- 
ble of growth and reproduction. 
Q. 46. What do you mean by reproduction ? 
A. By reproduction I mean that each one of 
these little germs has the power of producing 
an almost infinite number of germs, equal in 
size, shape and power to cause disease, to itself. 
Q. 47. Can a germ that is dead cause dis- 
ease? 
A. No; a disease germ without life is harm- 
less. 
Q. 48. How do we disinfect articles that have 18 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
been in contact with a person sick with a con- 
tagious disease ? 
A. By subjecting them to the action of heat 
and certain chemical agents. 
Q. 49. Will heat destroy the life of a disease 
germ? 
A. Yes; a temperature of 250° Fahrenheit 
will destroy the life of any disease germ and 
will rob it of its power to cause disease. 
Q. 50. Will cold destroy disease germs ? 
A. No; even freezing will not destroy disease 
germs; it will make them dormant, but when 
they are again brought into a warm place they 
will regain all their activity and power to cause 
disease. 
Q. 51. What chemical agents will destroy 
disease germs? 
A. There are a number of chemical agents 
that will destroy the life of these germs, but 
the most reliable is corrosive sublimate. 
Q. 52. What caution must be observed in 
the use of corrosive sublimate ? 
A. We must never forget that corrosive sub- CA TECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
19 
limate is a poison, and that if we swallow the 
solution that is intended for disinfection it will 
destroy our lives. 
Q. 53. Is there any danger in handling cor- 
rosive sublimate? 
A. No; there is no danger unless we swal- 
low it. 
Q. 54. What do you mean by isolation ? 
A. By isolation I mean keeping the sick 
person away from everybody else and every- 
body else away from the sick person. 
Q. 55. What do you accomplish by isola- 
tion? 
A. By isolation you prevent the disease 
germs from passing from the sick person to 
those who are well. 
Q. 56. What, then, are the two chief factors 
in the prevention of contagious diseases ? 
A. The two chief factors in preventing the 
spread of contagious diseases are isolation, 
which consists in keeping the sick and the 
well apart, and disinfection, which consists in 
the destruction of the life of the germs. 20 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 57. Will isolation and disinfection restrain 
the spread of contagious disease ? 
A. Yes; if faithfully and universally carried 
out, isolation and disinfection would, ultimately, 
eradicate contagious diseases. 
Q. 58. What do you mean by a non-contagious 
acute disease? 
A. By a non-contagious acute disease I mean 
an acute disease that is not capable of trans- 
mission from one person to another. 
Q. 59. Give some examples of non-contagious 
acute diseases. 
A. Inflammation of the Stomach, Pleurisy 
and Rheumatism are acute non-contagious dis- 
eases. 
Q. 60. If germs are the cause of contagious 
diseases, what are the causes of non-contagious 
diseases ? 
A. The causes of non-contagious diseases are 
very numerous, but they may all be referred to 
some fault of our own, to some disregard of the 
laws of nature. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
21 
Q. 61. Is it dangerous to kiss strange per- 
sons? 
A. Yes; muck disease is conveyed from one 
person to another by kissing; we should never 
allow any strange person to kiss us, and we 
should discourage the practice that is so com- 
mon for everybody to kiss babies. 
Q. 62. Is it dangerous t® pet and fondle 
strange animals? 
A. Yes; cats and dogs are subject to diseases 
very much like those of human beings, and 
much disease and many deaths are caused by 
children picking up and petting strange ani- 
mals that they see on the street or that wander 
into the house. 
Q. 63. What do you say of public funerals 
of persons who have died of contagious dis- 
ease? 
A A body that is dead of a contagious dis- 
ease can give the disease to other persons just 
the same as a live sick person can, and the 
funeral of such a person should always be 
strictly private. 22 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 64. What do you say about funerals in 
general ? 
A. A great deal of sickness is caused at 
funerals by the friends standing about the 
grave, on cold days, with their hats off; this 
is a very bad custom, and we should always 
keep our hats on our heads at funerals. 
Q. 65. Is there a difference in the healthful- 
ness of different occupations ? 
A. Yes; the nature of a person’s occupation 
has a great influence upon his health. 
Q. 66. What is the most healthful occupa- 
tion ? 
A. Clergymen are the most healthy of all 
men. 
Q. 67. Why are clergymen so healthy ? 
A. Because it is their duty to become famil- 
iar with the laws of God, or of nature, and, 
having learned, to obey them. 
Q. 68. What is the most unhealthful occupa- 
tion ? 
A. Hotel waiters are the most unhealthy of 
all men. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
23 
Q. 69. Why are hotel waiters so unhealthy ? 
A. Because hotel waiters are all the time 
eating the food and drinking the liquor that 
the guests leave at the table; they thus ruin 
their stomachs and destroy their health. 
Q. 70. Upon what does the health of our 
bones depend ? 
A. The health of our bones, as of all other 
parts of our body, depends upon good food, 
properly digested. 
Q. 71. If our bones are not healthy what will 
be the result ? 
A. If our bones are not healthy they will be 
weak, and, if they are weak, we will not have 
straight bodies, and our bones will break easily. 
Q. 72. What is the cause of bow legs ? 
A. Bow legs are caused by allowing small 
babies to stand on their feet too soon, particu- 
larly if the bones are weak. 
Q. 73. What do you mean by longevity ? 
A. By longevity I mean the acquisition of 
old age. 
Q. 74. Who was George Bancroft? 24 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
A. George Bancroft was a great historian, 
who died a few years ago at the great age 
of ninety-two. 
Q. 75. What lessons in longevity can we 
draw from the life of George Bancroft ? 
A. From the long and useful life of George 
Bancroft we can draw the following valuable 
lessons: 
1. Live as much as possible out of doors, 
never letting a day pass without 
spending, at least, three or four hours 
in the open air. 
2. Keep all the powers of body and mind 
occupied in pleasant work. The mus- 
cles should be developed and the 
mind kept active. 
3. Avoid excesses of all kinds; whether of 
food, drink or whatever nature they 
may be. Be moderate in all things. 
4. Never despair; be cheerful at all times; 
never give way to anger; never let 
the trials of one day pass over to the 
next. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
25 
Q. 76. Wliat is the “Tripod of Longevity? ” 
A. A sound stomach; a warm house and a 
good temper, all working together will greatly 
help us to attain old age. 
Q. 77. Can you give me some rules of health 
for winter ? 
A. 1. Never lean with the back upon any» 
thing that is cold. 
2. Never take warm drinks and then im- 
mediately go out into the cold. 
3. Keep the back, especially between the 
shoulder blades, well covered; also 
the chest well protected. In sleep- 
ing in a cold room, establish the 
habit of breathing through the nose, 
and never with the mouth open. 
4. Never go to bed with cold or damp feet. 
5. Never omit regular bathing. 
6. After exercise of any kind, never ride 
in an open carriage or near the open 
window of a car for a moment. 
7. When hoarse, speak as little as possi- 
ble until the hoarseness is recovered 26 
CA TECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
from, else the voice may be perma- 
nently lost, or disease of the throat 
be produced. 
8. Merely warm the back by a fire and 
never continue keeping the back 
exposed to heat after it has become 
uncomfortably warm; such exposure 
is weakening. 
9. When going from a warm atmosphere 
into a cooler one keep the mouth 
closed, so that the air may be 
warmed by its passage through the 
nose before it reaches the lungs. 
10. Never stand still in cold weather, out 
of doors, especially after having taken 
a slight degree of exercise, and al- 
ways avoid standing on ice or snow, 
or where the body is exposed to a 
cold wTind. CA TECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
27 
LESSON III. 
DIGESTION—CARE OF THE BOWELS. 
Q. 78. What do you mean by digestion ? 
A. By digestion I mean the process by which 
the food that we eat is converted into blood. 
Q. 79. Where does digestion take place ? 
A. Digestion commences in the mouth; is 
continued in the stomach and is completed 
in the bowels. 
Q. 80. What is the nature of digestion ? 
A. Digestion is a chemical process by which 
the food that we eat is so acted upon by the 
juices of the body that it is converted into a 
red liquid, called blood, which gives nourish- 
ment to the body. 
Q. 81. What is the first step in digestion? 
A. The first step in digestion, and a most 
important one, is the chewing of food by our 
teeth. 28 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 82. Is it necessary for us to chew our 
food? 
A. God placed teeth in the mouth and not 
in the stomach, because it is absolutely neces- 
sary that our food should be thoroughly broken 
up by our teeth, in chewing, and well mixed 
with saliva, in the mouth, before it is swal- 
lowed into the stomach. 
Q. 83. If we do not chew our tood what will 
be the result ? 
A. If we swallow our _ood without chewing 
it, it cannot be properly digested in the stom- 
ach; it cannot be converted into good blood 
and the body will not be properly nourished. 
Q. 84. What do you mean by dyspepsia or 
indigestion ? 
A. By dyspepsia or indigestion I mean that 
the food is not properly digested and converted 
into blood. 
