QTA P8+5 1331 yvyv, V 1l,.^y....„-|1!-Jli.l'Uil^. ;v^W^VyVww*;^vvWvv'v^W^w- „ ■SSBWBffD^!! wiricmV* ^MMh Surgeon General's Office iJcc/eon,.................... No,.:/.!/......' / 3 5 THE CATECHISM OF HEALTH. THE | j^TECHISM OF HEALTH; OR, PLAIN AND SIMPLE RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE HEALTH VIGOUR OF THE CONSTITUTION FKOSI INFANCY TO OLD AGE. ^ PHILADELPHIA: V'f/tf/rf Qp, .V* Published at the Office of the Journal of Health and ^Journal . of Law, Mo. 108, Chestnut Street. 1831. QTA THSc IS3| Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to -wit: ******** BE IT REMEMBERED, that on * i. s. J the twenty-sixth day of February, Anno ******** Domini one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, Henry H. Porter, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a Book, the title of which is in the words following, to wit: The Catechism of Health; or, Plain and Simple Rules for the Preservation of the Health and Vigour of the Constitution from Infancy to Old Age. The right whereof he claims as proprietor, in con- formity with an Act of Congress entitled " An Act to amend the several acts respecting copy rights." D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the District. TO THE YOUTH OF BOTH SEXES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, AS WELL AS TO THEIR PARENTS AND INSTRUCTORS, THIS HUMBLE ATTEMPT TO RENDER THEM FAMILIAR WITH THE ONL¥ EFFECTUAL MEANS OF PRESERVING THE HEALTH AND VIGOUR OF THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION TO AN ADVANCED AGE, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND, THE AUTHOR CONTENTS Section I. Health and its blessings - 7 n. 15 m. Childhood - 27 rv 41 v. Exercise - - 48 VI. 59 vn. 66 vnx 74 rx. 85 X. Personal Cleanliness - 87 XI. Clothing - - 91 xn. Preservation of the external organs of sense - - 99 xm. Injury from Lightning - 106 xrv. To avoid the effects of cold and dampness - - 107 XV. Means of securing the beauty and symmetry of the body - 113 XVI. Miscellaneous - 118 PART II. Section I. Occupation of the first hours of the day ..--- CONTENTS. Sec. II. Breakfast - - - - 128 HI. Forenoon Limcheon - - 1.16 IV. Dinner.....139 V. Animal Food - - - - 140 VI. Vegetable Food - - - 147 VH. Dessert - - - - - 155 VHI. Fruit - - - - - 159 IX. Liquors - - - - - 162 X. Afternoon - - - - 166 XL Tea - - - - - 168 XH. Evening - - , - - - 171 XB3. Supper - - - - 176 XIV. Of the Passions - - 187 PREFACE. The object of the present work is very fully expressed by its title. It is simply an attempt to convey to the young, in a plain and familiar manner, a knowledge of those means by which the health and vigour of the human constitution is the most effectually promoted, and its powers of enjoyment and usefulness prolonged to the latest period. The importance of the subject is sufficient, we are persuaded, to ensure for the work a favourable reception. The economy of health has, heretofore, been too much neglected by all classes of society. Thousands daily incur the risk of health or even life, merely from their entire ignorance, or mis- conception, of the means of preserving it. Until, indeed, the study of these means shall be consi- dered a necessary branch of ordinary education, we can never expect to eradicate those absurd prejudices and erroneous practices by which the human constitution is too often effectually un- VU1 PREFACE. dermined even in infancy, and a few years of suffering and privation substituted for a long life of real enjoyment, activity and usefulness. To teach the young to estimate correctly the value of health and the only means of securing it, independently of its influence in diminishing the amount of physical suffering, would aid, not a little, the cause of pure morality; for they would then learn that temperance, prudence and meekness, the subjugation of every inordinate appetite and vicious passion, is as essential for the enjoyment of health as of happiness. The idea of a Catechism of Health for the in- struction of youth is by no means novel. In 1792, a work of the kind was published in Ger- many by Dr. Faust, at the suggestion of the dow- ager Princess of Schaumberg Lippe. Eighty thousand copies of the first edition were dis- posed of, and by a special decree of the prince Bishop of Wirzburgh, it was in 1793 introduced into all the schools within his diocess. It is re- plete with valuable instruction, and does much credit to the good sense and talents of its author. The plan of the present work differing consi- derably from that of Dr. Faust, has prevented so free a use being made of the materials af- PREFACE. IX forded by the latter, as would otherwise have been the case. Early in the present century, a Catechism of Health was, also, published in London, purport- ing to be from the pen of the celebrated Dr. Ma- vor, author of Travels, and other popular works. But it is, in fact, a mere translation of the former, with the exception of a few questions and an- swers relating to the vaccine disease and the protection it affords to the system against the small pox. In the work now presented to the public, it has been the chief aim of the author to render the precepts it inculcates as plain and prac- ticable as possible, and to avoid every thing in relation to the subject of a doubtful or disputable character. In its pages, nothing will be found that has not received the sanction of the most authoritative writers on hygeine, or the correct- ness of which has not been fully tested by ex- perience. In a few instances, it will be perceived, that the same idea is repeated in different sections; this was considered necessary in order to impress it upon the attention of the reader, and at the same time to enable him the more fully to un- X PREFACE. derstand it, by its being presented to him under different points of view. Though intended mainly for the use of young persons, it is believed that the Catechism of Health will not be found unworthy the attention of those more advanced in years, THE CATECHISM OF HEAX.TH. Section I.—Health and its blessings. Question 1. How long is man destined to live? Answeh. Were man to pursue a proper course of life, enjoying every good gift of his creator, and abusing none, he would live, did no acci- dent occur, to an extreme old age, with the comfortable enjoyment of all his faculties. Q. 2. What must be the condition of the hu- man body, in order that an individual may enjoy a long, prosperous and happy life ? A. It must be in a state of continued health. Q. 3. What is meant by a state of health? A. The body is in a state of health when it is free from pains and infirmities, and performs all its offices with ease and regularity. Q. 4. What are the signs in a child which A 8 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. would lead to the conclusion that it is destined to a long and healthy existence? A. Its body being straight and robust; its limbs well proportioned, and uniformly covered with flesh; the texture of the flesh being firm, and the colour of the surface fresh and rosy; the body being neither very fat, tumid and spon- gy, nor parched and haggard, or strikingly lean; the skin being soft and flexible, and the com- plexion fresh and lively. Q. 5. Are great cheerfulness and activity in children, marks of a healthy constitution ? A. They are seldom to be met with, except- ing in children who enjoy perfect health. Q. 6. To ensure a healthy and long lived off- spring, what is necessary on the part of the parents? A. The father as well as mother ought to be in the prime of life, strong and vigorous; neither deformed, nor subject to such diseases as may descend to their children, as consumption, scrofula, epilepsy, &c. They ought both to be the descendants of long lived parents, and to live a life of temperance and virtue. Q. 7. Do not the children of vicious and in- temperate parents possess a healthy constitution > CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 9 A. Very seldom—Most generally they bring into the world with them the seeds of disease, by which their lives are rendered short and miserable. Q. 8. Is it in the power of parents to promote the health and longevity of their offspring, by their conduct towards them, during infancy and childhood? A. Yes, by a proper attention to diet, exer- cise, and clothing, as well as to the moral and intellectual faculties, during the early periods of life, parents have it in their power, in a very great degree, to ensure the future health and happiness of their children, and to prolong con- siderably the period of their existence. Q. 9. What are the effects produced by a neglect on the part of parents of their children's health? A. The children in general possess in after life a weakly constitution; enjoy an imperfect state of health, and are subject to various infirmi- ties and diseases, by which they are prevented from a full participation in all the pleasures of life, and not unfrequently are incapable of per- forming tliose duties which are enjoined upon them, by the laws of God and of their country: 10 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 10. What are the signs of a healthy con- dition of the body at the age of maturity? A. The fresh and rosy colour of the face and of the skin generally; the quickness and per- fection of the external senses; the firmness of the flesh, and strength of the bones. A large and full chest; the power of drawing a long breath without its causing pain, coughing, or uneasiness; eating with an appetite, and digest- ing well. Capability of enduring considerable bodily exercise or labour without fatigue, and sleeping quietly and soundly. Q. 11. What are the feelings of the individual who enjoys perfect health? A. He feels strong; full of vigour and power. He relishes his meals; is unaffected by the wind or weather; goes through his exercise and la- bour with ease, and feels himself always cheer- ful and contented. Q. 12. What are the sensations of the person who is deprived of health? A. He feels himself feeble and inactive; he has no appetite, or an irregular one. What he eats oppresses him, and causes pain or uneasi- ness. He can neither work nor amuse himself. He cannot, without danger, expose himself to CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 11 the least degree of cold or dampness: his sleep is disturbed and unrefreshing, and his mind de- pressed and cheerless. Q. 13. Can children who are sickly be active and merry, and enjoy themselves in play? A. No: sickness destroys their activity and gayety, and renders them incapable of enjoying even the liveliest and most attractive sports. Q. 14. Is not then the possession of health a very great and important blessing? A. Health is indeed one of the most precious gifts: it is equally necessary to enable us to per- form the duties, as to enjoy the pleasures of life. Q. 15. What says the son of Sirach in relation to health? A. Better, he observes, is the poor, being sound and strong of constitution, than a rich man that is afflicted in his body. Health and good estate of body are above all gold, and a strong bod)' above infinite wealth. There is no riches above a sound body, and no joy above the joy of the heart! Q. 16. Cannot the sick and enfeebled equally with those possessed of health, enjoy the bless- ings and rational pleasures of life ? 12 CATECHISM of health. A. No. They have no charms whatever for those who are without health. Q. 17. Of what avail then, is all earthly hap- piness to him who is sick ? A. Of very little, if any. Q. 18. If then health be the most precious boon of life, what duties has a man in this re- spect to discharge towards himself? A. It is his duty to observe such a course of living, as will tend to preserve his health, and to prolong his existence, and in this manner to augment his own happiness, and to enable him to minister to that of his fellow beings. Q. 19. Is it sufficient if he take care of his own health ? A. No. He is equally bound to watch over and protect the health and lives of his fellow creatures; but especially of his children and those over whom his authority extends. Q. 20. Is it in the power of man to ensure his own continued health? A. It is so to a very great degree. Most dis- eases and interruptions to health are the effects of man's own ignorance, folly, vice, or impru- dence—these he has it entirely within his power to avoid, and hence, with proper precau- CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 13 tions, to live almost uninterruptedly in a perfect state of health. Q. 21. Are we not to consider an attention to the preservation of health a moral obligation? A. We are; man is called into the world in order to engage in certain active and necessary employments; and as the want of health inca- pacitates him from these, the care necessary to preserve the body from disease must necessarily be numbered among the duties of indispensable obligation. Q. 22. What are the principal means ty which the health of the system is destroyed, and the period of life shortened, and which it is in the power of man, in general, to avoid? A. They are intemperance in eating and drinking—unwholesome food, and spirituous li- quors—breathing a confined, impure or other- wise unwholesome air—indolence, or a neglect of daily exercise—uncleanliness in the person, clothing or dwelling—over fatigue, or too long continued bodily exertion—exposure to cold and dampness, or to excessive heat—certain pre- judicial occupations—long continued mental exertion; afflictions, sorrow, grief, and misery. Q. 23. Are there not other causes by which 14 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. the health of an individual may be impaired, the avoidance of which is not within his power? A. The constitution of an individual may be reduced in strength and vigour, and laid open to the inroads of serious diseases from slight causes, by his being born of unhealthy or intem- perate parents, as well as by neglect or improper management during his infancy and childhood. Q. 24. Are there no means by which a con- stitution suffering from the causes just referred to, may be rendered more robust? A. Yes; by a regular and strictly temperate life; and by daily exercise in the open air. Q. 25. What is meant by a regular and tem- perate life? A. A regular and temperate life consists in rising early every morning, and in retiring to bed at an early hour every evening; in taking daily active exercise in the open air; in preserv- ing the body and clothing in a state of perfect cleanliness; in total abstinence from distilled spirits of every kind, and a very moderate use of fermented liquors; in eating food of the sim- plest kind, plainly cooked, and this only when, and in such quantities, as the appetite demands; CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Ij and finally, in keeping in subjection every pas- sion and desire. Q. 26. Can man enjoy a state of health if he pursue a vicious or immoral course of life ? A. No; an indulgence in vice or immorality is almost in every instance destructive to health. Q_. 27. What condition in life is the most fa- vourable to health? A. A middle condition, equally removed from wealth and poverty; in which education and the benefits of occupation are enjoyed; and luxu- rious refinement, as well as slavish toil, are ex- cluded. Section II.—Infancy. Q. 28. To what period of life is the term in- fancy applied? A. To the period between birth and the end of the second year, at which time the cutting of the first set of teeth is in general completed. Q. 29. What is to be understood by the ex- pression early infancy? A. The first ten or twelve months of exist- ence; or the period before the appearance of the four front teeth in both jaws. 16 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 30. What is the proper food during early infancy? A. The breast milk of the mother, or of a healthy nurse. Q. 31. Can an infant be reared upon no other food? A. It may, but with great difficulty: when deprived of the breast it seldom thrives well; is very liable to affections of the bowels, and very often dies. Q. 32. How long should an infant derive its food solely from the breast of its mother? A. So long as no circumstance occurs to pre- vent the mother from affording to it in this man- ner a sufficient nourishment. Q. 33. At what age should the infant be taken from the breast? A. As a general rule, not until it is one year old. Q_. 