Q. 85. What are the causes of dyspepsia ? 
A. The causes of dyspepsia are many, but 
chief among them is failure to chew our food; 
anything that exhausts or irritates the stomach CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
29 
will also cause dyspepsia; lienee, if we eat 
when we are very tired, or if we do too much 
work immediately after eating, it will cause 
dyspepsia. 
Q. 86. Will drinking liquor cause dyspepsia? 
A. Yes; if we use it too freely it will so irri- 
tate the stomach that it cannot properly digest 
our food. 
Q. 87. What will be the ultimate effects of 
dyspepsia? 
A. If dyspepsia or indigestion be long con- 
tinued it will result in a weakened condition of 
the body, because of poor nourishment, and in 
such a poorly-nourished condition of the organs 
of the body as to favor the production of chronic 
disease thereof. 
Q. 88. How can you avoid dyspepsia ? 
A. You can avoid dyspepsia by eating proper 
food, at regular hours; by thoroughly chewing 
this food and mixing it well with saliva in the 
mouth; by swallowing it slowly into the stom- 
ach and by sitting quietly for fifteen minutes 
after eat in 2:. 30 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 89. Will exercise help digestion ? 
A. Yes; a walk, taken half an hour after 
eating, will greatly help digestion. 
Q. 90. Does indigestion, or dyspepsia, ever 
cause bad temper ? 
A. Yes; a person who suffers from dyspepsia 
will be very likely to have a bad temper. 
Q. 91. Is it important that we should have 
our meals at regular hours ? 
A. It is very important that we should have 
our meals at regular hours, because in this way 
only can the stomach secure the rest that it 
requires. 
Q. 92. Is it healthful to eat between meals ? 
A. We should never allow ourselves to suffer 
from hunger, and if we are really hungry, and 
it will be some time before the meal hour, it 
will do us no harm to eat a few crackers or a 
piece of dry bread. 
Q. 93. Is it wrong to eat our meals when we 
are over-heated or excited by play or work ? 
A. Yes; we should always sit quietly for a 
few minutes before commencing to eat; if we CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
31 
are over-heated or excited we cannot properly 
digest our food. 
Q. 94. What do you say of the boxes in which 
children carry their lunch to school ? 
A. Tin or wooden boxes should never be used 
to carry lunch to school, as they become soiled 
by the food, and it is impossible to keep them 
perfectly clean. 
Q. 95. How should we carry our lunch ? 
A. We should carry our lunch in a napkin, 
that can be washed, or, better still, in a piece 
of clean wrapping paper that can be thrown 
away. 
Q. 96. What do you mean by constipation? 
A. By constipation I mean that a person does 
not have a movement from the bowels every day. 
Q. 97. Is it necessary that we should have 
daily movements? 
A. Yes; it is absolutely necessary; it is im- 
possible for a person to have continued good 
health without daily movements. 
Q. 98. How can we secure such daily move- 
ments ? 32 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
A. We can secure daily movements by culti- 
vating the habit of having them at the same 
hour every day, and, when this habit has been 
established, by persevering in it. 
Q. 99. When we have established this habit 
what will be the result if we neglect the incli- 
nation ? 
A. If we neglect the inclination at the regu- 
lar hour it will not manifest itself until the 
next day, and if we repeatedly neglect the in- 
clination we will become constipated. 
Q. 100. If we become constipated will it 
cause disease ? 
A. Yes; there is no one agency that causes 
more disease than constipation. 
Q. 101. Why is constipation so dangerous? 
A. Because that which we evacuate is the 
waste or refuse of the body, and if we do not 
pass it away it will depress all the functions of 
the body, will poison us and will make us very 
susceptible to the cause of any disease that 
may approach near to us. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
33 
Q. 102. Can you give a popular illustration 
of the evil effects of constipation ? 
A. Yes; if you do not regularly rake down 
the ashes in a stove and remove them, the fire 
cannot burn brightly; you may pile on the 
coal, but you will get very little heat. 
Q. 103. How do you apply this comparison? 
A. That which you evacuate from the bowels 
are the ashes of the human body, and if you do 
not regularly remove them the vital fire of the 
body cannot burn properly, just as the fire in 
the stove will not burn if it be choked by ashes. 
Q. 104. Is it right to take medicine to secure 
these movements? 
A. No; it is very injurious to make a prac- 
tice of taking such medicine; it will make the 
constipation worse; the habit should be ac- 
quired by regularity. 34 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
LESSON" IV. 
FOOD; WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES; 
EATING. 
Q. 105. What do you mean by food ? 
A. That which I eat is called food. 
Q. 106. Is food necessary for life ? 
A. Yes; without food life would be impos- 
sible. 
Q. 107. Why is food so necessary to life ? 
A. Because life consists in a breaking down 
and building up of the tissues of the body, and 
we require food to build up that which the act 
of living has broken down. 
Q. 108. How does food build up the body ? 
A. The food that we eat is digested in the 
mouth, stomach and bowels and is converted 
into blood, and this blood gives nourishment to 
the body and builds it up. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
35 
Q. 109. How does the blood nourish the body? 
A. The blood, which is a red liquid, flows all 
over the body in little tubes or pipes, and it 
contains everything that is necessary to repair 
any part of the body. 
Q. 110. Give an illustration of how the blood 
repairs the body. 
A. Just as the carpenter, with his tools, will 
walk through a house and drive a nail here and 
add a strip of wood there and plane down a 
door that is too large and put on a little paint 
where it is worn off and fill a hole with putty, 
so the blood, flowing all over the body, will 
leave at each part of the body that which may 
be required to keep it in good condition. 
Q. 111. If the blood is not good can we have 
good health? 
A. No; if the blood is not good it will be 
impossible for us to have good health. 
Q. 112. How can we secure good blood? 
A. We can make good blood by properly eat- 
ing good food and by being careful to keep our 36 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
stomachs in good condition, so that they can 
properly digest this food. 
Q. 113. How can we keep onr stomachs in 
good condition? 
A. We can keep our stomachs in good condi- 
tion by eating slowly; thoroughly chewing our 
food and avoiding everything that would tend 
to irritate our stomachs. 
Q. 114. What kind of things will irritate the 
stomach ? 
A. Any kind of liquQr; very highly-seasoned 
food; sauces; anything that “bites” the tongue 
will irritate the stomach. 
Q. 115. What do you mean by highly-sea- 
soned food? 
A. By highly-seasoned food I mean food in 
the cooking of which a great deal of pepper or 
mustard or spices or irritating sauces have been 
used. 
Q. 116. Should our food be well cooked? 
A. Yes; our food should be well cooked, par- 
ticularly that which is derived from animals, 
because animals have many diseases, the germs CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
37 
of which are in their flesh, and if we eat these 
germs they may cause disease in us, unless we 
have first killed them by thorough cooking. 
Q. 117. How should our food be cooked? 
A. It should be boiled or roasted or baked 
or broiled, but never fried. 
Q. 118. Why should we not fry our food ? 
A. Because it is very hard for the stomach 
to digest food that is fried. 
Q. 119. Do wre require a variety of food? 
A. Yes; while life can be sustained, for a 
time, on a single article of food, the best health 
is secured by a varied diet. 
Q. 120. What is the best kind of food ? 
A. For children, the best food is that which 
is plain; vegetables and meat; bread and but- 
ter ; milk and custards are the best. All fancy 
dishes should be avoided by children. 
Q. 121. Are coffee and tea good for us? 
A. There is no nourishment in coffee and 
tea; they will not repair the body, and will be 
injurious to children. 38 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 122. What do you say about cocoa? 
A. Cocoa is very nourishing, and will make 
a good drink for children. 
Q. 123. Is ice cream a healthful thing to eat? 
A. Yes; ice cream is healthful if it is made 
from pure articles and eaten at the right time. 
Q. 124. When is the right time to eat ice 
cream ? 
A. Ice cream may be eaten at any time, ex- 
cept at the end of a hearty meal; it is very 
bad for digestion to complete a meal with ice 
cream or any very cold article. 
Q. 125. Why are very cold articles unhealth- 
ful at the close of a meal ? 
A. Because the stomach and its contents 
must be warm in order that digestion may be 
properly performed, and any very cold articles, 
such as ice cream, will so chill the stomach 
and its contents that digestion will be seriously 
interfered with. 
Q. 126. Is milk a good food ? 
A. Yes; milk is a very good food for every- 
body. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
39 
Q. 127. What is the proper way to drink 
milk ? 
A. We should never “gulp” milk down; the 
proper way to drink milk is to sip it slowly. 
Q. 128. What do you say about candy ? 
A. A little good, pure candy will not do us 
any harm, but much of the candy that is for 
sale in the stores is very impure, and will ruin 
our health; if we eat very much, even of good 
candy, it will ruin our teeth and spoil our 
stomachs. 
Q. 129. What do you say about children 
hurrying off to school, in the morning, without 
breakfast ? 1 
A. It is a most injurious practice that will, 
sooner or later, ruin the health of any child 
and make him an invalid for life. A child 
should never be allowed to start to school until 
a good breakfast has been eaten. 