34. Are there no exceptions to this rule? A. There are; thus when an infant is pecu- liarly robust, and the teeth are early in making their appearance, it may be weaned somewhat before this period; on the contrary, when it is puny and feeble, and the teeth are late in ap- CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 17 pearing, it should be kept at the breast for a longer time. Q. 35. At what season of the year is it most proper to wean an infant? A. During the most temperate. In the south- ern and middle states in particular, an infant should never be weaned during the season of the greatest heat. Q. 36. Should the infant be deprived all at once of the breast milk of the mother? A. No; it should be accustomed by degrees to the use of other food. Q. 37. What is the most proper food for an infant after weaning? A. The most simple and plain kinds of food, and those which general experience has shown to be the most nourishing. Q. 38. Ought an infant or young child to be allowed much meat or animal food? A. No; it should be confined pretty much to milk and its preparations; well baked wheat bread, eaten stale; panada; tapioca; arrow root; potatoes, and similar kinds of food; a very mo- derate allowance of animal food, plainly cooked, is not, however, particularly objectionable. 18 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 39. What ought to be the drink of young children? A. Milk, or milk and water; pure water; whey; molasses and water; toast and water, &c. Q. 40. Should they ever be allowed distilled spirits, or wine and other fermented liquors? A. Never. Under all circumstances these drinks are injurious to the health of children: allowing them to be drank at this early period, is very apt also to lead to habits of intemperance in after life. Q_. 41. Is it proper to chew the food, or to allow it to pass through the mouth of the mo- ther before it is given to an infant? A. No; such a practice is both disgusting and injurious. Q_. 42. What is in general to be observed with regard to the feeding of children ? A. That they are regularly and moderately fed, and that their stomach is never overloaded with milk or other food. 0.. 43. Is it proper to give to infants cakes, sweetmeats, and similar kinds of food? A. They should be restrained entirely from their use. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 19 Q. 44. To whom should the feeding of an infant be entirely left? A. It should be left entirely to the mother or an experienced nurse; no other person should be allowed to interfere, lest the health of the infant suffer from improper or too much food. Q. 45. Is fruit a proper article of food for infants? A. No; even for older children too much fruit, or that which is unripe or decayed, is unwhole- some: perfectly ripe and sound fruit, particu- larly if cooked with sugar, may, however, be eaten in moderation by children, without any injury. Q. 46. Do infants suffer much from exposure to cold? A. Yes; hence every precaution ought to be taken, particularly by sufficient clothing, to pro- tect them from a sudden or long exposure to cold. Q. 47. Is not the practice injurious, therefore, of plunging infants daily in a cold bath; or of exposing them in cold weather with but little clothing, under the pretence of rendering them more hardy? A. So far from hardening them, it very gene- R 20 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. rally, if it do not speedily destroy their lives, impedes their growth and impairs their consti- tution. 0_. 48. Is it necessary, then, to keep infant? and young children very warm? A. No. In winter they should be clothed in such a manner as to prevent them from being chilled; but too much clothing, and overheated apartments, are equally injurious with a contrary state of things. Q. 49. What is the best material for the clothes of infants durijig cool and cold weather? A. Soft, fine flannel; a shirt, or 9hirt and pet- ticoat of this material is in fact an indispensable part of the clothes of an infant during such weather. Q. 50. Should the flannel be frequently changed? A. It should; if not kept perfectly clean it will produce diseases of the skin, and other se« rious mischief. Q. 51. Is flannel a proper material for the clothes of infants during summer? A. During the extreme heat of summer it should be changed for soft, thick muslin. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 21 Q. 52. What is the most proper covering for the feet of an infant? A. During early infancy the feet should have no other covering than a soft woollen sock; but when an infant begins to walk, a shoe of some soft and pliable material, with thin soles, may be worn. Q. 53. How are infants affected by the ex- treme heat of summer? A. In cities, particularly in situations where the most perfect cleanliness is not observed, and a free ventilation is prevented from taking place, the health of infants and young children suffers very considerably from the heat of summer. Q. 54. Is not an impure and confined atmo- sphere injurious to infants at all seasons of the year? A. It is—in many parts of the world thousands of infants perish every year from this cause alone. Q. 55. Should infants be confined entirely to the house, or should they be frequently carried abroad? A. During summer and the milder seasons of the year, when the weather is favourable, infants ought to be frequently carried abroad. Not only is the open air at these seasons beneficial 22 CATECniSM OF HEALTH. to their health, but if carried into the country, the freshness, beauty and variety of the scenes of nature cannot fail to attract, and while they please, to produce a beneficial impression upon even an infant. Q. 56. Is a warm covering necessary for an infant's head? A. No: a very light and loose >Sap is all that is necessary until the head is covered with hair, when every covering is unnecessaiy, even in the coldest weather. Q_. 57. What evil is produced by keeping an infant's head very warm? A. It is apt to produce a breaking out in the head or behind the ears; to cause the process of teething to be attended with an increased degree of suffering; to render the infant more liable to catch cold; and finally, it may even tend to produce disease of the brain. Q. 58. Is it necessary that the bodies and clothing of infants be kept perfectly clean? A. By a neglect of perfect cleanliness in either their health always suffers, and their lives are not unfrequently destroyed. Q. 59. Ought not the bodies of children then to be frequently washed? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 23 A. The entire body of the infant ought to be washed daily, by immersion during cold weather in a warm, and during summer in a tepid bath; while every cause that has a tendency to render their bodies filthy should be removed with the least possible delay. Q. 60. Is it proper to apply tight bandages to the body and limbs of an infant? A. On the contrary all such bandages cause great uneasiness in infants, render it very diffi- cult to preserve them perfectly dry and clean, and by impeding the growth of certain parts of the body produce deformity and disease. Q. 61. Ought infants to be rocked to sleep? A. Rocking an infant is entirely unnecessary, and when too frequently resorted to or too vio- lently performed, is certainly injurious. Q. 62. Do children rest and sleep well with- out being rocked? A. Yes; provided they are kept constantly dry and clean, in fresh air, loosely clothed, their stomachs not being loaded with too much or improper food, and they are preserved suffi- ciently warm in winter and cool in summer, the practice of rocking children is altogether un- necessary. B2 24 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 63. When an infant is awake how should it be treated? A. The mother er nurse should play with it in an affectionate and gentle manner, and give it frequent gentle exercise in the open air, when the season will permit. Q. 64. What important cautions are necessary in carrying a young infant in the arms? A. Not to grasp it too firmly, lest its bones, which are soft and easily bent, become distorted ■, never to place it upon the arm so as to oblige it to support itself or endanger its falling back- wards, and to give such support to its head as will prevent its rolling about or becoming bent upon the shoulder. Q. 65. Should an infant be carried constantly on the same arm? A. No; by its being in this manner confined too long to one position it may contract a habit of leaning to one side, or its body may become permanently crooked. Q. 66. Should much noise be in general guarded against in the apartments of young in- fants? A. Yes; they should very generally be kept in as much quiet as possible. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 25 Q. 67. When children are wakeful, peevish and fretful, is it proper to administer anodynes or composing draughts in order to procure sleep ? A. By no means; they always cause an un- natural and of course unwholesome sleep; and if frequently repeated will destroy the health and life of the infant. Q. 68. To what may the want of sleep and uneasiness of the infant most generally be re- ferred? A. To some uneasiness of the stomach and bowels produced by improper food or over feeding, or to teething. O.. 69. Is it proper to scold or frighten an infant into sleep ? A. It is highly improper; frightening infants is at all times liable to produce very serious in- jury. Q. 70. Ought a child to be suddenly awak- ened from sleep ? A. No; it has been known even to produce convulsions. Q.. 71. The eyes of infants are eagerly directed to every brilliant object, particularly to the light; what caution is to be observed in regard to this ? A. They ought to be placed or turned imme- 26 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. diately in such a direction as to have the object by which they are attracted in a direct line be- fore them; they should never be suffered to look at it sideways, this is very apt to cause them to squint. " Q. 72. By what means is the cutting of the teeth in infants rendered difficult and dangerous? A. By keeping the head too warm; by un- cleanliness; by impure air; and by too much or improper food. Q. 73. What is to be observed with regard to making infants walk? A. That all attempts to cause them to walk too soon, or by artificial means, as by a string, or in chairs, or go-carts, or leading them by the arm, are injurious, and apt to produce perma- nent deformity of the body or limbs. Q. 74. How ought parents then to manage, in respect to the walking of an infant? A. To suffer it to creep at will upon the floor or a carpet, until by degrees it learns of itself to use its feet in walking. Q. 75. How may infants be best assisted in learning to speak? A. By pronouncing the names of sensible objects to them very distinctly and slowly; be- CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 27 ginning first with those of the most easy articula- tion, and proceeding to those of more difficulty. Q. 76. Do not the corrupt pronunciation and incorrect expressings generally made use of in speaking to children impede them in learning to speak? A. It obliges them to learn the language anew at a later period, and not unfrequently teaches them habits of incorrect pronunciation, which they can afterwards overcome only with great difficulty. Q. 77. What are principal reasons why a majority of infants that are born, die in the course of the two first years? A. Want of fresh pure air; the effects of cold; uncleanliness; improper food; the abuse of ano- dynes, and of medicines generally. The intem- perance, anxiety and misery of parents are likewise to be ranked among the causes of the death of so many infants. Section III.—Childhood. Q. 78. To what period of life is the term childhood applied? 28 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. To the period which intervenes between the 2nd and 14th or 15th years. Q. 79. Is bodily exercise of great importance during childhood? A. Yes; during the latter period-of infancy and the whole of childhood a great part of the day should be spent in active amusements in the open air, whenever the weather will permit. Q. 80. What good effects result from this? A. It promotes the growth, strength and health of the body; to a very great degree pre> vents deformity; and prepares the body, gene- rally, for the enjoyment of a long and vigorous existence. Q. 81. What is the consequence of preventing children from partaking of sufficient playful exercise in the open air, and of confining them within doors in a sitting posture nearly the whole day? A. They become weak and sickly; their bo- dies are stunted in their growth, and ill formed; they remain enfeebled during life, and seldom live to old age. Q. 82. Is the same freedom in regard to bo- dily exercise to be allowed to girls as to boys? A. In this respect no difference whatever CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 29 should be made between them; the bodies of both require exercise; to deprive either of it is productive of lasting injury. Q. 83. When children become tired from their exertion in play, is it proper for them to lay down on the damp ground or grass? A. No; to do so would be very liable to give them cold; to produce violent pains and swelling of their limbs, or even to occasion some incura- ble disease. Q. 84. What bad consequences are produced by confining children for many hours in one posture, as upon a chair, bench, or stool? A. The restlessness and uneasiness always produced by such constraint, causes the body to be thrown into various awkward positions; from which either permanent crookedness and other deformity of the body are produced, or involuntary and ungraceful twitchings of the face or limbs are acquired which are seldom afterwards got rid of. ' Q. 85. What effect will it have upon children if they are kept the whole day at work in a manufactory? A. Besides all the evils which result from want of exercise, the strengtii and health of their 30 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. bodies are further impaired by the confined and impure air which they are forced to breathe in such situations. Q. 86. Is it proper to load the bodies of chil- dren with thick and heavy clothing? A. During warm weather their clothing should be light*and loose; and in winter it should be sufficient merely to guard them from the feeling of cold. Q,. 87. Do children who breathe a pure air, partake of sufficient and wholesome food, and exercise daily in the open air, experience the effects of cold so sensibly as those under oppo- site circumstances? A. No; the stronger and more healthy the constitution the less it suffers from cold. Q. 88. Why ought the clothing of children to.be loose, and as light as is consistent with their comfort? A. In order that by the removal of all con- straint the limbs may be enabled to obtain freely their utmost growth and their natural shape, while at the same time the body is guarded from the enfeebling effects of too great a degree of warmth. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 31 Q. 89. Does tight clothing then prevent the growth of the body and cause deformity? A. It has always that tendency. Q. 90. How ought the heads of children to be kept? A. Perfectly clean and cool. Q. 91. How are thase objects to be obtained? A. By frequently washing the head with wa- ter; the daily use of a hard brush: keeping the hair short; and avoiding caps of every species, and heavy hats or bonnets, both in boys and girls. Q. 92. If the hair of a girl be kept short during childhood by frequently cutting it, will it not cause it to become coarse, and otherwise destroy its beauty? A. No; if the hair be frequently washed and brushed, its softness and beauty will not in the least be impaired, while it will be much less liable to come out and occasion baldness in after life, than when it is not kept short during child- hood. Q. 93. Does any injury result from allowing the hair of children to be thick and long? A. Yes; the head is with difficulty preserved perfectly clean; and being kept too warm, it is liable to be affected with pain, sores, and other C 32 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. diseases; the complexion of the child also is in general pale, and its eyes weak or inflamed. Q. 94. Is not a cap necessary for children during the night? A. No; on the contrary the custom of wearing a night cap is vfery apt to produce colds, and even more dangerous diseases. Q. 95. Is a thick or tight covering proper for the necks of children? A. Nothing even moderately tight should ever be worn around the neck; it would be bet- ter, indeed, if this part were kept uncovered, excepting during very cold or inclement wea- ther. Q,. 96. What covering should be worn upon the feet of children? A. Loose and soft shoes, corresponding ex- actly to the shape of the foot, and without heels. Q,. 