Q. 130. What do you mean by the adultera- 
tion of food ? 
A. By the adulteration of food I mean that 
those who sell us our food will mix with it 40 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
something that is cheaper than the article they 
are selling and that looks like it. 
Q. 131. Give an illustration of the adultera- 
tion of food. 
A. White sugar is often adulterated with a 
white earth. 
Q. 132. Why is food adulterated ? 
A. Because by selling a cheaper article at 
the same price as a dearer one the storekeeper 
makes more money. 
Q. 133. Is adulteration of food injurious to 
health ? 
A. Some forms of adulteration are injurious 
to health; all adulteration is not so injurious, 
but all of it is fraud. 
Q. 134. How can we prevent this adultera- 
tion? 
A. We can prevent adulteration by having 
all the people insist upon pure food, and by 
having laws to punish those who adulterate food. 
Q. 135. Is much of our food adulterated ? 
A. Yes; a very large proportion of the arti- 
cles that we eat are adulterated. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
41 
Q. 136. If you swallow a penknife, or a coin, 
or a marble, or anything like this, what should 
you do ? 
A. If you swallow any foreign article do not 
get frightened; when it is swallowed all dan- 
ger is passed. Eat quantities of mashed pota- 
toes and bread dipped in milk, and look for 
the foreign body in the discharges from the 
bowels. Do not take any medicine. 42 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
LESSON Y. 
VENTILATION—PURE AND IMPURE AIR- 
BREATHING. 
Q. 137. What do you mean by ventilation ? 
A. By ventilation I mean the admission of 
pure air into, and the removal of impure air 
from, a house or room. 
Q. 138. What do you mean by pure air? 
A. By pure air I mean the air as it exists in 
nature, without any foulness or impurity. 
Q. 139. What is the composition of pure air? 
A. Pure air consists of a mixture of oxygen 
and nitrogen. 
Q. 140. What relative proportions have these 
ingredients to each other ? 
A. In one hundred parts of pure air there will 
be twenty-one parts of oxygen and seventy-nine 
parts of nitrogen. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
43 
Q. 141. What do you mean by impure air? 
A. By impure air I mean air that has in it 
disease germs; or gases that have been formed 
from the decomposition of organic matter; par- 
ticles of harmful dust, or anything that will be 
injurious to health. 
Q. 142. Is pure air necessary to health ? 
A. Yes; it is absolutely necessary that we 
should breathe pure air. 
Q. 143. What do you mean by inspiration ? 
A. By inspiration I mean the act of breath- 
ing air into the lungs. 
Q. 144. What do you mean by expiration ? 
A. By expiration I mean the act of breath- 
ing air out of the lungs. 
Q. 145. Is the air that we breathe out of 
the lungs pure ? 
A. No; the air that we breathe out of our 
lungs is full of carbonic acid, and is not pure. 
Q. 146. Would the air that we breathe out 
of our lungs be suitable for another person to 
breathe into his lungs ? 
A. No; ii such air were breathed in it would 44 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
not support healthy life and would make us 
sick. 
Q. 147. What part of the air is necessary to 
life? 
A. The oxygen is the element that supports 
life. 
Q. 148. If you were shut up in a box, so 
tight that no air could get into it, what would 
happen ? 
A. As soon as you had breathed all the oxy- 
gen in this box you would die. 
Q. 149. If you are all the time in a room in 
which there is too little oxygen and too much 
carbonic acid, what will happen ? 
A. There will not be enough oxygen in the 
air to support healthy life; you will not be 
strong and well, and you will be very liable to 
catch any disease that you may come into con- 
tact with. 
Q. 150. How can you get enough oxygen to 
give you health ? 
A. By passing as much of your life as pos- 
sible in the open air. out of doors, and, when CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
45 
you are in the house, by having good ventila- 
tion and by being careful that there are not 
too many persons in a room at one time. 
Q, 151. How much air does a person require? 
A. Each person requires about three thou- 
sand cubic feet of air every hour. 
Q. 152. Is it necessary for each person to have 
three thousand cubic feet of space in a room? 
A. No; the air from outside will come through 
the cracks of windows and doors and through 
the brick and stone walls, so as to be, all the 
time, bringing in a fresh supply of oxygen and 
letting the impure air get out. 
Q. 153. How much space, then, ought there 
to be in a room for each person ? 
A. There ought to be about five hundred 
cubic feet of space. 
Q. 154. What do you mean by this ? 
A. I mean that in a school-room or a lecture- 
hall or a work-room or a factory there ought to 
be five hundred cubic feet of space for every 
person who occupies the room. 46 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 155. Give an illustration of what yo’i 
mean by your last answer. 
A. If a room is twenty feet long and twenty 
feet wide and ten feet high it will contain four 
thousand cubic feet of space, and will be largo 
enough, therefore, for eight persons to ocj 
cupy it. 
Q. 156. How do you find out how many 
cubic feet of space there are in a room ? 
A. To find out the number of cubic feet of 
space in a room you multiply the length of the 
room by its width; then you multiply this re- 
sult by the height. 
Q. 157. If you have the windows open do 
you require so much space ? 
A. No; if the windows are open, about half 
this space, or two hundred and fifty cubic feet 
for each person, will be enough. 
Q. 158. Is it proper to have the windows 
open ? 
A. Yes; whenever it is not too cold to allow 
it, we should have our windows open; it is not; 
natural for persons to live in houses, and when CATECHISM of hygiene. 
47 
we do so we ought to let as much pure air 
come into the house from outside as possible. 
Q. 159. Are persons who live in the open 
air stronger and healthier than those who live 
in houses? 
A. Yes; the Indians and all wandering tribes 
who live in tents, and are always in the open air, 
are healthier than persons who live in houses. 
Q. 160. What do you mean by a draught? 
A. When a current of air is blowing directly 
through a room it is called a draught, and if 
we are in a position so that this current of air 
strikes our bodies, we are said to be in a 
draught. 
Q. 161. Are these draughts dangerous to 
health ? 
A. These draughts will do no harm to a 
strong, healthy person, unless he happens to 
be over-heated, as from running or hard play. 
Q. 162. Will these draughts be injurious to 
a person who is weak ? 
A. Yes; if a person who is not very strong 48 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE, 
Bits or stands in a draught he will be very 
likely to take cold. 
Q. 163. Is it not better to avoid draughts? 
A. Yes; the safest course for all is to avoid 
draughts. ' 
Q. 164. How can we avoid draughts and yet 
allow the air to blow in the window ? 
A. In order to have good ventilation wTe must 
have an inlet for pure and an outlet for foul air; 
if we open a window and a door directly oppo- 
site to each other we will have a draught, but, 
if we open a window at one end of the room on 
one side and a door at the other end on the 
other side, we will have ventilation without a 
draught. 
Q. 165. What part of the window is it best 
to open ? 
A. It is best to pull the upper sash down 
about four inches, because the foulest air is 
nearest the ceiling. 
Q. 166. Do we require fresh air at night in 
our bed-rooms ? 
A. Yes; we should have the upper sash of CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
49 
the window in onr bed-rooms lowered every 
night. 
Q. 167. Should we have the window open in 
winter ? 
A. Yes; even on the coldest nights of winter 
we should have the window opened, but we 
should have enough clothing to keep us warm, 
and wre should be careful that the bed is not 
in a draught. 
Q. 168. Is night air injurious? 
A. No; night air is not injurious to a persor 
in good health. 
Q. 169. Can you give an illustration of the 
poisonous effects of foul air ? 
A. Yes; the famous “Black Hole of Cal- 
cutta7’ will well illustrate this point. Many 
years ago one hundred and forty-six English 
prisoners were crowded, one night, into a little 
room, with only one window; in the morning 
one hundred and twenty-three of these pris- 
oners were found dead. 
Q. 170. What killed them? 
A. They died because there was not enough 50 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
oxygen in the air of this little room to keep 
them alive; after they had breathed in all the 
oxygen that was in the room and had breathed 
out carbonic acid they were obliged to breathe 
back again this carbonic acid, because the one 
window in the room could not let in enough 
oxygen for all of these men. 
Q. 171. Is carbonic acid poisonous? 
A. Yes; if we breathe carbonic acid in its 
pure state it will kill us in a few minutes, and 
if there is much of it in the air that we breathe 
it will make us very weak and sick. 
Q. 172. Where does this carbonic acid come 
from ? , 
A. It is formed in our bodies, and we 
breathe it out when we expire. 
Qo 173. Give an illustration of how neces- 
sary pure air is for health. 
A. We could live for several weeks without 
food, and for several days without water, 
but we could not live five minutes without 
airQ CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
51 
Q. 174. Is it a good habit to practice deep 
breathing ? 
A. It is one of the most healthful of all 
habits to cultivate deep breathing; consump- 
tion kills a very large number of persons, 
and one of the best ways to prevent con- 
sumption is to cultivate the habit, of deep 
breathing. 
Q. 175. How can you cultivate the habit of 
deep breathing ? 
A. To cultivate the habit of deep breathing 
you must throw the shoulders well back, close 
the mouth and expire through the nose until 
you have breathed out all the air that you can; 
then you must slowly breathe in through the 
nose all the air that you can possibly get in; 
hold it for a few moments and repeat this pro- 
cess. 
Q. 176. How will you know if you are breath- 
ing properly ? 
A. If you are breathing properly you will 
feel your chest swelling up when you place 
your hands on it. 52 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 177. Should we ventilate our closets and 
wardrobes ? 
A. Yes; it is very necessary that we should 
open the doors of our closets and wardrobes for 
several hours each day, so that the air can 
have free access to the clothing that is hang 
ing in these places. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
53 
LESSON VI. 
EXERCISE. 
Q. 178. What do you mean by exercise? 
A. By exercise I mean motion; that is to say, 
when any part of the body is moved it is being 
exercised. 
Q. 179. Is exercise necessary for health? 
A. Yes; exercise is not only necessary for 
health, but, without it, life itself would be im- 
possible. 
Q. 180. What is the best kind of exercise? 
A. Walking is the best kind of exercise. 
Q. 181. How far should a person walk each 
day that health may be preserved ? 
A. For children, about two miles, and for 
grown persons, about five miles, daily, would 
be the proper distance to walk. 
Q. 182. Is it possible for us to exercise too 
much ? 54 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
A. Yes; and if we exercise too much we will 
do our health a great deal of harm. 
Q. 183. How can we tell if we are exercising 
too much ? 
A. Whenever we are exercising and we com- 
mence to feel the heart beating in the chest 
then wTe can know that we have reached the 
limit of safety, and we ought to stop, at once, 
whatever we are doing. 
Q. 184. Is it best to exercise in the open air? 
A. Yes; whenever possible we should exer- 
cise in the open air, out of doors. 
Q. 185. Does great strength mean great 
health ? 
A. No; great strength does not mean great 
health; very often those who exercise so that 
they will be very strong, by so doing injure 
their health and shorten their lives. 
Q. 186. But you have said that exercise is 
necessary for health ? 
A. Yes; exercise, or motion, of the body is 
necessary for health, but if this exercise is car- 
ried too far it will injure the health. 55 
CA TECH ISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 187. Is it necessary to exercise regu- 
larly ? 
A. Yes; to get the best results from exercise 
we should exercise regularly every day, and not 
resort to it one day and neglect it the next. 
Q. 188. Is running good exercise? 
A. No; running is too violent and will not 
be good for us. 
Q. 189. Is riding good exercise? 
A. Yes; riding is a very healthful form of 
exercise. 
Q. 190. Is rowing good exercise ? 
A. Yes; rowing is a very good form of exer- 
cise if we go about it slowly and stop as soon 
as we feel our hearts beating. 
Q. 191. What do you say about foot-ball ? 
A. Foot-ball, as played to-day, is a very dan- 
gerous game and is not good exercise. 
Q. 192. What about base-ball ? 
A. Base-ball is less injurious than foot-ball. 
Q. 193. What about cricket ? 
A. Cricket is an excellent form of exercise. 56 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 194. What do you think of swimming? 
A. Swimming is a healthful exercise and one 
of the best, if the following rules are followed: 
1. We should not go in swimming within 
two hours after a meal. 
2. We should not go in swimming when 
exhausted by fatigue or from any 
other cause. 
3. We should not go in swimming when 
the body is cooling after perspira- 
tion. 
4. We should not swim at all in the open 
air if, after having been a short time 
in the water, it causes chilliness and 
numbness of the hands and feet. 
5. We should avoid chilling the body by 
sitting or standing undressed on the 
banks or in boats, after having been 
in the water. 
6. We should leave the water immediately 
if there is the slightest feeling of chill- 
iness. CATECHISM OE HYGIENE. 
57 
7. The best time for swimming, or ocean 
bathing, is three hours after break- 
fast. 
8. Those who are subject to attacks of 
giddiness or weakness or palpitation 
of the heart should not go in swim 
ming at all. 58 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
LESSON- VII. 
CLEANLINESS—BATHING. 
Q. 195. What do you mean by cleanliness? 
A. By cleanliness I mean the removal from 
every part of the body of the dirt or dead mat- 
ter that is on it or in it. 
Q. 196. How does the body become dirty? 
A. The body becomes dirty not only by the 
dirt which is deposited on it from without, but 
it is also soiled by dirt that is derived from 
within the body itself. 
Q. 197. Will washing the face and hands 
every morning make us clean ? 
A. 17o; in order that we may be clean we 
must do much more than merely wash the face 
and hands. 
Q. 198. Is cleanliness necessary for health ? 
A. Yes; cleanliness is absolutely necessary CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
59 
for health; a dirty person cannot be a healthy 
person. 
Q. 199. Will it be sufficient if we, ourselves, 
are clean ? 
A. No; it will not be sufficient for us to be 
clean; we must see to it that our clothing, 
our houses and the streets of our cities are 
clean. 
Q. 200. Why is it so necessary that onr 
houses and streets should be clean ? 
A. It is necessary that our houses and streets 
should be clean for two reasons: 
1. If our houses and streets are dirty, 
this dirt will poison the air that we 
breathe. 
2. Disease germs always flourish and mul- 
tiply and grow strong in dirty places, 
Q. 201. What constitutes personal cleanli- 
ness? 
A. Thorough washing of the whole body with 
soap and water; daily combing of the hair; 
cleaning the teeth and finger nails, with clean 
clothing, will constitute personal cleanliness. 60 
CA TECH ISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 202. How often is it necessary to bathe 
the whole body ? 
A. It would be best if you would take a full 
bath every day, but it should not be taken less 
often than once a week. 
Q. 203. Is it necessary to comb out the hair? 
A. Yes; the hair should be well combed 
daily, in order to remove the dirt and dust and 
dandruff that has accumulated. 
Q. 204. Is it necessary to clean the finger 
nails ? 
A. Yes; the finger nails snould be always 
kept clean, for in the dirt, under these nails, 
disease germs will grow and multiply, and if a 
boy with dirty nails should scratch himself or 
some one else he would be liable to make a 
very ugly sore that would be very hard to 
heal. 
Q. 205. Is it necessary to clean our teeth ? 
A. Yes; from the time the teeth first appear 
in the baby they should be cleaned, at first with 
a soft rag, and afterwards, with boys and girls 
and men and women, they should be well CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
61 
brushed and the mouth well rinsed out with 
water after each meal. 
Q. 206. Why is it so necessary to clean the 
teeth ? 
A. If we do not brush away from the teeth 
all particles of food that may lodge between 
them, these particles will rot and will cause the 
teeth to decay; we will suffer with toothache, 
and, after a while, our teeth will be gone, and 
we cannot chew our food, so that it will not be 
properly digested, and our bodies will not have 
good blood to nourish them. 
Q. 207. Will dirty teeth make us sick ? 
A. Yes; it is very possible that the dirt on 
our teeth and in our mouths may be swallowed 
into the stomach, absorbed into the blood and 
carried all over our bodies to make us sick in 
every part. 
Q. 208. What is the cause of bad breath ? 
A. Want of cleanliness of the mouth and 
teeth will make the breath bad. 
Q. 209. If a person is very careful about 62 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
cleaning tlie teeth and mouth and yet lias a 
bad breath, what is the cause ? 
A. If a person with clean teeth and mouth 
has a bad breath it is very likely that the 
stomach is out of order. 
Q. 210. Why should we have our teeth ex- 
amined at stated intervals ? 
A. We should have our teeth examined once 
a year by a good dentist, because if decayed 
teeth are filled before pain occurs they will last 
for years. 
Q. 211. Is it bad for the teeth to eat very 
cold articles immediately after something that 
is hot ? 
A. Yes; if we put something cold into the 
mouth immediately after something that is hot 
it will be very apt to crack the enamel and 
cause the teeth to decay. 
Q. 212. Should wo always wash our hands 
before eating? 
A. Yes; it is most important that we should 
always wash our hands before sitting down to 
a meal; something that we have been hand- CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
63 
ling may have liad disease germs on it, and if 
we do not wash our hands these germs may get 
on our food and into our stomachs. 
Q. 213. How can you make a bath more 
cleansing ? 
A. You can add to the cleansing powers of a 
bath by putting into it two tablespoonsful of 
“Household Ammonia.” This will be very 
good for the skin. 
Q. 214. Is it necessary for our clothing to be 
clean ? 
A. Yes; it is necessary that we should fre- 
quently change our underclothing, that which 
we wear next to the skin, because it becomes 
dirty from the dirt of the skin. 
Q. 215. How often should we change our un- 
derclothing ? 
A. If we can afford to do so our undercloth- 
ing should be changed every day; but it must 
be changed, at least, twice a week in summer 
and once a week in winter. 
Q. 216. If we cannot change our undercloth- 64 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
ing daily, wliat should we do with it at night, 
when we go to bed ? 