97. What inconvenience results from heels to a shoe? A. In young children more especially they are apt to cause a bending of the back bone, while they always prevent the free and easy motions of the body in walking and running. Q. 98. What is particularly to be observed in CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 33 regard to the stockings proper to be worn by children ? A. In summer no stockings should be worn, or only short socks: in winter, when soft woollen stockings become necessary, they should never be so long as to cover the knees, nor should they ever be tightly gartered. Q. 99. Is cleanliness necessary to the health of children? A. Health cannot be preserved unless the skin and clothing of children are kept perfectly clean. Q. 100. Ought not the bodies of children then to be frequently washed? A. The hands and face of children should be washed previous to every meal; in summer their whole body should be immersed in a cool or tepid bath, and in winter at least once a week in a warm bath. Q. 101. Do stays, belts or braces form a pro- per part of the clothing of children? A. They ought never to be worn. Q. 102. What particular injury do they pro- duce? A. They tend to deform the shape, instead of rendering it upright and graceful, as has been 34 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. erroneously supposed, and otherwise very se- riously injure the health of the individual, as well during childhood as in after life. Q. 103. What is the great benefit to be de- rived from light and perfectly loose clothing in children? A. It will enable their bodies to become healthier, stronger, taller and more beautiful, and will permit them to acquire the best and most graceful attitudes. Q. 104. Ought children to eat much meat or animal food? A. No; their food should be composed of a very small portion of wholesome meat plainly cooked. Q. 105. What then ought their food princi- pally to consist of? A. Of bread of a good quality, well baked, and eaten stale; of potatoes, rice, milk, either fresh from the cow, or variously prepared; the different preparations of Indian meal; plain rice or bread pudding, custards, &c. Q. 106. Will they not become weak, and their bodies be prevented from acquiring their proper growth by restricting them principally to a ve- getable diet? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 35 A. With a sufficient amount of bodily exercise in a pure atmosphere, and a strict attention to the cleanliness of their bodies and clothing, they will become more strong and robust, and attain to a much larger size than when under opposite circumstances their diet is principally of flesh. Q. 107. Are rich soups and gravies proper for children ? A. By no means;—they overload and injure the stomach, and are very apt to produce sick- ness. Q. 108. Are such cakes as short cake, pound cake, fruit cake, and the like, proper for chil- dren? A. Even in moderation they are injurious; and as children are almost always enticed to in- dulge in them to excess, it would be better if they were entirely prohibited from using them. Q. 109. What harm do they do? A. They are very difficult of digestion, they therefore disagree with the stomach, and cause uneasiness, pain or sickness, which continues often for many days. Q. 110. Ought children to be allowed much butter? A. Butter or fat of any kind is improper for C 2 36 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. children; to eat their bread with milk is much better than with butter. Q. 111. Ought children to be prohibited from eating when they crave food? A. When a child is fed upon very plain and simple food, and is allowed plenty of exercise, it will seldom desire to eat excepting when it feels a natural appetite; under such circum- stances to debar it from food would be highly improper. Q. 112. Are there no circumstances in which it would be wrong to give a child food as often as it craves it? A. Yes; when a child is sick, when it has partaken of food a very short time before, or when it asks for articles of an improper kind, its cravings for food should not be indulged. Q. 113. What injury results to children from their eating too much ? A. They have constantly uneasy feelings; are plagued with pains in the stomach and head; become pale, bloated, or covered with blotches and sores; have very little inclination to play about and amuse themselves; and are very often sick. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 37 Q. 114. Is it proper for children to eat their food highly seasoned with spices ? A. No;—besides rendering the food too heat- ing, spices, or much seasoning, of any kind, create an artificial appetite, and induce the child to eat more food than is necessary for it. Q. 115. What drinks are proper for children ? A. The same as those which were mentioned as proper for infants. Q. 116. Children ought not then to be al- lowed ardent spirits or fermented liquors? A. It would be well if every parent would consider it a crime to give to a child, or allow it to make use of either. Q. 117. How soon in the evening ought a child to retire to bed? A. Immediately after darkness sets in. Q. 118. Should.it leave its bed early in the morning? A. Yes;—by daylight in summer, and soon after sunrise in winter. Q. 119. What harm results from lying in bed late of a morning? A. The child becomes indolent and enfeebled, stunted in its growth, and hable to become sick. 38 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. , Q. 120. Should several children be allowed to sleep in the same room? A. Unless the sleeping apartment be very large, not more than one, or at most two chil- dren should be permitted to occupy it at one time. Q. 121. Even in a large apartment, is it proper to crowd several children in one bed? A. No. From the time children are sufficiently old to sleep apart from their mother or nurse, their health would be benefitted by each one occupying a separate bed. Q. 122. Is it proper to allow children to eat fruit? A. Fruit which is in season, which is perfect- ly ripe and sound, and not too sour, may be eaten by children in the middle of the day, but in very moderate quantities at a time. Q. 123. Which is best for children, fruit in its raw state or when cooked? A. In general fruit cooked with sugar is the most wholesome for children. Q. 124. What is the consequence of eating too much unripe, very sour or decayed fruit? A. Sickness; violent pains of the stomach; vomiting, and other distressing symptoms. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 39 Q. 125. In eating stone fruit, as cherries and plums, ought children to be careful not to swal- low the stones? A. This is always a caution of great import- ance; swallowing the stones of fruit has been known to occasion the most dreadful sickness, and even death. Q.. 126. What caution is to be observed in giving to children sugar plums, coloured can- dies, and similar confectionary? A. To be very certain that the colouring mat- ter is not of a poisonous quality;—very often it consists of a chemical preparation, which, when these articles are eaten in any quantity, produces injury; in some instances death has been caused in this manner. Q. 127. Should children, when heated by their play, be permitted immediately to partake of food? A. No;—they should rest for a short time, so that their bodies may become gradually cooled, before being allowed to eat. Q. 128. What ought to be the situation and condition of a school house? A. It ought to be built in a dry, open, and 40 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. elevated situation; be well lighted, and have large rooms with high ceilings. Q. 129. What ought to be the condition of the school room? A. It ought to be capacious, perfectly dry and clean, freely ventilated, and capable of being kept sufficiently cool in summer and warm in winter. Q.. 130. Are school rooms, the floors of which Me below the level of the ground proper? A. No;—they are very improper; they can never be kept sufficiently dry and freely ven- tilated. Q. 131. What effect have small, low, damp, dirty, and ill ventilated school rooms upon the children who occupy them? A. They cannot be occupied for even a short time without injuring their health; and when many hours of the day are spent within them, the countenance of the children becomes pale, their strength impaired, and either rheumatism, scrofula, consumption, sore eyes, or other serious disease is liable to be produced. Q. 132. Ought children to be kept sitting for many hours in school? A. No;—it would be highly injurious: a very CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 41 short period should be occupied within the school room in pleasant weather; and while there the children should be allowed at short intervals to stand upright and walk about. Q. 133. How may a foundation for habits of activity and industry be laid during childhood? A. By allowing the child unrestrained ex- ercise with those of his own age; by his being taught the very close connexion between health and bodily activity; by his being encouraged to engage for a short time every day, during proper weather,in such species of active out door labour as are proportioned to the strength of his body, and by his being accustomed to do every thing with due consideration and at proper periods, never postponing until to-morrow what should be done to-day. Section IV.—Air. Q. 134. What name is given to the air by which we are surrounded? A. It is called the atmosphere. Q. 135. Do you know of what it is composed? A. Of a combination of certain definite por- tions of two aeriform substances, one of which 42 catechism of health. is by itself destructive to life, while the other is absolutely necessary to the support of life, whether in man, animals or plants. Q. 136. Does the atmosphere contain no other ingredients? A. Yes;—it contains also, invariably, a small amount of fixed air, a certain quantity of vapour, and often foreign substances emitted during the various processes of life, the fermentation of animal and vegetable substances, &c. Q_. 137. What state of the atmosphere is best adapted for the support of life? A. It should be pure, containing few foreign substances, neither too dry nor too moist, too warm nor too cold, and in a constant state of circulation. Q. 138. What effects has pure fresh air upon the human frame? A. It refreshes the body, rendering it strong and healthy, while it imparts a degree of com- posure and serenity to the mind, excites the appetite, renders the digestion of food more perfect, and induces sound and balmy sleep. Q. 139. What are the effects produced by living in foul, damp and stagnant air? A. The system becomes weak and unhealthy, CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 43 and the mind depressed and gloomy; while fe- vers and other diseases of the most malignant character are very liable to be generated. Q. 140. By what means is the atmosphere rendered impure and prejudicial to health and life? A. By every thing that prevents its free cir- culation; by a number of persons being crowded together in a small space; by large masses of pu- trifying vegetable and animal substances; and by certain manufactories and processes in the arts. Q. 141. Is the air of a city or of the open country most friendly to health? A. Generally speaking, of the open country. Q. 142. What are the circumstances which may render the air of the open country preju- dicial to health? A. If the situation be low and damp, or in the neighbourhood of a large marsh or collection of stagnant water, or if near to a smelting furnace, particularly of lead or copper, the air will be more or less prejudicial to health. Q. 143. What are the causes which render the air of cities less pure than that of the country ? A. The breath and perspiration of the inha- bitants in health and disease; the filth which i; D 44 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. unavoidably accumulated, even with the strictest attention to cleanliness; the impediments to a free ventilation occasioned by the number of buildings; the numerous fires which are made use of at all seasons of the year; large burying grounds, extensive manufactories, &c. Q. 144. What is the most healthy situation in a city? A. A residence in a wide and straight street, open at both ends, well paved, and kept per- fectly clean, distant from large manufactories of every kind, from burying grounds, ponds of stagnant water, and having in the rear an open space of some extent well paved, covered with grass, or cultivated as a garden. Q. 145. What is the most healthy habitation in a city? A. One so planned as to admit throughout of a free ventilation; having large, light and lofty apartments, and perfectly free from damp. Q. 146. What circumstances may render the air of a house or room impure? A. The careful exclusion of the external air, or the neglect of free ventilation; inattention to perfect cleanliness; the exhalations from damp foul clothing or furniture; the breath and per- CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 45 spiration of a number of persons; the smoke from lamps, candles, &c; putrifying vegetable or animal substances accumulated in the yard or cellar; the steam from ironing linen; the exhala- tion from burning charcoal, &c. all tend, in a greater or less degree, to corrupt the air of a room or dwelling, and render it unwholesome or totally unfit for the support of life. Q. 147. What ought to be done by those who are obliged to spend much time in the house? A. Besides seeing that the room they occupy is kept strictly clean, they should occasionally open the door and windows, if the weather will not permit of their being kept constantly open, in order to dissipate the air which has been ren- dered impure, and admit a fresh supply from without. Q. 148. Is it proper to keep perfumes, and flowers emitting a strong smell in a closed room occupied by living beings? A. No;—it is highly injurious, especially in a bed room; they corrupt the air, and cause head- ach, giddiness, and sometimes apoplexy. Q. 149. Is the air most impure during the day or night? A. There are many causes which tend to ren- 46 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. der the air after night less pure than during the day. Q. 150. Is it proper to occupy a very warm room? A. This is injurious at all seasons of the year. Q. 151. What injury results from it? A. It relaxes the body, destroys the colour of the surface, retards digestion, and renders the system peculiarly liable to the influence of cold; a slight exposure producing serious disease. Q. 152. Is it proper to remain in a damp room, or one very recently scrubbed or whitewashed? A. No:—by so doing a severe cold, pleurisy or rheumatism may be contracted. Q. 153. Is it proper to sit opposite to an open door or window; in other words, in a draft or current of air? A. This is particularly injurious after night, during sleep, or when the body is in a perspira- tion, or fatigued by previous labour or exercise. Q. 154. Is any care necessary in visiting a cellar or vault? A. The air in such places is always more or less impure; and if they are so situated as to prevent ventilation almost entirely, the air may be such as immediately to destroy life. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 47 Q. 155. By what means may we distinguish the impurity of the air in these places? A. By ascertaining its effects upon a lighted candle; if this be immediately or speedily ex- tinguished by it, or burn in it but dimly, the air is impure, and would be prejudicial to life. Q. 156. Is it proper to pass at once, during winter, from a heated apartment into the ex- ternal cold? A. It is attended with very little danger, pro- vided the body be free from perspiration, pro- tected by an additional amount of clothing, and its warmth maintained by brisk exercise. Q. 157. Is the sudden passage from a cold to a heated atmosphere liable to produce any in- convenience? A. If the difference between the two be con- siderable, very serious injury to health is liable to be produced. Q. 158. How can this injury be prevented during the winter season ? A. By never allowing our rooms to be warmer than what actual comfort may demand; or by remaining a short period in a cool apartment previously to entering one of a higher tempera- 48 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 159. How may the injurious effects upon health of the impure air of cities be avoided by those who are obliged to reside there ? A. By temperance, personal and domestic cleanliness, and by daily walks of an hour or two into the most healthy portion of the sur- rounding country. Q. 160. Is the frequenting of crowded assem- blies prejudicial to health? A. Yes;—particularly when collected in a close room in summer, or in winter where a fire and numerous lights are burning. Q. 161. In what manner do crowded assem- blies become injurious to health? A. By the extreme degree of heat they create on the one hand, and on the other by the vitia- tion of the air by the breath and perspiration of so many individuals collected in a small space. Section V.