A. When we go to bed, at night, we should 
hang our underclothing over the back of a 
chair, near an open window, so that it shall be 
well aired while we sleep. 
Q. 217. What should we do with our night 
clothing in the morning ? 
A. When we have dressed in the morning 
we should hang our night clothing over the 
back of a chair, near an open window, and let 
it air, at least, until after breakfast. 
Q. 218. Does the bed clothing become soiled? 
A. Yes; the sheets have been soiled by con- 
tact with our bodies during the night, and they 
should be aired, in the morning, before the bed 
is made up for the day. 
Q. 219. Are cold or warm baths the most 
healthful ? 
A. As a rule, warm baths are the most 
healthful; in Japan, where the people take 
hot baths every day, rheumatism is unheard of. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
65 
Q. 220. What is the best time to bathe? 
A. The best time for a hot bath is the last 
thing before going to bed at night. 
Q. 221. Is it bad to let the water in which 
we have washed remain in our bed-rooms? 
A. Yes; all such dirty water should be re- 
moved as quickly as possible; it will poison 
the air that we breathe. 
Q. 222. Is it bad for our health to have slops 
standing about the kitchen or the back door ? 
A. Yes; slops consist of decomposing or- 
ganic matter, and will poison the air we 
breathe; they should be taken away as soon 
as possible. 
Q. 223. What is the best way to dispose of 
slops in cities ? 
A. The best way to dispose of slops, or gar- 
bage, in cities, is to burn it. 
Q. 224. How should we clean our houses ? 
A. Every room in every house should be 
swept and dusted, if not daily, at least once or 
twice every week, and, at least, four times in 66 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
the year, all the wood work should be scrubbed 
with water and washing soda. 
Q. 225. What do you mean by plumbing ? 
A. By plumbing I mean that we have in our 
houses pipes to carry clean water into and other 
pipes to carry dirty water and other liquid re- 
fuse away from these houses. 
Q. 226. Where do these pipes, that carry the 
dirty water and refuse away, run to ? 
A. In cities, where they have sewers, these 
pipes terminate in the sewer out in the street. 
Q. 227. What is a sewer ? 
A. A sewer is a large pipe laid under the 
streets of cities and is intended to carry away 
the dirty water and refuse matter of the houses 
of the city. 
Q. 228. What do you mean by refuse ? 
A. By refuse I mean the waste matter from 
persons that is capable of mixing with water. 
Q. 229. What do you mean by sewer gas? 
A. By sewer gas I mean a poisonous air that 
is formed in these sewers. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
67 
Q. 230. Is sewer gas injurious to health? 
A. Yes; if we breathe much sewer gas it 
will ruin our health. 
Q. 231. How does sewer gas get into our 
houses? 
A. Sewer gas comes back from the sewers 
through the pipes that are carrying the dirty 
water away from our houses and floats up and 
mixes with the air of the house. 
Q. 232. Can we keep this sewer gas out of 
the house, and, if so, how ? 
A. We can keep sewer gas out of our houses 
by having the plumbing work done by a good 
plumber and by learning how this work should 
be done, so that we can be sure that it is done 
properly. We can also help to keep this gas 
out by pouring down all of our waste pipes, 
every night, a lot of water in which we have 
dissolved a quantity of washing soda. 
Q. 233. Is it wrong to throw solid articles 
into water closets ? 
A. Yes; you should never rhrow anything 
solid, or anything that will not dissolve in 68 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
water, into a water closet, because it will be 
apt to block up the pipe and make much 
trouble and expense. 
Q. 234. How shall we keep the streets of 
our cities clean ? * 
A. The people should insist upon it that the 
authorities of the city should first pave the 
streets so that they will bo nice and smooth 
and they should then be swept clean every day. 
Q. 235. Is this done anywhere ? 
A. Yes; in the city of Florence, in Italy, 
and in some other cities, men are always walk- 
ing the streets, with big baskets on their backs 
and a broom and shovel in their hands; wher- 
ever they see any dirt it is, at once, swept and 
shoveled up into the basket. 
Q. 236. What should we do with this street 
dirt ? 
A. It should either be burned or carried 
away off into the country far away from the 
city. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
69 
LESSON VIII. 
SLEEP. 
Q. 237. Is sleep necessary for health ? 
A. Yes; without sleep life is impossible. 
Q. 238. How many hours out of the twenty- 
four should a person sleep ? 
A. About eight hours of the twenty-four 
should be devoted to sleep. 
Q. 239. Is it important that we should be 
regular in our hour for going to bed ? 
A. Yes; it is most important for us to go to 
bed at a regular hour and get up at a regular 
hour. 
Q. 240. Is it bad for our health to go to bed 
at different hours on different nights ? 
A. Yes; this irregularity will be vory inju- 
rious. 70 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 241. At wliat hour should children go 
to bed ? 
A. Children should all be in bed by eight 
o’clock, and they ought to get up at from six 
to seven o’clock in the morning. 
Q. 242. Why is sleep so necessary to health ? 
A. Because when we are moving about all 
day every part of the body gets tired, and if 
we did not give it a chance to rest it would 
become so weak and exhausted that we would 
die; when we are asleep the body is resting 
and getting strong for the next day. 
Q. 243. If, because of some important work, 
we cannot get our full amount of sleep some 
night, what should we do ? 
A. If we miss the full amount of sleep any 
night we should make it up either by taking a 
nap the next day or sleeping the next night as 
much more as we have lost the night before. 
Q. 244. What do you mean by a damp bed ? 
A. By a damp bed I mean that the sheets 
have not been thoroughly dried and aired afb3r 
washing. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
71 
Q. 245. Are damp beds unhealthful ? 
A. Yes; sleeping between sheets that are 
not thoroughly dry will cause a great deal of 
sickness. 
Q. 246. When we are away from home in 
strange hotels are we not very likely to find the 
sheets damp ? 
A. Yes; we are very likely to find damp 
sheets in hotels. 
Q. 247. What can we do to avoid the danger 
from damp sheets in hotels and strange houses? 
A. The great orator, Wendell Phillips, who 
traveled a great deal, always carried in his 
trunk a woolen bag, large enough to hold his 
body; at night he would get into this bag and 
tie it around his neck; he was thus protected 
from the damp sheets. 
\ 
Q. 248. Is it bad to have pillows under our 
heads when sleeping ? 
A. We ought to have a bolster or one pillow 
under the head when sleeping, but not more, 
because, if we raise the head too high, it will 72 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
make us round-shouldered and give us crooked 
spines. 
Q. 249. Is it important that our heads should 
be cool? 
A. Yes; it is very essential to health that 
our heads should be cool, particularly when we 
are asleep. 
Q. 250. How can we cool our heads on the 
hot nights of summer ? 
A. A folded newspaper or a pamphlet laid 
between the head and the pillow will help to 
keep the head cool on the hot nights of summer. 
Q. 251. If a child gets frightened in the dark 
and asks for a light in the bed-room at night, 
what should we do? 
A. We should never force a child to sleep in 
the dark if it becomes frightened; we should 
allow a light in the room; if we force the child 
to get used to the darkness we may injure its 
health beyond repair. 
Q. 252. What should be the temperature of 
our bed-rooms ? 
A. The temperature of our bed-rooms, as of CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
73 
any room or liouse in which we live, that is 
most conducive to health is about 70° Fahren- 
heit. 
Q. 253. Is it bad for us to sleep in the same 
room with a person who has consumption ? 
A. Yes; if we sleep in the same room with 
a person who has consumption we will be very 
apt to take this disease ourselves. 
Q. 254. Ought we to be warmly dressed at 
night, when asleep ? 
A. Yes; we ought to be dressed warmly 
enough not to feel the cold; it is best to keep 
ourselves warm at night rather by clothing the 
body than by having very heavy bed clothing. 74 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
LESSON IX. 
CLOTHING. 
Q. 255. Why do we wear clothes? 
A. For decency and to prevent the heat that 
is made inside of our bodies from getting out 
too fast. 
Q. 256. Is heat made inside of our bodies ? 
A. Yes; inside of our bodies we make heat 
just the same as it is made inside of the stove 
by the burning of coal. 
Q. 257. Is it necessary for health that our 
bodies should make heat ? 
A. Yes; in order that we may live the tem- 
perature of the inside of our bodies must be 
about 98° Fahrenheit, and, in order that this 
heat may be maintained, it is necessary that 
we shall be making heat all the time inside of 
our bodies. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
75 
Q. 258. How is this heat regulated so that 
the temperature of the body shall be always 
the same ? 
A. The heat is radiated from the surface of 
the body just in the proper amount to always 
keep the body at the proper temperature. 
Q. 259. Will not this heat be more rapidly 
radiated in cold weather ? 
A. Yes; and it is because of this fact that 
we wear heavy, thick clothing in winter, so as 
to hold the heat and prevent it from being 
given off or radiated too rapidly. 
Q. 260. Why should we wear dark-colored 
Nothing in winter ? 
A. Because dark-colored clothing will absorb 
ihe heat of the sun and keep us warmer. 