—Exercise. Q. 162. Is it necessary that man should make use of exercise? A. Without the regular active exercise of the body, its health cannot be maintained. Q. 163. What is meant by active exercise? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 49 A. It is that species of bodily activity pro- duced by the natural actions of the limbs. Q. 164. What is to be understood by passive exercise? A. That motion which is excited in the body by external means. Q. 165. Which is most conducive to health? A It is by the active species of exercise al- most alone that the system can be preserved in a state of health. Q. 166. Is it sufficient to take exercise occa- sionally and at long intervals? A. By no means;—to be of benefit the body must be daily exercised. Q. 167. What are the effects produced on the system by a deficiency of exercise ? A. The body becomes weak, the appetite impaired, the digestion imperfect and painful, the limbs become emaciated, tremulous, and disinclined to motion, the countenance pale and languid, the spirits depressed and gloomy, and the duration of life is considerably shortened. Q. 168. What are the more prominent effects resulting from regular bodily exercise? A. It creates a healthy appetite, invigorates the powers of digestion, and of the system 50 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. generally, causes sound and refreshing sleep, a freshness of the complexion, cheerfulness of the spirits; it wards off disease, and tends to preserve the vigour of both mind and body to an advanced age. Q. 169. Independent of the benefits resulting from regular active exercise already pointed out, is there not still another to be derived from it in cold weather? A. Yes;—regular brisk exercise during the winter season preserves the warmth of the body, and renders it less susceptible to the influence of cold, and less dependent for its comfort on artificial heat. Q. 170. Is the supposition that females re- quire less exercise than men correct? A. By no means;—both sexes stand equally in need of regular active exercise. Q. 171. What period of the day is best adapt- ed to exercise? A. Early in the morning, and towards the close of the day. Q. 172. Is it proper to carry exercise to such a degree as to produce a feeling of lassitude or fatigue ? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 51 A. No; a slight degree of weariness is de- sirable, but all beyond this is injurious. Q. 173. Should active exercise be entered upon immediately after eating? A. No; some hours should always be allowed to elapse after each meal before exercise is taken. Q. 174. What are the principal objections to exercising immediately after a meal? A. The body is less inclined to exertion at this period, while the process of digestion will be impeded and rendered imperfect. Q. 175. What is the most beneficial kind of exercise? A. Walking is at once the most beneficial and most natural exercise. Q. 176. Why is the exercise of walking so beneficial to health? A. Because in the erect position every part of the body is freed from restraint, while by the gentle motion communicated to each portion of it in the act of walking the free circulation of the fluids through every part is promoted. Q.. 177. What is the kind of dress in which exercise should be taken? A. One which leaves every limb and joint 52 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. at perfect freedom; which allows the breast to dilate to its fullest extent; in short, a dress in which the body experiences not the least com- pression or restraint. Q. 178. When the body becomes heated by exercise, is it proper to throw off a part of the clothing and sit on the damp ground or in a draft of air? A. No;—this would be in the highest degree imprudent. In general active exercise during mild weather should be taken in a light dress, an additional amount of clothing being assumed inlmediately on ceasing from it. In winter it is best to retire immediately into a dry and com- fortable apartment. Q. 179. To what class of persons is walking several hours a day absolutely necessary for the preservation of their health? A. To the sedentary;—that is, to those who sit for the greater part of the day at some em- ployment which requires but little bodily exer- tion, as tailors, shoemakers, clerks, students, &c. Q. 180. In what position should the body be held in walking? A. It should be kept as upright as possible, CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 53 the shoulders being held back, and the breast projected somewhat forwards. Q. 181. What advantage results from this po- sition? A. The chest being allowed by it to dilate fully, the act of breathing is performed with perfect ease and freedom, in consequence of which an increase of vigour is communicated to all the actions of the system. Q. 182. Ought exercise to be taken in the open air? A. Yes;—exercise within doors is attended with much less beneficial effects than that taken in the open air. By the citizen, moderate walks daily into the surrounding country are highly conducive to health. Q. 183. Are not the bodies of mechanics suffi- ciently exercised by their employments? A. There are few mechanical employments which can supersede the necessity of regular bodily exercise in the open air. 0_. 184. From what does this arise, seeing that many of them demand great exertion of the limbs? A. Because this exertion is partial, some of the limbs being constantly exercised, while 54 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. the others remain very nearly inactive. Most mechanical employments, also, require a bent or constrained position of the body, and are carried on within doors or in an impure atmo- sphere, the bad effects of which can only be ob- viated by bodily exercise, especially walking, in the open air. Q. 185. What is the effect when a portion of the body only is constantly exercised? A. The advantages derivable from general exercise are in a great measure lost, while the part exercised acquires a bulk disproportionate to that of the rest of the body. Q. 186. Ought the mind to be occupied at the same time that the body is in exercise? A. All those species of exercise which agree- ably occupy and amuse the mind, are far more beneficial than such as are performed merely as a task. Q. 187. Are running and leaping healthful exercises? A. They are both considered as violent spe- cies of exercise, and adapted only to those in perfect health, to the young and robust, and to the colder seasons of the year. They are, how- ever, less beneficial than walking. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 55 Q. 188. What kind of exercise, next to walking, is most to be preferred? A. Riding on horseback. A ride of eight or ten miles a day will be found highly advantageous to all who are debilitated by confinement within doors, and by long continued sedentary habits. Q. 189. Enumerate some of the other spe- cies of exercise which may be considered as contributing to the support of health? A. Various active amusements carried on in the open air; gardening and certain agricultural employments; botanical and the like excursions. Q. 190. Is riding in a carriage a beneficial exercise? A. Only to a certain extent, and when the carriage is an open one. Q_. 191. What renders it of so little benefit? A. Because the motion commuiucated by it to the body is trifling and only partial, the lower limbs in particular, from the sitting posture which it requires, being in a state of almost com- plete rest. Q. 192. Why ought a closed carriage to be avoided? A. Because the air confined within so small a space as the interior of a carriage very soon be- E 56 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. comes vitiated, particularly when it is breathed by several persons. Q. 193. What effect has the exercise of danc- ing upon health? A. A very beneficial one, provided the exer- cise be not too violently performed, nor carried to the extent of producing considerable fatigue; under the latter circumstances, it becomes inju- rious. O.. 194. What other circumstances tend to render this exercise injurious to health? A. When it is performed late at night in crowded and overheated apartments, and in a dress which compresses tightly any portion of the body. Q_. 195. Is swimming a healthful exercise? A. It is;—it combines the advantages of bodily activity with those of the cold bath. Q. 196. Is it equally adapted to eveiy indi- vidual? A. No; it is proper only for those of strong and vigorous constitutions. Q. 197. During what weather is swimming an improper exercise? A. It should not be resorted to during cold, chilly or damp weather. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 57 Q. 198. What should be the condition of the body previously to entering the water? A. It should be entirely free from any degree of chilliness or exhaustion, and not in a state of profuse perspiration. Q. 199. What is proper to be done previously to entering the water? A. It is always a very judicious practice to partake of a degree of exercise sufficient to ex- cite a glow of heat over the whole body. Q. 200. What is the period of the day best adapted for swimming? A. The morning, or an hour or two before sunset. Q. 201. What is the most fitting place for swimming? A. A clear running stream of sufficient depth, having a sandy or gravelly shore and bottom. Q. 202. Is it proper to swim in an open river during the middle of the day when the heat is considerable ? A. No; it would be liable to produce very considerable injury. Q. 203. What are the places in which swim- ming should not be practised? 58 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. Stagnant and thickly shaded pools, par- ticularly in the neighbourhood of marshes. Q. 204. What should be done immediately after coming out of the water? A. The body should be quickly wiped dry by friction with a coarse towel. Q. 205. Should an individual immediately after bathing remain inactive? A. No; ne ought always to take a gentle de- gree of exercise. Q,. 206. Independent of the benefits resulting from regular active exercise already pointed out, is there not still another to be derived from it in cold weather? A. Yes; regular brisk exercise during the winter season preserves the warmth of the body, and renders it less susceptible to the influence of cold, and less dependent for its comfort on artificial heat. Q. 207. Is the supposition that females re- quire less exercise than men, correct? A. By no means; both sexes stand equally in need of regular active exercise. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 59 Section VI.—Sleep. Q. 208. Is a certain amount of sleep essential to the healthy condition of man? A. Yes;—deprived of the necessary repose, the mind equally with the body suffers. Q. 209. What number of hours is it necessary to pass in sleep ? A. This will differ in almost every individual, according to his age, strength, degree of health and the quantity and nature of the exercise taken during the day. Q. 210. Do children require a greater amount of sleep than adults? A. As a general rule they do; particularly very young children. Q. 211. Do those who partake of a great deal of exercise demand more sleep than those who partake of but little? A. Yes;—when either the mind or body is kept in active exercise during the day, the amount of repose necessary is always greater than under opposite circumstances. Q. 212. What is the proper period for sleep ? A. Experience proves that nature has design- ed the night for the period of repose. E 2 60 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 213. Is sleeping during the day then to be avoided? A. Whenever a sufficient amount of sleep can be obtained at night, sleeping at any period of the day should be avoided, at least by adults in a state of health. Q. 214. Does any injury to health result from passing many hours of the night in labour, study or the pursuit of pleasure? A. Yes; the practice is always attended with a destruction of health to a greater or less de- gree. To retire to rest at an early hour should be a rule strictly adhered to by all. Q. 215. Is it proper to rise early in the morn- ing? A. Such a practice is one of the best means of preserving health. Q. 216. Is it proper to retire to bed soon after eating a full meal of solid food ? A. No;—by such a practice the sleep becomes painful, disturbed and unrefreshing, and the health invariably suffers. Q. 217. What kind of sleep is enjoyed by those in health? A. A profound, quiet, and refreshing sleep, undisturbed by dreams. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 61 Q. 218. What circumstances, in addition to health, are requisite in order to insure a quiet and refreshing sleep ? A. It is necessary that the body should feel a degree of weariness from exercise in the open air; that the stomach should neither be loaded with food nor experience hunger; and that the mind enjoy contentment and peace. Q. 219. Is the soundness of the repose a mat- ter of importance? A. It is only after a night of sound repose that an individual awakes with a renewed desire and capacity for labour, and in an invigorated and cheerful state of mind. 0.. 220. Ought we to sleep in a cool, pure and dry air? A. Yes;—it is all important, therefore, not to sleep in cellars, in sitting rooms, nor in those crowded with beds, but in cool, dry, large, and lofty chambers that are capable of being freely ventilated during the day. Q. 221. Is it proper in warm weather to allow the windows of a bed room to remain open at night? A. No;—more especially is it injurious if the bed is placed in the draft of air admitted by an open window during the night. 62 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 222. Is a bed closely surrounded by cur- tains prejudicial to health? A. Yes; because in such beds nearly all the advantages of a spacious apartment are counter- acted, and the individual during sleep is obliged to breathe within a small and confined atmo- sphere. Q. 223. Is it proper to cover the face with the bed clothes during sleep? A. No; such a practice is full of danger. Q. 224. Is it not improper, therefore, to sus- pend a curtain over the front of a cradle during the sleep of an infant? A. It is in the highest degree improper. Q. 225. Is it proper to keep a fire burning in a bed chamber? A. In a state of health it is always improper, excepting when a person is obliged to sleep in a very damp apartment; even then the fire should be extinguished some time before he retires to bed. Q. 226. Is perfect cleanliness all important in a bed chamber? A. A filthy bed chamber is, if possible, even more injurious to health than a filthy parlour or sitting room. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 63 Q. 227. Is it unwholesome to sleep in feather or down beds? A. It is unwholesome, particularly in summer. Q. 228. What renders such beds unwhole- some? A. By the great degree of heat they commu- nicate to the body, beds of feathers or down tend to debilitate it; while they, also, render the sys- tem more liable to suffer from the effects of cold. Q. 229. Which are the most wholesome beds? A. Mattresses stuffed with horse hair, straw, moss, or the husks of the Indian corn. Q. 230. Are these beds proper for children ? A. The health, strength and vigour of child- ren are far better preserved by causing them to sleep upon such beds than upon one made of feathers. Q. 231. Is it proper to keep the body very warm in bed by means of numerous blankets and other coverings. A. No;—care should be taken to preserve the body while asleep comfortably warm, any amount of covering beyond what is necessary for this, is injurious to health. Q. 232. What cautions are necessary in regard to the bed and bed clothes? 64 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. That they be perfectly clean, free from damp, and well aired during the day. Q. 233. Is it proper for several persons to occupy the same bed? A. It is very prejudicial to health. As a general rule it would be better were each individual to occupy a separate bed. Q. 234. Before going to bed what should be observed with respect to our clothing? A. That it be perfectly loose; all ligatures or bandages being removed, particularly from about the neck and chest. Q. 235. Ought we to sleep in the same clothes we wear during the day? A. No;—the sleep is always more refreshing, and the health of the body better preserved by changing at night entirely the clothes worn during the day. Q. 236. Are feather pillows injurious to health? A. By keeping the head too warm they are apt to occasion colds, pain of the head, inflam- mation of the ears, &c. Q. 237. Is a cap or covering for the head pro- per during sleep? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 65 A. It is improper, excepting in the case of females who wear a cap during the day. Q. 238. What injury results from it? A. The same as results from feather pillows or any other means by which the heat of the head is increased. Q. 239. Is it wholesome to sleep with the bed upon the floor? A. No;—the air immediately above the floor is in every room the most impure. Q. 240. Is it proper to sleep upon the grass or ground? A. This is highly injurious in every season of the year, whether in the day time or at night. Q. 241. What injury results from it? A. The dampness of the ground will give rise to rheumatism, pleurisy or other equally serious disease. Q. 242. Cannot a person sleep too much, and in that manner injure his health? A. Yes; too long a period spent in sleep ener- vates the system, destroys the digestion, de- presses the spirits, renders an individual ner- vous, and disincUned to exertion, either of the body or mind. 66 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Section VII.—Food. Q. 243. When ought man to partake of food. A. Whenever he feels a natural appetite for it. d. 244. What is meant by a natural appetite? A. That inclination for food which occurs in a healthy individual accustomed to daily exer- cise in the open air. Q. 245. Of what kind of food ought man to partake? A. Of plain and wholesome food, simply cooked. Q. 246. Ought it to consist of vegetables or of the flesh of animals? A. Of a proper mixture of both. Q. 247. Of which should it consist principally? A. Of vegetables; particularly in summer and in warm climates. Q,. 248. How much ought an individual to eat? A. Only so much as to satisfy his natural ap- petite. Q. 249. • Can an individual enjoy perfect health on animal food alone? A. He will at least enjoy less perfect health than on a proper intermixture of animal and catechism of health. 67 vegetable food; or by living entirely upon the latter. Q. 250. Is it proper to eat with haste? A. No; every portion of the food should be fully chewed before it is swallowed. Q. 251. If our food be not properly chewed what is the consequence ? A. It cannot be fully digested by the stomach; hence it overloads the latter, does not yield sufficient or proper nourishment to the body, destroys the natural appetite, produces uncom- fortable feelings and disease. Q. 252. In what manner is an unnatural and inordinate appetite for food produced ? A. By partaking of a great variety of food, or of that which is richly cooked; by rich sauces, high seasoning, and by the use of wine and sti- mulating drinks at meals. Q. 253. Is not a man's health and strength al- ways in proportion to the amount he eats ? A. No: a very moderate quantity of plain food is all that is necessary for the support of health and strength; all beyond this will injure both. Q. 254. What are the effects produced by eating too much? A. The powers of the stomach are impaired; F 68 catechism of health. the body becomes bloated, languid and en- feebled, the spirits depressed, the mind inactive; finally the system becomes the prey of gout, dropsy, apoplexy and other serious diseases, and the duration of life is considerably shortened. Q. 255. What is necessary in order that wholesome food, eaten in moderation, may com- municate a sufficient amount of nourishment to the system? A. That the powers of the stomach be suffi- cient to its perfect digestion. Q. 256. What are the causes by which the powers of the stomach are impaired? A. By intemperance in eating, by drinking distilled spirits, or immoderate quantities of wine and malt liquors, by the neglect of exercise, by over fatigue, want of regular sleep, impure air, intense application of the mind, anxiety, &c. Q. 257. How are the healthy powers of the stomach best preserved? A. By drinking only water, by regular active exercise in the open air; by partaking of whole- some and simple food, plainly cooked; by eating only when an appetite is present, and leaving off the moment it is satisfied; by personal cleanli- CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 69 ness; breathing a pure atmosphere, and by pre- serving the mind free from all corroding cares. Q. 258. In what manner do the refinements of cookery, rich sauces and spices, become inju- rious? A. They disorder the stomach, and impair the health of the system generally, by rendering the food too heating, and difficult of digestion, and by inducing us to partake of too much food, or to eat in the absence of the natural appetite. Q. 259. Is it proper to partake of food while the body is labouring under the immediate ef- fects of considerable fatigue? A. Whatever food is then eaten should at least be very light, in a fluid form, and taken in moderation. Q. 260. How many meals should an individual take in the course of the day? A. On this subject no rule can be laid down; the wants of the system as indicated by a healthy appetite should be the only guide as to the fre- quency and extent of our meals. Q. 261. In a healthy condition of the system at what period will food be most generally re- quired? A. Soon after waking in the morning, and 70 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. also towards the close of the day. Breakfast and an early supper would appear, therefore, to be the most indispensable meals to an individual in health and using daily active exercise. Q. 262. Is it proper to allow the stomach to endure for any length of time the sensation of hunger? A. No; by so doing its powers are always im- paired. Q. 263. Who requires the most food, the in- dividual who devotes the greater part of the day to bodily exercise, or he who spends it in se- dentary employments within doors? A. The first will require the most food; this is indicated by a greater appetite and stronger powers of digestion which they possess. Q. 264. In which season of the year, summer or winter, is the greatest amount of food ne- cessary ? A. In winter. In summer the food should consist principally of vegetables, of preparations of milk and the like. Q. 265. Is it proper to drink a great quantity at meals? A. No; drinking a large amount of fluid at meals impedes the digestion of the food. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 71 Q. 266. What constitutes an important article of food in all civilized countries? A. Bread, which has been justly styled the staff of life. Q. 267. What are the requisites to constitute bread a wholesome food? A. That it be made of good flour, that the dough be rendered sufficiently light before it is put in the oven, that it be well baked, and at least one day old before it is used. Q. 268. Is not warm or perfectly fresh bread wholesome? A. No; it is difficult of digestion, and always disorders the stomach. Q. 269. Is bread that has been kept too long, or in a damp place, so as to become mouldy or musty, fit to be eaten? A. No; such bread is hable to produce very serious disease. Q. 270. Are hot cakes made of flour kneaded with butter or lard wholesome? A. No;—when eaten they soon produce, par- ticularly in weak stomachs, a sense of weight and uneasiness, and what is termed heartburn. Q. 271. Are potatoes a wholesome food? A. When eaten with meat or with milk they F 2 72 CATECHISM OF HEALTH.] are an excellent food, but they contain too little nourishment to permit the body to be supported on them alone. Q. 272. Are very fat meats wholesome ? A. The fat of meat is always difficult of di- gestion, and when the individual is not very robust, it disorders the stomach to a very great extent. Q. 273. Is tea a proper article of food? A. Tea cannot be considered as an article of food, as it contains in itself not the least nourish- ment. When drank very strong or in large quantities it undoubtedly injures the stomach and disorders the whole system. Q. 274. Is coffee less injurious than tea? A. From the moderate use of weak coffee, with plenty of sugar and milk, little or no injury can result; when very strong, however, or immo- derately indulged in, it is prejudicial to health. Q. 275. What effect has chocolate on health ? A. When perfectly pure, boiled in fresh milk, and drank in moderation, it is both wholesome and nourishing. The impure chocolate generally made use of is, however, pernicious to health. Q_. 276. Is ripe fruit a wholesome article of food? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 73 A. It is, when eaten in moderation and with proper precautions. Q. 277. What are those precautions? A. Not to indulge in it when the stomach is loaded with other food; always to pare it or re- move the external skin; and of plums, cherries and the like, always to reject the stones. Q. 278. Why is it necessary to remove the skin and to reject the stones of fruit? A. Because the first being tough and indi- gestible is hable to remain in the stomach for a long time, and to produce uneasiness and pain; and the latter, when swallowed, have been fre- quently the cause of most serious disease of the bowels, or even death. Q. 279. Is unripe or decayed fruit unwhole- some? A. They are so in the highest degree. Q. 280. Is fruit cooked with sugar injurious to the stomach? A. Not when it is eaten in moderation, and the stomach is not labouring under disease. Q. 281. Is milk a wholesome article of food? A. Milk and all its simple preparations are among the most wholesome articles of food. Q. 282. When we feel no appetite for food 74 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. cannot we excite one by taking bitters or cor- dials? A. An artificial appetite may in this manner be excited, but the food that is then eaten will not be perfectly digested nor yield sufficient nourishment to the system, while the stomach is invariably injured. Q. 283. When an individual has been so un- wise as to overload the stomach with food what ought he to do? A. He should abstain entirely for a short time from every kind of solid food, making use of a small quantity of toast water, thin gruel, or weak broth. Q_. 284. Are pie crust and the different kinds of pastry wholesome articles of food? A. To weak stomachs and those of children they are in the highest degree injurious; to ab- stain entirely from their use is the wisest rule. Section Vni.—Drinks. Q. 285. Can health be supported without a proper quantity of fluid being drunk? A. No; the natural sensation of thirst must be CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 75 satisfied, or disease and even death will be pro- duced. Q. 286. Which is the fluid best adapted to quench the thirst and to support the health of the system? A. Pure water. Q. 287. What is meant by pure water? A. Water that is free from any vegetable or mineral impregnation. Q. 288. What are the signs which indicate that water is pure? A. Water may be considered pure when it is perfectly transparent, without smell or any pe- culiar taste, when it readily dissolves soap, and when peas or beans are boiled in it, it allows them to soften readily. Q. 289. Is it improper to drink water which does not present these properties? A. The more pure the water the more healthy will be the individual who partakes of it; to drink of water which is not of very considerable purity very generally produces disease. Q. 290. Which are the purest waters? A. Rain water, the water of rivers rurming over a gravelly or rocky bed, and snow water. Q. 291. What is the water from the constant 76 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. drinking of which the greatest injury to health may be anticipated? A. Water strongly impregnated with metallic, saline or other mineral substances, and the wa- ter of marshes or stagnant pools and ponds. Q. 292. Cannot impure water be rendered by any means fit to drink? A. Yes: water containing saline or mineral substances may be rendered pure by distillation, and water which has become corrupt, by simple filtration through successive layers of coarse white sand and powdered charcoal. Q. 293. Why is pure water the most whole- some drink? A Because no other so effectually assists the digestion of our food, or preserves the blood sufficiently fluid to ensure its free and equal distribution through all the vessels of the body. Q. 294. What advantages does an individual derive who, while at the same time that he takes sufficient exercise in the open air and eats in moderation of wholesome food, drinks nothing but water? A. He becomes strong and robust, free from disease, cheerful and contented, and lives, in general, to an advanced age. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 77 Q. 295. Do not those who labour much and are exposed to fatigue require a stronger drink than water? A. No;—by confining themselves to pure wa- ter they will be better enabled to fulfil their task than by the use of any other fluid. Q. 296. Will not the use of water alone be apt to render the body chilly in cold and damp weather? A. Water is far less liable to produce this effect than any other drink. Q. 297. May not an individual injure himself by drinking too much water? A. By drinking frequently very large draughts of water the stomach becomes too much dis- tended, the food it contains is prevented from being properly digested, and other injurious consequences are produced. Q. 298. What is the precaution necessary to be observed in the use of water during very warm weather? A. Never to drink it cold; especially when the body is suffering from fatigue, or excessive heat, or is in a profuse perspiration. Q. 299. Is it not proper in warm weather to 78 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. add a portion of brandy, gin, or spirits to the water before it is drunk? A. No; such mixtures are always prejudicial to health, and the persons who make use of them are always liable to become drunkards. Q. 300. To improve the taste of water what is the best addition that can be made to it? A. To a healthy stomach water will require no addition to render it palatable; those who choose it may, however, add to the water sugar, molasses, lemon juice or some other vegetable acid. Q. 301. Next to pure water what is the most wholesome drink? A. Fresh milk, buttermilk or whey. Q_. 302. Is wine a wholesome drink? A. When wine is used as the common beve- rage, or is drunk freely, it is injurious to health as well as happiness. Q. 303. Is not wine more strengthening than water? A. No; it is more heating, but not more strengthening. Whatever quantity of wine a person may drink, scarcely any of it goes to the nourishment of the body, whereas unless a CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 79 certain quantity of water is drunk the nourish- ment of the system is imperfect. Q. 304. Does not wine aid the digestion of our food? A. No; those who drink only pure water have always a keener appetite for their food, and digest it better than those who drink wine. Q. 305. Should children be permitted to drink wine? A. No; wine in any quantity is injurious to the health of young persons. Q. 306. If wine is of so little benefit to the system, how is it explained, that persons enjoy a perfect state of health who, in the south of Eu- rope, live for a part of the year upon little else than ripe grapes, from which the wine is pro- duced, and bread? A. Because the ripe grape contains a consi- derable amount of sugar and mucilage, both of which are nourishing, but which in the conver- sion of the juice of the grape into wine are in a great measure destroyed. Q. 307. Is beer, ale or porter a wholesome drink ? A. By persons in perfect health either of G 80 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. them may be drank occasionally and in modera- tion, without producing injurious consequences. Q. 308. May they not be used as a common drink? A. No; when used in large quantity they oc- casion a bloated condition of the body, injure the digestive powers of the stomach, cause drowsiness, depression of spirits, pain and gid- diness of the head, and render the system liable to sudden death. d. 309. What class of people ought in par- ticular to be very cautious in the use of these liquors? A. Those of full habits, with short and thick necks, those inclined to corpulency, and those troubled with frequent drowsiness, giddiness of the head, 8tc. Q. 310. What injury will such persons re- ceive from the habitual use of beer, porter or ale? A. They will be very apt to die of apoplexy. Q. 311. Does not porter and water, when given to children, increase their strength? A. No; all other drinks are injurious to chil- dren excepting water, milk, or some equally mild fluid. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 81 Q. 312. Is cider a wholesome drink? A. What is termed sweet cider, when drank in moderation, agrees well with most persons in health. Q.. 313. May not the same be said of the other kinds of cider? A. No: the other kinds of cider, excepting when largely diluted with water, cannot be drunk in any quantity without disordering the stomach and bowels, and producing other injury to health. What is termed cider royal will intoxi- cate almost as rapidly as distilled spirits. Q_. 314. Do such liquors as are obtained by distillation constitute a proper drink? A. No: brandy, spirits, gin, and rum, in what- ever quantity they may be drunk, are all inju- rious to the health of the system. Q. 315. Is their moderate equally injurious with their immoderate use? A. Certainly not; nevertheless their habitual use, even when the quantity taken each time is but small, is injurious to the stomach; while al- most invariably the indulgence in them is gra- dually increased until habits of confirmed drunk- enness are acquired. ^ 82 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 316. Does not the use of distilled spirits tend to nourish the body? A. No. Distilled or ardent spirits are inca- pable of being converted by the stomach into blood, flesh or bone. Their use, on the con- trary, prevents the nourishment of the system from taking place. Q. 317. Does not their'moderate use augment the appetite and assist the digestion of our food? A. The use of distilled spirits may create an artificial appetite, or prolong the desire for food after the natural wants of the system are satis- fied; but so far from increasing, they rather re- tard the process of digestion. Q. 318. Is not the strength of those engaged in laborious occupations supported by a mode- rate use of spirituous liquors? A. No. On the contrary, when habitually used, spirituous hquors invariably diminish the strength and vigour of every class of persons. Q. 319. Is the use of distilled spirits liable to create disease when not earned to the extent of producing intoxication ? A. Yes;—their habitual use, even though a state of actual intoxication should never be ex- perienced, is capable of producing some of the CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 83 most serious diseases to which the human system is liable. Q. 320. Does not a moderate use of distilled spirits prevent the system from experiencing injurious effects from cold and dampness? A. On the contrary, they who drink nothing but water are far less liable to suffer from ex- posure to cold and dampness than such as at- tempt to fortify their systems by the use of rum or ardent spirits. Q. 321. What are the invariable effects re- sulting from the intemperate use of distilled spirits? A. The entire destruction of health, happi- ness, reason and virtue. Q. 322. When distilled spirits are taken in the form of punch, are they as injurious to health as when drunk by themselves? A. It requires a greater quantity of punch to be drunk to produce the same injury as results from ardent spirits alone; but independently of other bad effects, an indulgence in the use of punch is hable to create an appetite for strong liquors and induce habits of intemperance. Q. 323. Is it beneficial to the stomach to take bitters in the morning, or before a meal? G 2 84 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. Few habits are more destructive to the appetite, or more effectually impair the healthy condition of the stomach. Q. 324. When weak, languid, or exhausted from fatigue, is it not proper to take a moderate quantity of distilled spirits in order to rouse and invigorate the system? A. No;—the strength and vigour derived from the use of distilled spirits under such cir- cumstances is only momentary, and is succeeded always by a greater degree of weakness and depression. Q. 325. What means are adapted to relieve the system from a state of fatigue and exhaustion without the risk which always attends the use of ardent spirits? A. Rest, and a small quantity of light nourish- ment. Q. 326. When the body has been exposed to wet and cold, instead of resorting to stimulating drinks, what ought to be done? A. To remove entirely the wet or damp clothing; to bathe the body in warm water; or to retire to bed and drink moderately of some warm mild fluid, as weak balm or sage tea, warm lemonade, &c. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 85 Q. 327. Do cordials form a wholesome drink? . A. On the contrary, they are all highly inju- rious to the stomach and to health generally; some, as noyeau, contain a very active poison, namely, prussic acid. Q. 328. What then are we to conclude in re- gard to the use of fermented and distilled li- quors? A. That the former can be used only in very moderate quantities without producing injury; and that the latter should be entirely abstained from by all who have any regard for their health and happiness. Q. 329. What are the characteristics of the habitual water drinker' A. Provided at the same time he use regular active exercise in the open air, his appetite is good, his digestion easy, his body strong and vigorous, his sleep sound and quiet, and all his actions are temperate; he enjoys an almost en- tire exemption from disease, and lives cheerful and contented to a good old age. Section IX.—Of Tobacco. Q. 330. Is the use of tobacco wholesome? A. No. Whether used in smoking, chewing 86 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. or snuffing, tobacco is in the highest degree in- jurious to health. • Q. 331. In what manner does tobacco injure health? A. Tobacco is a poison, and by its action upon the nerves and stomach it destroys the appetite, prevents the perfect digestion of the food, creates an unnatural thirst, and renders the in- dividual who uses it nervous and otherwise dis- eased. Q. 332. Besides these bad effects of tobacco, what other injury is produced by snuffing? A. It destroys the sense of smell, and causes a very disagreeable alteration in the tone of the voice. Q. 333. Are those who use immoderate quan- tities of tobacco peculiarly liable to become drunkards? A. From the great thirst and alteration in the sense of taste occasioned by the use of tobacco, a fondness for stimulating liquors is very liable to be contracted. ; Q. 334. Is there any advantage which results to the system from the use of tobacco to coun- terbalance in some degree its injurious effects? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 87 A. Not the least; its use is to be attributed entirely to a depraved appetite. Q. 335. Is not snuff an excellent article for cleansing and preserving the teeth? A. No;—it does not aid the least in either cleansing or preserving the teeth, while its em- ployment for this purpose has occasioned in even the most delicate and polished females a desire for its habitual use. Section X.—Personal Cleanliness. Q. 336. Is the preservation of the surface of the body perfectly clean essential to health ? A. Yes;—it is an indispensable means for se- curing the health, vigour and longevity of the system. Q. 337. Are there any diseases which owe their origin to personal filth? A. Yes. Various eruptions or breakings out on the skin; affections of the stomach and bow- els, and typhus fever are produced by a neglect of personal cleanliness. Q. 338. In what manner is personal cleanli- ness to be maintained? A. By frequently washing the face, hands, 88 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. arms, feet and legs in pure soft water, with the addition of a small quantity of good soap. Q. 339. Is nothing else required? A. Yes;~at short intervals the whole surface of the body must be thoroughly cleansed by the use of a bath. Q. 340. May not the body even with all this precaution suffer from uncleanliness? A. Yes: if the clothing be not preserved per- fectly clean, and that worn next to the skin fre- quently changed. Q. 341. How often is it necessary to wash the hands and face ? A. In the morning immediately after rising, and in the evening before retiring to rest; pre- vious to every meal, and as often as they are by any means unusually soiled. Q. 342. How frequently should the feet be washed? A. In summer it would be a highly beneficial custom to wash them every evening before re- tiring to bed: in winter twice or thrice a week will be sufficient. 0.. 343. How often should the whole body be cleansed by bathing? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 89 A. In summer every day if convenient, and in winter at least once a week. Q. 344. Ought the feet to be washed with cold water? A. It is a much safer practice to wash them in summer with lukewarm water, and in winter with water that is still warmer. 0.. 345. What are the rules to be observed in bathing? A. 1st, never to use the bath immediately after a meal. 2nd, not to enter a cold bath if the body is labouring under fatigue, is chilly, in a state of profuse perspiration, or in any manner enfeebled. 3d, To use in preference to a cold bath, one the water of which has been warmed to about 70 degrees of our common thermometer in summer, and one the water of which is 90 or 95 degrees in winter. Q. 346. On coming out of the bath what must be done?. A. The whole surface of the body must be made perfectly dry by rubbing it with a coarse cloth, after which some gentle exercise should be taken. Q. 347. Is it dangerous to sit on the damp 90 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. ground, or in a draft of air, after coming out of the bath? A. Both are highly improper; as just men- tioned, gentle exercise, by walking, should al- ways be put in practice immediately after bathing. Q. 348. What are the great advantages which result from frequent bathing? A. Independent of its effects in cleansing the surface of the body, it renders the skin soft and flexible, and places it in the condition best adapted for the performance of its important offices. The warm bath, in pai-ticular, removes the sense of soreness and fatigue produced by over exertion or hard labour, and facilitates the free circulation of the blood throughout every part of the system. Q. 349. Is it proper to wash the head fre- quently? A. Yes; the frequent washing and combing or brushing of the head promotes the growth and beauty of the hair; prevents the accumula- tion of scurf, or the appearance of sores at its roots, and tends to the preservation of health generally. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 91 Q. 350. Is it necessary to rinse frequently the mouth? A. Yes; in the morning after rising, and im- mediately after each meal, the mouth ought to be well rinsed with water; and if at the same time gentle friction is applied to the gums by means of the finger or a brush, the teeth will be preserved sound, and the occurrence of tooth- ach prevented. Q. 351. Is it sufficient for the preservation of health that the body only be kept perfectly clean ? A. No; it is essential that the same attention to cleanliness be observed in respect to our clothing, the apartments of our houses, our fur- niture and beds. Q. 352. Is the common saying that children thrive best in dirt, correct? A. It is altogether false. Without a child is kept clean in its person and clothing, is lodged in a clean apartment, and sleeps in a clean bed, it is impossible to preserve it in perfect health. Section XI.—Clothing. Q,. 353. Why is it necessary for man to clothe himself? H 92 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. For the sake of decency, and to preserve his body from the influence of cold and wet. Q. 354. What is the first general rule in re- gard to clothing? A. That in quantity and in the texture of the stuff of which it is composed, it be adapted to the climate in which the individual resides, and to the warmth or coldness of the season. Q. 355. Ought the body to be clothed very warmly? A. No. It is important that it be sufficiently clothed to prevent in cold weather the least sensation of chilliness: beyond this all additional clothing is useless and cumbersome. Q. 356. Is it necessary that the body be more warmly clad during cold weather, when in the open air, or in a state of rest in a cool situation, than when in a warm apartment, or in active exercise ? A. Yes: under the former circumstances an additional amount of clothing is always necessary in order to guard against the effects of cold. Q. 357. What is the second important rule in regard to clothing? A. That it be perfectly loose, so as to allow to every part of the body the freest motion. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 93 Q. 358. What injury results from a particular part of the body being firmly compressed or bandaged by the clothing? A. Its natural motions are impeded, and the blood not being able to circulate freely through its vessels, its full growth is prevented, and de- formity or disease at length results. Q. 359. Does not the health then suffer from firmly compressing the chest and waist by stays or corsets? A. It suffers to a very great degree. Q. 360. In what manner does it suffer? A. The ribs being prevented from rising freely in the act of breathing, the lungs do not fully expand so as to take in a sufficiency of air for the support of the system: hence the lungs and every other part of the body eventually suffer. Q. 361. When corsets are worn by very young persons what evils result? A. The chest never acquires its full and healthy dimensions; the lungs and heart for want of room cannot perform properly their natural offices, and soon become the seat of serious dis- ease. Q. 362. Does the pressure of corsets or other 94 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. parts of the clothing over the stomach produce injurious consequences? A. Yes; so slight a degree of pressure as that arising from leaning the stomach against the edge of a table or desk prevents the perfect digestion of the food. Q. 363. What bad effects result from tight garters and similar bandages on the legs? A. In children the proper growth of the leg is prevented, while in older persons a painful and unsightly swelling of the veins, sores of the legs, and swelling of the feet are produced. Q. 364. What is a third general rule in regard to clothing? A. That whatever is worn next the skin should be formed of a material which is a bad conductor of caloric. Q. 365. What is meant by a bad conductor of caloric? A. A substance which does not readily allow the heat to pass through it. Q. 366. What is the great advantage of wear- ing such a substance next the skin? A. It prevents the body from becoming rea- dily chilled when wet with perspiration, or from any other cause, and from experiencing the CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 95 effects of sudden or slight changes in the tem- perature of the air. Q. 367. What substances possessed of this quality can be worn as an under garment? A. The best are soft, loose flannel, and coarse muslin. Q,. 368. Is it indifferent which of these is worn? A. In warm seasons and climates, and by young healthy persons, muslin should be worn next the skin: in cold and wet seasons and cli- mates, and by the aged and sickly, flannel. Q. 369. To what particular class of persons is flannel next the skin almost indispensable to the preservation of health? A. To all mechanics and labourers who are exposed to frequent transitions from heat to cold; to all who work in wet or damp situations; and to all who are much exposed to the open air after night. Q. 370. What covering should be worn upon the head? A. One perfectly light, and which, while it guards the head during the heat of summer from the action of the sun, preserves it as cool as possible. H 2 96 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 371. What inconvenience results from too heavy and warm a covering to the head? A. It produces pain of the head, an eruption or breaking out about the roots of the hair, &c. while it increases the tendency to apoplexy, and other diseases of the brain. Q. 372. Is it important to keep the feet warm and dry? A. Yes;—cold and wet feet are a fruitful source of colds, pleurisy and consumption. Q. 373. How are the feet best preserved from cold and wet? A. By wearing cotton stockings and stout leather shoes in summer, and soft woollen stock- ings and boots in winter. Q. 374. Are the thin soled worsted and silk slippers generally worn by females a sufficient protection for the feet? A. They are only suited to very warm and perfectly dry weatiier; in cold and wet weather they ought to give place to thick soled leather shoes. Q. 375. Ought those who wear an additional garment of flannel or cotton next the skin to retain it during the night? A. Excepting in very aged or debilitated per- CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 97 sons it is always better to throw it off on retiring to rest; or in winter to change the flannel gar- ment for one of cotton. Q. 376. Is the comfort of the feet promoted by the size and shape of the shoe ? A. Yes: unless the shoe be sufficiently large to accommodate the foot, and correspond ex- actly to the shape of the latter, the greatest inconveniency is experienced. Q. 377. In what does this inconveniency con- sist? A. The feet being unduly compressed by too small or misshapen shoes, their natural motions are prevented; causing a hobbling and ungrace- ful gait, and rendering walking a pain rather than a pleasure. Q. 378. What serious and permanent incon- venience to the feet results from a too small or badly shaped shoe? A. The toes become covered with corns, more or less painful; large hard sweUings are produced at the joint of the big toe; the flesh at the outer edge of the latter is caused to ride over the nail, giving rise to a painful and dan- gerous sore; and the individual is in fact often rendered a cripple for life. 98 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 379. What is to be observed in regard to the covering for the neck? A. That it be very light, and worn perfectly loose. Q. 380. What injury is produced by wearing on the neck too thick and warm a covering? A. It renders the throat peculiarly Hable to disease from slight exposures to cold; and very frequently it is the cause of tumours or swellings along the neck externally. Q,. 381. What bad consequences result from the cravat being too tightly drawn around the neck? A. If the cravat compress in the slightest de- gree the neck, it impedes the free motion of the head, produces an over fulness of the vessels of the head and face, a tumid and bloated appear- ance of the face, constant headach, and increases the liability to apoplexy and other diseases of the brain. Q. 382. At what particular periods should the neck be perfectly free from compression? A. During the period of sleep; when the body is engaged in active exercise, or any laborious occupation; and when the mind is occupied in study. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 99 Q. 383. To what individuals is a warm and tight covering to the neck more particularly in- jurious? A. To those who are frequently affected with severe pain of the head: to those who are fat, with short necks and large heads, and to all who have large veins full of blood and very florid complexions. Section XII.—Preservation of the external organs of sense. Q_. 384. Are there any means by which the external organs of sense may be preserved from injury, and rendered more acute ? A. So intimately connected is the full per- fection of the sense of sight, of smell, of hearing, of taste, and of feeling, with the general health of the body, that whatever injures the former, has a tendency to impair the whole of the latter. Q. 385. Enumerate the means which are cal- culated to preserve, improve, and strengthen the external senses? A. They are temperance in eating and drink- ing, regular bodily exercise, a due amount of repose, pure air, proper clothing, and the most scrupulous attention to personal cleanliness. 100 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 386. What circumstances are particularly injurious to the senses of seeing, hearing and smelling? A. Keeping the head too warm by means of thick heavy hats, caps, or other covering; ne- glecting to keep the hair thin and short; and by sleeping on soft pillows of down or feathers. Q. 387. In what manner do these circum- stances impair the senses referred to? A. By causing too much blood to flow into the vessels of the head and face, and by render- ing the eyes, nose and ears peculiarly susceptible to injury from slight impressions of cold. Q. 388. Besides the foregoing, what other circumstances are especially injurious to the sight? A. A long continuance in absolute darkness, or frequent and protracted exposure to a blaze of light, whether from the sun, lamps and can- dles, or a bright and intense fire; all sudden changes from darkness to light; reading, writing or sewing in the dusk of the evening, or by a lamp or candle; habituating ourselves to view objects at too short a distance from the eyes, or when they are not placed in the direct line of vision; dust, smoke, irritating vapours, and in CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 101 fact every thing that has a tendency to irritate the eyes. Q. 389. How are the organs of smell particu- larly injured? A. By breathing an impure air, or one loaded constantly with strong or disagreeable odours; by allowing the mucus to accumulate in the nos- trils; by the use of snuff; and by frequent ex- posure to dampness and cold. Q. 390. What is particularly injurious to the sense of hearing? A. Very loud, harsh and unexpected sounds or reports; all external coverings to the ears; too damp an atmosphere, or one loaded with dust, and also whatever tends to prevent the free passage of the air through the nose, as snuff, &c. Q. 391. What circumstances are particularly injurious to the sense of taste? A. The use of ardent spirits and of hot spices; the immoderate use of wine; chewing or smok- ing tobacco; intemperance in eating, and all drinks the temperature of which is very warm or very cold. Q. 392. What is particularly injurious to the sense of feeling? A. The neglect of cleanliness, or of regular \ 102 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. exercise in the open air, and such food and drinks as tend to produce too great an accumu- lation of fat beneath the skin. Q. 393. Is it not important to attend to the preservation of the teeth? A. Certainly; a sound and complete set of teeth are not only essential to a distinct pro- nunciation, but, also, for the complete mastica- tion of the food, upon which depends in a very great measure, its proper digestion, and as a consequence, the due nourishment of the body. Q. 394. In what manner are the teeth injured? A. By intemperance in eating and drinking; by unwholesome aliment; by taking any part of our food very hot or very cold; by chewing very hard substances; by allowing small portions of the food to remain between them; by breathing an impure or confined air; by the imprudent use of mercury; by picking them with a metallic instrument; by smoking segars or pipes; the use of very hard brushes or improper tooth powders. Q. 395. What should be done, therefore, in order to preserve the teeth sound? A. Every species of intemperance, as well as the use of tobacco, should be avoided; our food should be taken neither too warm nor too cold. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 103 and the solid parts of it slowly and completely masticated. The mouth should be carefully and repeatedly rinsed out with pure water imme- diately after rising in the morning, and after each meal; every portion of food which adheres be- tween the teeth should be carefully removed by a splinter of soft wood, or a quill properly pointed. Q. 396. Is regular exercise necessary for the preservation of the teeth ? A. A sound condition of the teeth being in- timately dependant upon a healthy condition of the stomach, there can be little doubt that re- gular exercise in the open air is as necessary for the preservation of the one as the other. Q. 397. What tooth powders and applications to the teeth are particularly injurious to the latter? A. All such as are of a hard, gritty nature, and all acids. Q. 398. Is the use of sugar injurious to the teeth? A. No:—the idea entertained by many that the teeth are destroyed by the use of sugar, is entirely erroneous. When taken in immoderate quantities, however, sugar disorders the sto- I 104 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. mach, and may in this manner become injurious to the teeth. Q. 399. Is it important to attend in childhood to the preservation of the first set of teeth? A. It is; for when these become decayed the rudiments of the permanent set of teeth are fre- quently destroyed; or even when this is not the case, the latter are always very seriously injured. Q. 400. If attention be not paid from the first appearance of the teeth to their preservation, can the injury which they sustain be repaired? A. No, it cannot; but by temperance, clean- liness, the proper mastication of the food, pure air, and frequently gargling the mouth with water, the teeth, though injured, may be pre- served frequently from farther decay. Q. 401. How is the toothach to be prevented? A. In addition to the means already enume- rated for the preservation of teeth, care must be taken to avoid wet feet, and all exposure to cold and dampness without a proper amount of clothing: the head should be kept cool, and the face frequently washed with cool water. Q. 402. May not toothach be occasioned, and the teeth injured or destroyed, by attempting CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 105 to improve the beauty of the face by paints and lotions? A. Yes. The paints or lotions usually applied to the face contain frequently preparations of lead or mercury, the pernicious effects of which frequently manifest themselves in the produc- tion of severe pains in the jaws and teeth, or in the complete destruction of the latter. Q. 403. What is essential in order that the voice in speaking and singing may be clear, distinct and pleasing? A. The voice cannot be clear, distinct and pleasing, unless the teeth, particularly those in front, be sound; the mouth free from any foreign substance; the nostrils perfectly free, so as to enable the air to pass through them in breathing; the neck but loosely and thinly covered, and the chest free from all external restraint. Q. 404. What then is particularly injurious to the voice? A. The chewing of tobacco; the use of snuff; wearing tight and thick cravats, corsets, or tight clothing of any kind. Q. 405. Is the undue discharge of the saliva or spittle injurious to health ? A. It is so to a very great degree. Independent 106 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. of its debilitating effects, the waste of the saliva prevents the food from being properly masti- cated, which latter, as has been already re- marked, is essential to its perfect digestion. Q. 406. By what means is an undue discharge of saliva occasioned? A. Principally by chewing or smoking to- bacco. Section XIII.— Injury from Lighlniyg. Q. 407. How should persons conduct them- selves when overtaken by a thunder storm in the open fields? A. They should neither run, trot nor gaUpp, nor remain still, but keep on walking or rrSing quietly at their usual pace, and without fear. Q. 408. Is it proper to seek shelter during a tempest under a tree? A. No; it is in the highest degree dangerous. Trees, and the vapours which encompass them, attract the lightning, and hence persons standing beneath them are very liable to be destroyed. Q. 409. What precautions should be taken during a thunder storm by persons who are in the house? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 107 A. While the tempest is still at some distance they should open the doors and windows of the rooms, in order to allow of their free ventilation by the admission of the external air. When the tempest draws nearer the windows are to be shut, and some of the doors left open for the admission of fresh air, but avoiding carefully a free current. Q_. 410. In what part of the room is the least danger to be apprehended from the effects of the lightning? A. In the centre, as far as possible from the walls, the chimneys, and from all iron and other metal, more particularly from long iron rods or wires. Section XIV.—To avoid the effects of Cold and Dampness. Q. 411. How are the injurious effects from exposure to cold and dampness to be avoided? A. By a temperate course of life, sufficient and proper clothing, and constant exercise dur- ing the period of such exposure. Q. 412. When is the body most liable to suffer from cold or dampness ? 12 108 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. After the commission of an excess in eating or drinking; when fatigued, or in a state of per- spiration; when at perfect rest, or during sleep; and when exposed with a less amount of clothing than is usually worn. Q. 413. When in consequence of violent ex- ercise or labour, or dancing, running, &c. the body has been overheated and fatigued, what ought to be particularly avoided? A. Sitting or lying down on the ground, or remaining at rest in any damp or cool situation, or in a current of air; drinking immediately large draughts of cold or iced water, or spirituous liquors in any quantity; entering a cold bath, a cellar, vault or ice house, or throwing off any portion of the clothing in order rapidly to cool ourselves. Q. 414. If any of these precautions are ne- glected what is the result ? A. A violent cold, pleurisy, rheumatism, or other serious disease will be very apt to be pro- duced. Q. 415. When from any cause an individual is overheated, or in a profuse perspiration, what should he do? A. He should persevere in a gentle degree CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 109 of exercise until, at least, he is enabled to ex- change such portions of his clothing as have become damp with the perspiration, for others perfectly dry and clean. If thirst be consider- able, it may be quenched by swallowing slowly a moderate portion of cool, but not cold water; he should then rest himself within doors, in a dry apartment, and defended from any current of dr. Q. 416. During labour or exercise in warm weather, how may thirst be allayed without any risk to health? A. By drinking slowly and in moderation of river water, or that which has been exposed for some hours to the open air. Immediately after drinking, the individual should return to the labour or exercise in which he had been pre- viously engaged. Q. 417. Are no additions to the water proper? A. Yes; when agreeable to the palate, sugar or molasses, milk, or a small quantity of vinegar or lemon juice may be added to the water. Q. 418. Can nothing be substituted for the water? A. Buttermilk or whey, when it can be rea- dily procured, will be found by many a very 110 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. pleasant and wholesome fluid for quenching the thirst during labour in warm weather. Q. 419. When in summer a person's clothes become wet from a shower of rain or other cause, what should he do? A. He should remove them with the least possible delay, and before fresh garments are put on, his skin should be wiped perfectly dry; if this cannot be done immediately, he should in the mean time use some brisk exercise. Q. 420. When an individual has been exposed to cold and wet, what is proper to be done? A. The same course should be pursued as in the former case. If, however, the exposure has been of any continuance, or the cold consider- able, the person will more certainly escape in- jury if he enter a warm bath, or at least have his feet and legs bathed in warm water while frictions are applied to the rest of his body, and then retiring immediately to bed, drink mode- rately of some warm weak tea, or gruel. Q. 421. Should wet or damp feet be particu- larly avoided? A. Exposure of the feet to wet or damp is a fruitful cause of serious disease, particularly of the throat and chest; hence the importance of a CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Ill careful attention to preserve the feet dry and warm. Q. 422. When from unavoidable exposure or some accidental cause the shoes and stockings of an individual have become damp or wet, by what means may he prevent any injurious con- sequences from resulting? A. In warm weather by removing immediately his shoes and stockings, and before putting on others having his feet wiped perfectly dry: but when in very cold weather the feet have become wet, bathing them in warm water and retiring to bed is the most prudent plan. Q. 423. When from necessity a person is obliged to pass the night in a damp chamber, what precautions should be taken? A. A fire should be lighted in the chamber, and allowed to burn for two or three hours pre- viously to his retiring to bed: the bed should be removed to some distance from the walls, and if on examination the bed clothes are found to be the least damp, they should be thoroughly dried before the fire. Few things produce more certain injury to health than occupying a damp bed. Q. 424. 