Q. 261. Why do we wear light-colored cloth- 
ing in summer ? 
A. Because light-colored clothing will repel 
fhe heat of the sun and keep us cooler. 
Q. 262. Is it bad to keep our clothing on when 
we have been caught in the rain and are wet ? 
A. Yes; if our clothing is wet we should 76 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
change it as soon as we get home or we will 
be very apt to catch cold. 
Q. 263. Are wet feet dangerous to health ? 
A. Yes; wet feet are very dangerous, and 
we should always be careful to change our wet 
shoes and stockings as soon as possible. 
Q. 264. Is it important that we should keep 
our feet warm ? 
A. Yes; our feet should be always warm; 
we should be careful to wear stockings thick 
enough to keep them warm because cold feet 
are very unhealthful. 
Q. 265. What do you say about the feet and 
the head ? 
A. To have good health we must always 
keep our feet warm and our heads cool. 
Q. 266. What kind of shoes should we wear? 
A. We should wear low, broad shoes that 
are a full quarter of an inch longer than the 
foot. 
Q. 267. Are high-heeled shoes injurious? 
A. Yes; high-heeled shoes are not only hurt- 
ful to the feet, but they will throw the whole CA TECHIS3I OF HYGIENE. 
77 
body out of shape, and will thus give us bad 
health. 
Q. 268. What will be the effect of shoes that 
do not fit ? 
A. If you wear shoes that do not fit they 
will rub some part of the foot and will make 
corns and bunions and cause you much pain. 
Q. 269. What is the cause of ingrowing toe 
nail ? 
A. Ingrowing toe nail is the result of wear- 
ing shoes that are too short and too narrow 
across the toes. 
) 
Q. 270. What do you think of shoes with 
pointed toes? 
A. We should not wear shoes with pointed 
toes; they will ruin the foot; shoes .should be 
broad and square at the toes. 
Q. 271. Should we wear low-cut shoes and 
slippers ? 
A. Low-cut shoes and slippers are very good 
in summer, but we should not wear them in 
winter; the feet will be cold, and we will be 
very likely to catch cold. 78 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 272. What parts of the body should we 
be particularly careful to protect from the cold ? 
A. We should be particularly careful to pro- 
tect the chest and the abdomen from the cold, 
because they contain the vital organs. 
Q. 273. How should we protect the chest and 
abdomen from cold ? 
A. At the first approach of cool weather we 
should commence to wear a good, thick, warm 
woolen undershirt, long enough to reach to the 
hips and to button well up to the root of the 
neck. 
Q. 27A What do you say about corsets? 
A. Corsets are injurious to health if laced 
tightly, and it would be better not to wear 
them. 
Q. 275. Why do women wear corsets ? 
A. Women wear corsets because, as the re- 
sult of generations of wrong living, their bod- 
ies are weak, and they feel the necessity of 
some artificial support. 
Q. 276. Has God given us a natural corset? 
A. Yes; the ribs or the bones of the chest CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
79 
make a natural corset, and furnish all neces- 
sary support to the organs within. 
Q. 277. If not laced tight will corsets do 
harm ? 
A. No; corsets will not be specially inju- 
rious if they are not tightly laced. 
Q. 278. What will be the effect of tight 
lacing ? 
A. Tight lacing will be very likely to cause 
disease of the liver and stomach, and even con- 
sumption of the lungs. 
Q. 279. Is it right to wear mufflers around 
the throat in winter ? 
A. No; if you make a habit of wearing a 
muffler around the throat it will make the 
throat weak, and if you forget to wear it on 
some cold day you will be likely to have a sore 
throat. 
Q. 280. What do you say about garters and 
tight belts ? 
A. Garters or tight belts, or anything that 
fits tightly about any part of the body, will in- 
terfere with the free flow of the blood, because 80 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
they will press upon the pipes in which the 
blood flows. 
Q. 281. How, then, can we hold up our 
stockings ? 
A. Our stockings should be held up by tapes 
fastened to our drawer bodies. 
Q. 282. Should boys wear suspenders? 
A. Yes; boys should support their pants, 
with suspenders, from the shoulders, because, if 
they button them tightly around the waist, or if 
they hold them up with a strap or a belt, fitting 
tightly around the waist, this pressure will in- 
jure the delicate organs inside of the body. 
Q. 283. Is tight lacing sinful ? 
A. It is sinful for any one to lace tightly. 
God has given us plenty of room for our 
organs of life to work in, and when we put on 
corsets and lace them tightly, so as to make 
the waist small, we are ruining our organs by 
cramping them, and we are guilty of the sin of 
presumption, because we are insulting the in- 
telligence of God, in presuming to think that 
He did not know how to make us right. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
81 
Q. 284. Should our collars fit tightly about 
the neck ? 
A. No; a tight-fitting collar will be very apt 
to cause headache and to ruin our eyes. 
Q. 285. If we wear overshoes to school on 
rainy days what should we do with them? 
A. We should remove them, at once, upon 
entering the school-room, and place them 
where they will dry. 
Q. 286. What should we do with our over- 
coats and cloaks and extra wraps when we 
enter a house ? 
A. We should, at once, remove all outside 
wraps when we enter a house, and, in cold 
weather, we should never go out of doors with- 
out putting on something more than we have 
been wearing in the house. 
Q. 287. What do you say of the relationship 
between bad temper and dress ? 
A. Ill-fitting clothing; tight shoes; tight 
collars, or anything that is not comfortable 
about the clothing is a frequent cause of bad 
temper 82 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
LESSON X. 
WATER AND DRINKS—ALCOHOL. 
Q. 288. What is water? 
A. Water is a combination of oxygen and 
hydrogen. 
Q. 289. Is water necessary for health ? 
A. Yes; without water life would be im- 
possible. 
Q. 290. What do you mean by pure water ? 
A. By pure water I mean water as it is 
found in nature, without any of the refuse of 
organic life 
Q. 291. What do you mean by impure water? 
A. By impure water I mean water in which 
there are disease germs, or that has been in 
any way contaminated by organic refuse. 
Q. 292. Give an illustration of pure water. 
A. Distilled water is perfectly pure water, CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
83 
because by distillation everything impure is 
removed from the water. ' f 
Q. 293. What evidence have we that God 
wishes us to use water freely ? 
A. God has made two-thirds of the world 
water, which looks as though he wanted us to 
use water freely. 
Q. 294. Is it possible for us to drink too 
much water? 
A. No; if the water is pure we cannot drink 
too much of it, unless it be that we are over- 
heated by exercise or fatigue, when we should 
not drink until we cool off some. 
Q. 295. What are the dangers of impure 
water ? 
A. Impure water is generally full of disease 
germs, and is very apt to cause typhoid fever 
and other diseases. 
Q. 296. Does clear water mean pure water ? 
A. No; the fact that water is clear is not 
proof that it is pure; oftentimes water that is 
clear and sparkling is very dangerous to health. 84 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 297. Is muddy water dangerous to health ? 
A. No; the fact that water is muddy is not 
proof that it is dangerous to health. 
Q. 298. Can you give a simple test for the 
purity of water? 
A. A simple method to test for impurities is 
to dissolve a lump of loaf sugar in a clean 
bottle, tilled with the suspected water; close 
the bottle with a close-fitting glass stopper, 
and set it in the window where the sunlight 
will fall upon it. If the water remains bright 
and limpid, after a week’s exposure, it is fit 
for use; but, if it becomes turbid, it contains 
enough impurities to be unhealthful. 
Q. 299. Is well water healthful ? 
A. Water from wells in cities should never 
be used, as it is almost sure to be impure, and 
it is better not to use well water even in the 
country. 
Q. 300. Should wells be cleaned out ? 
A. Yes; if you use well water the wells 
should be cleaned out, at least, once every year. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
85 
Q. 301. What is the best way to get drink- 
ing water in the country ? 
A. We will get the purest water in the coun- 
try from running streams and springs; wells 
should always be looked upon with suspicion. 
Q. 302. Is rain water pure ? 
A. Yes; rain water is very pure; but we 
must be careful to see that the cistern, in 
which it is stored, is cleaned out at regular in- 
tervals; in Yew Orleans, where they use rain 
water to a great extent, they have very little 
typhoid fever. 
Q. 303. If we know that water is impure, 
yet have no other to use, what should we do ? 
A. If our water is impure we should first 
boil it, and then let it stand for an hour; draw 
off the upper water and use this, throwing 
away the sediment. 
Q. 304. Is impure water bad for cattle and 
horses ? 
A. Yes; we should be just as careful about 
the water that we give our animals to drink 
as with that which we use ourselves. 86 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 305. Is snow pure ? 
A. No; snow is very impure; as it falls to 
the ground it carries down with it the disease 
germs that are in the air, and the practice of 
eating snow, so common among children, causes 
much disease. 
Q. 306. Is ice always pure ? 
A. No; if ice is made from impure water it 
will contain all the impurities of the water 
from which it is made, and when the ice melts 
the germs will be set free to cause disease. 
Q. 307. Is alcohol food ? 
A. No; alcohol will not nourish the body. 
Q. 308. What do you mean by temperance 
in the use of alcohol ? 
A. By temperance I mean the use of alcohol 
in such quantities as will not make us drunk 
and will not produce disease. 
Q. 309. Will alcohol cause disease ? 
A. Yes; if used to excess alcohol will cause 
disease. 
Q. 310. What do you call excess ? 
A. The amount that would constitute excess CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
87 
cannot be definitely stated; that which would 
constitute excess in one would be moderation 
in another. 
Q. 311. Is alcohol of any benefit to health ? 
A. To some persons, who are not very strong, 
a little alcohol is beneficial. 
Q. 312. What would you say about the use 
of alcohol by children ? 
A. Alcohol is never required by children, and 
they should never taste it; it will interfere 
with their growth and healthy development. 
Q. 313. To what class of people would alco- 
hol be beneficial ? 
A. Alcohol is often beneficial to those who 
are not very strong and to aged persons. 
Q. 314. In answering these questions on al- 
cohol, what do you mean by alcohol ? 
A. By alcohol I mean brandy, whisky, gin, 
beer, ale and wines; such liquors as are sold in 
stores for drinking purposes. 
Q. 315. Is cider a good drink ? 
A. New cider is a very healthful drink; old 88 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
cider is not so good, because it contains too 
much alcohol. 
Q. 316. What do you mean by an intemper- 
ate person ? 
A. By an intemperate person I mean one 
who drinks enough alcohol to make him sick 
and cause him to neglect his work. 
Q. 317. Can you give me a good temperance 
proverb ? 
A. A German proverb says: ‘‘Intemperance 
drives reason out of the head, money from the 
pocket, the elbows through the sleeves and 
health from the body.” CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
89 
LESSON XI. 
CARE OF THE EYES AND EARS. 
Q. 318. Is it wrong to look cross-eyed ? 
A. Yes; if we make a liabit of looking cross- 
eyed for fun, our eyes may become permanently 
fixed in this position. 
Q. 319. How should the light from without 
enter a room ? 
A. We should so arrange our desks or tables 
that the light will come from behind and over 
the left shoulder. 
Q. 320. What is the best of all lights ? 
A. Sunlight is the best of all lights for the 
eye. 
Q. 321. What is the best artificial light? 
A. The incandescent electric light is the best 
artificial light. 90 
CA TECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
Q. 322. When reading should we allow the 
sun to shine directly on the book ? 
A. No; if the sun shines directly on the 
book or paper it will injure the eyes. 
Q. 323. When reading at night should we 
allow the artificial light to strike the eye ? 
A. No; we should sit with our back to the 
light, so that it will strike the page over our 
shoulders and will not shine directly on the 
eye. 
Q. 324. What should we do to help the eyes 
when sewing or reading fine print ? 
A. Beading fine print and sewing, especially 
by artificial light, is very hard on the eyes, and 
we should stop our work every now and then 
and rest the eyes for a few seconds. 
Q. 325. Is it wrong to read while walking or 
riding ? 
A. It is very inj urious to read while walking 
or riding in cars or carriages, because the jolt- 
ing makes the print unsteady, and it is a great 
strain on the eyes to follow this unsteady print. CATECHISM OF IIYQIENE. 
91 
Q. 326. Is it injurious to use the eyes at twi- 
light ? 
A. Yes; we will ruin our eyesight if we use 
our eyes to read or sew at twilight or in a poor 
artificial light. 
Q. 327. Are the eyes easily put out of order? 
A. The eyes are very delicate organs, easily 
put out of order, and we should be most careful 
of them. 
Q. 328. Is it wrong to let the sun shine on a 
baby’s eyes ? 
A. Yes; it will be very injurious to the eyes 
of a baby if the sun shines directly on them; 
if in a coach the eyes should be protected with 
a parasol. 
Q. 329. Is it wrong to have a light in the 
bed-room at night ? 
A. We will sleep better if the room is dark, but 
it will do the eyes no harm if we have a low light, 
covered with a shade, so as to protect the eyes. 
Q. 330. What do you say about the sore eyes 
of babies ? 
A. A great deal of blindness is caused be- 92 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
cause mothers neglect the sore eyes of little 
babies; whenever a baby has sore eyes the 
doctor should be called at once. 
Q. 331. Is it dangerous to “box” the ears? 
A. Yes; “boxing” the ears is a very dan- 
gerous practice; it may cause permanent deaf- 
ness. 
Q. 332. Should we cover the ears in cold 
weather ? 
A. A person who is subject to earache should 
never go out of doors in cold weather without 
covering the ears. 
Q. 333. Is it dangerous to pick at the ears ? 
A. Yes; it is very dangerous to put the fin- 
ger far into the ear to scratch it; if the ear 
itches far in, the finger should be covered with 
a piece of soft rag before it is introduced into 
the ear. 
Q. 334. Will draughts cause earache ? 
A. Draughts will be very likely to cause ear- 
ache, and if we are subject to it we should be 
careful to avoid them. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
93 
Q. 335. When swimming, is it dangerous to 
dive ? 
A. Diving is a dangerous practice; it may 
cause earache, and it may ruin hearing for life. 
Q. 336. Is it wrong to push beads and beans 
into the -ears and nose ? 
A. It is a very dangerous practice to push 
beads and beans, and such articles, into the 
nose and ears; it may cause deafness and may 
even kill us. 94 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
LESSON XII. 
OUR HOMES. 
Q. 337. What do you mean by a damp 
house ? 
A. By a damp house I mean that the walls 
of the house and the air inside of the house 
are full of water. 
Q. 338. Is a damp house unliealthful ? 
A. Yes; a damp house will cause much dis- 
ease, and no one should live in it. 
Q. 339. Is sunlight necessary for health ? 
A. Yes; sunlight is necessary for health; a 
person may live who is never in the light of 
the sun, but he will not be vigorous or healthy, 
and he will be an easy prey to disease. 
Q. 340. If the sun shines fully on a house 
will it be damp ? 
A. No; a house upon which the sun shines CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
95 
freely cannot be damp, and no one should live 
in a house upon which the sun does not shine. 
Q. 341. Is it unhealthful to build a house on 
damp ground ? 
A. Yes; we should always select high and 
dry ground on which to build our houses. 
Q. 342. Are cellars unhealthful ? 
A. Yes; there is no reason why we should 
have cellars to our houses, and it would be 
better for health if we did not have them. 
Q. 343. Why are cellars so unhealthful ? 
A. Cellars are unhealthful, because, being be- 
low ground, they are generally dark and damp, 
as the sun cannot get into them to dry them, 
and because they are not regularly cleaned, as 
the upper portions of the house are. 
Q. 344. If cellars were regularly cleaned 
would they be unhealthful ? 
A. They would not be so bad, but they 
would, very likely, be damp. 
Q. 345. Is it wrong to store vegetables in 
the cellar ? 
A. Yes; it is wrong to store large quantities 96 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
of vegetables in the cellar, because they will 
rot and will make the air of the cellar and of 
the house impure and unhealthful. 
Q. 346. How can we avoid disease from the 
cellar ? 
A. We can avoid disease from the cellar by 
seeing that it is clean, well ventilated and dry; 
by having the walls and ceiling whitewashed 
four times a year and by having a quantity of 
unslaked lime standing about in open boxes. 
Q. 347. Should cellar floors be cemented ? 
A. Yes; cellar floors should always be ce- 
mented, because, if they are not, the ground 
air, which is unhealthful, will rise up into the 
house. 
Q. 348. What do mean by ground air ? 
A. By ground air I mean that there is always 
a quantity of air in the earth of every locality. 
Q. 349. Is it healthful to have trees near our 
houses? 
A. We should never have trees so close to 
our houses that the sun is prevented from CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
97 
shining on the house, for if the sun does not 
shine upon a house it will be damp. 
Q. 350. What do you say about sunshine 
and doctors ? 
A. An old saying is that “to the house upon 
which the sun shines not the doctor will be a 
frequent visitor.” 
Q. 351. What does this saying mean? 
A. This saying means that if the sun does 
not gain access to the house there will be much 
sickness in the house. 
Q. 352. Is it right to have our bed-rooms on 
the first floor ? 
A. We should, if possible, locate our bed- 
rooms on the upper floors. 
Q. 353. How can we best ventilate the rooms 
in our houses? 
A. By having an open fire-place in each 
room, with a little fire in it. 
Q. 354 How can we keep the closets in our 
rooms dry ? 
A. A small box, filled with lime, and placed 98 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
on a shelf in the pantry or closet, will absorb 
dampness and keep the air dry and sweet. 
Q. 355. Is it unhealthful to have our rooms 
too warm ? 
A. Yes; if we have the temperature of our 
rooms always above 70° Fahrenheit, it will 
make us weak and very liable to catch cold 
when we go out of doors. 
Q. 356. If we feel chilly in a room with a 
temperature of 70° Fahrenheit, what does it 
mean? 
A. If we feel chilly in a room where the tem- 
perature is 70° Fahrenheit, it means that we 
are not strong and healthy, and that we are 
passing too much of our time indoors. 
Q. 357. What should we do when we thus 
feel chilly ? 
A. We should go out, at once, for a long, 
brisk walk. 
Q. 358. Why should we remove weeds from 
about country houses ? 
A. We should keep the ground near the 
house free from weeds, because the servants CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
99 
will be very apt to throw slops and dirty water 
out on the ground; the weeds will hide this 
dirt; it will rot and poison the air about our 
homes. 
Q. 359. What good use can we make of dirty 
water in the country ? 
A. If we have fruit trees it will do them good 
to empty this dirty water on the ground close 
to the trees. 
Q. 360. Is it necessary that cow stables and 
pig pens should be kept clean ? 
A. Yes; it is just as necessary to have clean 
houses for our cows and pigs as for ourselves; 
dirty stables and dirty pens will make bad 
milk for us to drink and bad meat for us to eat. 
Q. 361. If a farmer, who sells milk, has any 
contagious disease in his family, what should 
he do? 
A. If a farmer, who sells milk, has any con- 
tagious disease in his family, he should be 
careful that no thing nor person from the sick 
room should go near his cows or his milk cans, 
or the water in which he washes his cans. 100 
CATECHISM OF nrUIENE. 
Q. 362. If lie cannot take these precautions 
what is his duty ? 
A. If he cannot take these precautions it is 
his bounden duty not to sell his milk until the 
sick person is well and everything about his 
premises has been disinfected. 
Q. 363. Can milk convey the germs of dis- 
ease from one place to another ? 
A. Yes; there is nothing that will so eagerly 
take hold of disease germs and carry them from 
one place to another as milk. 
Q. 364. If a dairy farmer has a sick cow 
what is his duty ? 
A. It is the duty of a dairy farmer never to 
sell the milk from a cow that is sick. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
101 
LESSON XIII. 
OUR CITIES. 
Q. 365. Is the air of the country purer than 
that of a city ? 
A. Yes; the air of the country is purer than 
that of a city; the air of any locality where but 
few persons live in a given space will always 
be purer than where a larger number live in 
equal space. 
Q. 366. What do you say about the width of 
streets ? 
A. The streets of a city should always be 
wider than the height of the houses on these 
streets; if they are not, the sun cannot shine 
on them; they will be damp, and the houses 
on such narrow streets will be unhealthful. 
Q. 367. Is there any relation between narrow 
streets and consumption of the lungs ? 
A. Yes; consumption of the lungs is much 102 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
more prevalent in houses on narrow than in 
those on wide streets. 
Q. 368. Should we have trees in cities ? 
A. Yes; we should plant trees in cities; 
they will make cooler weather in summer, and 
they will help to keep the air pure. 
Q. 369. What do you mean by a slaughter- 
house ? 
A. A slaughter-house is a place where ani- 
mals are killed and cut up into meat. 
Q. 370. Is it wrong to have slaughter-houses 
in cities or villages ? 
A. Yes; it is very dangerous to the health 
of the people to have slaughter-houses in cities 
or villages unless the greatest care is taken to 
keep them perfectly clean; it would be better 
to locate slaughter-houses in the country, away 
from villages or cities. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
103 
LESSON XIV. 
OUR HABITS. 
Q. 371. What do you mean by “eating air?” 
A. By “eating air” I mean that when you 
first get up in the morning you should go to an 
open window, or, when dressed, go out of doors, 
and for five minutes take the longest breaths 
you can; drawing all the air you possibly can 
into the lungs; this is a habit that will be 
splendid for health. 
Q. 372. What do you mean by the alcohol 
habit ? 
A. By the “alcohol habit” I mean the habit 
of regularly drinking a quantity of liquor every 
day. 
Q. 373. Is the alcohol habit injurious to 
health ? 
A. To most persons it will prove injurious. 104 
CATECHISM OE HYGIENE. 
Q. 374. Wliat is the greatest danger in the 
alcohol habit ? 
A. The greatest danger in the alcohol habit, 
as in the use of alcohol at all, is the fact, pecu- 
liar to alcohol, that the more we use of it the 
more we want, and we soon get into the habit 
of using so much that it becomes injurious to 
health. 
Q. 375. Will this rule hold good with every- 
body ? 
A. No; while this rule holds good with the 
majority of persons, there are exceptional cases 
where the person is able to control himself and 
use liquor regularly without going to excess. 
Q. 376. Will the liquor habit injure a person 
who has this self-control ? 
A. No; a person who can thus control him- 
self will not be injured by the liquor habit; 
but no one can tell if he has the requisite self- 
control, hence he had better not commence the 
habit. 
Q. 377. What do you say of the tobacco 
habit ? CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
105 
A. Of the tobacco habit I would say the 
same as I have said of the alcohol habit. To- 
bacco is not food ; it is not necessary to life or 
health; if used to excess it will injure health 
and may cause sudden death ; if used in mod- 
eration by men it will not injure health. 
Q. 378. Is tobacco injurious to children ? 
A. Tobacco is a poison to children; it will 
ruin their health, check their growth and make 
them weak and sickly men. 
Q. 379. Should we breathe through the 
mouth ? 
A. No; we should make it a habit to keep 
the mouth closed and breathe through the nose. 
God has so arranged the inside of the nose 
that, if we breathe through it, much of the im- 
purity of the air and many of the germs of 
disease will be stopped in the nose before they 
can get into our bodies; also, if we breathe 
through the nose, the air will be warmed before 
it reaches the lungs. 
Q. 380. What is the danger of breathing 
through the mouth ? 106 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
A. If we breathe through the mouth dust, dirt 
and disease germs will rush down into the lungs, 
and, growing there, will affect the whole body. 
Q. 381. But suppose you cannot draw the 
air through the nose ? 
A. If you cannot breathe through the nose 
there must be something wrong with the nose, 
and you had better consult a doctor. 
Q. 382. What do you say about the habit of 
spitting ? 
A. It is a disgusting habit, and is very likely 
to cause disease; God intends that we shall 
swallow our saliva, and not spit it out on the 
street or in cars, on the floor or in public 
places. 
Q. 383. How can the spitting habit cause 
disease ? 
A. The germs of consumption are found in 
the expectoration of consumptives, and, if they 
spit on the ground, when the expectoration 
dries these germs will be diffused into the air 
and may cause consumption in any one who 
inhales them. CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
107 
Q. 384. How should a consumptive expecto- 
rate ? 
A. A consumptive should always expectorate 
into a spittoon or other receptacle in which 
there is a solution that will kill these germs. 
Q. 385. What will kill these germs ? 
A. A solution of corrosive sublimate will kill 
these germs. 
Q. 386. Is it a bad habit to run up stairs ? 
A. Running up stairs is very injurious, and 
will be very apt to give us heart disease; we 
should always walk. 
Q. 387. Is it a bad habit to bite our threads 
when sewing ? 
A. Yes; we should never bite our threads 
when sewing, as by so doing we may chip the 
enamel of our teeth, which will favor their 
decay. 
Q. 388. Ought we to try to control our 
temper ? 
A. Yes; we ought to try very hard never to 
lose our temper; George Bancroft, the venera- 
ble historian, once told a party of young ladies 108 
CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
that the secret of long life lay in never losing 
one’s temper. “ If you will never get angry,” 
he said, “you will live to be ninety.” 
Q. 389. Is hard study at night bad for the 
brain ? 
A. Yes; the habit of studying at night, by 
artificial light, is bad for the brain and the 
eyes. 
Q. 390. What is the best time for study ? 
A. The best time for study is in the early 
morning; we should read our lessons over in 
the afternoon or evening, and study them the 
next morning. 
Q. 391. Are alcohol and tobacco in excess 
bad for the brain ? 
A. Yes; while the excessive use of alcohol 
and tobacco is injurious to all parts of the 
body, it is particularly bad for the brain. 
Q. 392. What is the proper position for 
standing ? 
A. We should cultivate the habit of stand- 
ing with the head erect; the stomach drawn CATECHISM OF HYGIENE. 
109 
in; the chest thrown out, and the shoulders 
drawn bach. 
Q. 393. What is the proper position for sit- 
ting? 
A. We should sit squarely on the chair or 
bench; should not cross the legs; should hold 
the body, from the waist up, erect, and should 
keep the shoulders well back. 
Q. 394. Is it bad to worry ? 
A. Yes; worry is very bad for health, and 
we should cultivate the habit not to worry. 
Q. 395. Is it possible to cultivate the habit 
of not worrying when there is cause ? 
A. Yes; a firm belief in God and religion, 
with a firm conviction of the uselessness of 
worry, will enable us to form this habit. We 
should always do the best we can, and then, if 
things go wrong, we ought not to worry about 
it, for it will do no good to worry. 
Q. 396. Is it right to walk in the sun ? 
A. We should cultivate the habit of walking 
on the sunny side of the street in winter and 
on the shady side in summer.