'What kind of a dress should be worn 112 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. by those who are forced to sleep in damp apart- ments? A. That part of the dress at least which is in contact with the skin should be of soft flannel. Q. 425. What precautions should be observed by those who are obliged to expose themselves to the night air, during the summer and au- tumnal months? A. They should observe a strictly temperate mode of living: during exposure they should always wear woollen garments, and flannel next their skin: remain at rest as little as possible; neither sit nor lie upon the ground, and above all never fall asleep during the period of exposure. Q. 426. What class of persons should avoid with more especial solicitude every exposure to cold and dampness? A. Those who are peculiarly subject to colds, sore throat, pleurisy, rheumatism, and those who are predisposed to consumption. Q. 427. What plan can those persons pursue to guard against such exposure ? A. Their best plan is to accommodate their dress to the changes of the weather: to wear during seasons of damp and wet a flannel shirt and drawers, with woollen stockings and thick CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 113 boots: invariably to assume a similar dress pre- viously to the setting in of winter, and not to leave it off until late in the spring. By these precautions, together with a sufficient amount of the clothing generally worn, regular exercise in the open air during dry weather, and proper precautions in regard to the dryness and tem- perature of their sitting rooms, they will be enabled very generally to escape any injury from the effects of cold and dampness. Section XV.—Means of securing the beauty and symmetry of the body. Q. 428. Upon what is the physical beauty of man intimately dependant? A. Upon the health, the full developement, and the perfect conformation of his body. Q. 429. In what manner may these be secured ? A. By the means which have been already pointed out; especially by temperance, and the free and regular exercise of the body in a pure air, commenced with in early life, and perse- vered in daily. Q. 430. What are the means best calculated to secure that freshness and brilliancy of the 114 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. complexion, regularity of features, and vivid expression of the eyes so essential to the beauty of the face? A. A free and pure air; regular exercise; washing daily with water, and frequent bathing; a light easy dress, adapted to the temperature of the season; pure water for drink, and simple wholesome food to nourish the body. O.. 431. By what means are the full growth and symmetrical developement of the body pro- moted? A. By avoiding sloth and inactivity, and too much confinement within doors, or in a seden- tary posture: by rejecting all such articles of dress as bind, or press upon any part of the body: by avoiding gluttony, and every species of in- temperance: and in our exercises, to shun all such as call into action only a part of the body, and leave the residue in a state of rest. Q. 432. What is particularly demanded during youth, in order to secure the full and perfect developement of the body? A. That a considerable portion of each day be spent in childish sports and gymnastic exercises. Q. 433. What position of the body during I CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 115 childhood and early life is best adapted to pro- mote its growth and beauty? A. The erect posture, whether in standing or walking; keeping the head and breast elevated, and resting the weight of the body equally upon both legs. On all occasions, therefore, that will admit of it, the upright posture is the one which should be insisted upon, in order to prevent permanent deformity. Q. 434. What positions of the body are espe- cially liable to occasion permanent deformity ? A. All such positions in which the body is bent to one side, or forwards, when continued for any length of time or frequently repeated; leaning both arms or the breast upon a table when occupied in reading or writing; an habitual negligence in the carriage of the body either when walking, standing or sitting; hanging down the head or bending the neck forwards, especially when speaking, or attentively listen- ing; looking askance at objects, &c. Q. 435. What important cautions with respect to the bed occupied by a young person are ne- cessary in order to prevent deformity of the body? A. To prevent the head and shoulders from K 116 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. being too much elevated by a large pillow or bolster, and to have the bed of sufficient firm- ness to prevent the hips from sinking into it. Q. 436. What evil results when these circum- stances are not attended to? A. The back is very apt to become perma- nently twisted; one of the shoulders more ele- vated than the other, and the neck inclined ungracefully to one side. Q. 437. Ought young people, when two sleep together, to be allowed to occupy always the same side of the bed? A. No: they should change sides frequently; otherwise, particularly in a feather bed, they are liable to become crooked. Q. 438. Is the same injury liable to result from sitting always at the same side of the table, or window, when at work? A. It is. Young people, when the position in which they sit is not frequently changed, ac- quire a practice of bending habitually to one side, from which a permanent twist of the body in that direction is to be feared. 0.. 439. Has the foolish habit which many young persons indulge in, of contorting their features, or of shrugging their shoulders and CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 117 performing similar gesticulations, any permanent influence upon their physical beauty? A. All these practices, which are in the high- est degree ungraceful, when frequently in- dulged in, are very apt to become habitual—that is, to be repeated involuntarily: when this is the case, the manner in which they injure the beauty of the individual will be readily understood. Q. 440. May not these practices be occasion- ally acquired involuntarily? A. They may: thus when a lively and active child is kept for many hours in a room, without being allowed to vary his posture, or when he is constrained to apply himself too long at one time to his books, he becomes restless, and is very hable to acquire involuntary twitchings of the face or limbs. Q. 441. Is the habit of squinting ever acquired by improper practices ? A. It is often acquired by proper care not being taken to accustom infants and young chil- dren in viewing objects to exercise both the eyes equally, or by allowing them habitually to yiew objects placed too much on one side, and not in the direct line of vision. 118 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 442. May not an improper form of the cap worn by infants cause them to squint? A. It is very probable that when the cap worn in infancy projects forwards beyond the head on each side, like the blinds of a coach horse, so as to make it easier for the child as he lays in his cradle to view the objects on either side of him with the eye most distant from them, that squinting will be occasioned. It is at least im- portant that the caps here described be carefully avoided. Section XVI.—Miscellaneous. Q. 443. Does not the occasional administration of medicine tend to the preservation of health? A. No: on the contrary, the administration of medicine during a state of health with the view of preventing disease, is always productive of injurious consequences. Q. 444. What are we to think then of the practice pursued by many persons of losing blood or taking a purge every spring or autumn? A. It is highly improper, and ought not to be followed. Q. 445. During, however, the prevalence of CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 119 some particular disease, may not those in health guard against an attack by taking medicine ? A. As has just been intimated, medicine taken under such circumstances is more liable to invite than to prevent disease. . Q. 446. In very sickly seasons or countries, will not the use of wine or distilled spirits, by strengthening the system, render it less liable to disease? A. On the contrary, the daily use of either renders the system more susceptible to disease than when both are carefully abstained from. Q. 447. What then is the best course for those in health to pursue in order to guard against disease under the circumstances referred to ? A. They should observe a degree of temper- ance in eating and drinking more strict than ordinary; preserve the utmost cleanliness in their persons and clothing, as well as in and about their dwellings; use sufficient exercise in a pure air; preserve their minds as much as possible in a state of cheerfulness; and avoid exposure to the extreme heat of the day or to the night air in warm climates and seasons. Q. 448. What other precautions are proper? A. To avoid any undue fatigue, all exposure K2 120 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. to damp and wet, or to a current of air when the body is in a state of perspiration, and carefully to adapt the clothing to the state and changes of the weather. Q. 449. When an individual is attacked with disease what should he do? A. Send at once for a regular and experienced physician. Q. 450. At what period of a disease is it al- ways most proper to apply to a physician? A. Immediately on the first attack. Q. 451. Why is this the most proper period? A. Because the disease may then be more effectually and promptly removed by an appro- priate plan of treatment, and with less injury to the constitution, than in its more advanced stages. Q. 452. What kind of a room should be ap- propriated to an individual when sick ? A. A dry, lofty and large room, as remote as possible from every species of noise, and one capable of being freely ventilated, while at the same time the direct rays of the sun, or a draft of air upon the patient's bed can be effectually excluded. Q. 453. What ought to be the state of the air in the chambers of the sick ? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 121 A. It should be perfectly pure and dry. Q. 454. What injury results from a sick per- son occupying a low, small, damp and cqnfined chamber? A. The air contained in it becoming quickly corrupted and unfitted for respiration, has the effect of keeping up or augmenting the disease of the patient. Q. 455. May not the vitiation of the air in a sick room be caused also by a neglect of clean- liness? A. Yes; hence it is all important to preserve the strictest cleanliness in and about the cham- bers of the sick, removing, from them imme- diately every species of filth. Q. 456. Is it proper for a person during sick- ness to lie upon a feather bed ? A. No. A bed of feathers is especially im- proper for patients labouring under fever. Q_. 457. What then is the most proper bed for the sick ? A. A mattrass stuffed with horse hair, moss or straw. Q,. 458. How ought the bed of a sick person to be placed? A. It should be at some distance from a cold 122 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. or damp wall, and so placed, that the patient, while he enjoys all the benefits of a pure at- mosphere, is guarded from any direct current of air, or from too great a degree of light. Care should also be taken in the disposition of the bed to allow of the patient's being approached on either side without inconvenience. Q. 459. Should the bed be closely surrounded with curtains5 A. No. Surrounding the bed of a sick person with curtains is in the highest degree improper, > as it deprives him in a great measure of fresh air. Q. 460. Is it proper for more than one person labouring under disease to occupy the same bed? A. No;—every patient should occupy a sepa- rate bed, and even a separate chamber, unless the latter be of considerable size. Q.. 461. Should a person in health sleep in the same bed with one who is sick? A. No. When it becomes necessary for one in health to sleep in the same room, with the sick, it should always be in a separate bed. Q,. 462. Should the bed of a patient be shook up and made daily? A. Excepting under particular circumstances, to be indicated by the physician in attendance, CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 123 a person who is sick ought daily to be takeirout of bed, at a time when he is not in a perspiration, and the room is of a proper temperature, in or- der that the bed be shook up and properly made. Q_. 463. Ought the bed clothes to be fre- quently changed? A. Yes. The great' importance of perfect cleanliness in every thing relating to the sick, requires that the clothing of their beds and per- sons should be frequently changed; taking care that what is substituted be entirely dry and well aired. Q. 464. Is it proper to keep the heads of those labouring under disease warmly covered? A. In general all covering should be dispensed with, particularly in those affected with fever. Q. 465. Is it proper to admit visiters, or many persons in the chamber of the sick? A. No: their admission is on many accounts very improper; their presence and conversation disturb the patient, while the air of the room becomes corrupted by their breathing,' and the exhalations from their bodies. Q. 466. Is it proper to talk much to, or in the hearing of patients seriously ill? A. No: it is highly improper. The sick should CATECHISM OF HEALTH. be disturbed as little as possible by talking: on the contrary, perfect quiet should be observed in their apartments. Q. 467. What should be the temperature of a sick chamber? A. During summer, the room occupied by a sick person should be kept cool, by proper ven- tilation; in winter, however, the degree of tem- perature which should be preserved will depend in some measure upon the nature of the disease under which the person labours. Q. 468. When in winter a fire becomes ne- cessary in a sick chamber, what important cau- tion should be observed? A. The fire should be regulated so as to pre- serve the room of an equable temperature throughout the day, not allowing it to be too warm at one period and too cold at another. Q. 469. Is it proper to sprinkle perfumed or aromatic hquors over the room or bed of a sick person? A No. A proper attention to ventilation and cleanliness will be found much more effectual and far preferable to these, in preventing any unpleasant smell from occurring in a sick room, cr in removing it when present. PART II. The questions and answers that follow are intended to point out the manner in which the day should be spent under ordinary circum- stances, in prder to ensure the health of the body, and so far as external causes are concerned, the tranquillity of the mind: while, under the heads of breakfast, dinner, supper, &c. the compara- tive wholesomeness of the various articles of food are more minutely considered than was con- sidered necessary in the preceding part of the work. Section L—Occupation of the first hours of the Day. Q. 1. In order to ensure a continuance of health, how soon should a person rise from his bed in the morning? A. Immediately after sunrise. From March to November, at least, no cause save sickness, or 126 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. one of equal weight, should detain an individual in bed a moment after the sun has risen. Q. 2. What injury results from lying in bed an hour or two in the morning? A. Independently of its consuming the period best adapted to active exercise, it has a tendency to weaken the body, to relax and depress the spirits, and otherwise to injure the health and vigour of the system generally. Q. 3. What effect has early rising in pro- moting longevity? A. A very beneficial one: very old persons who have been examined in relation to the causes which have contributed to prolong their existence, have uniformly agreed in one par- ticular, that they retired to rest early and rose with the sun. Q. 4. Is early rising equally important in youth as it is in adult life? A. It is. When the practice of early rising is commenced in early youth, it is persevered in with greater ease in after life, while it more ef- fectually displays its beneficial effects in pro- moting the development and health of the body, and the cheerfulness and serenity of the mind. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 127 Q. 5. What should be done immediately after rising? j A. The face, neck, hands and arms should be thoroughly washed with pure spring water. Q. 6. Of what temperature should the water be that is made use of for this purpose ? A. During warm weather it should be cool, and warm in cold weather. Q. 7. After washing what should next be done? A. Whenever a person has it in his power and the weather is favourable, he should next par- take of some active exercise, for at least an hour, in the open air. Q. 8. What kind of exercise is the most bene- ficial at this period? A. Walking or riding on horseback a few miles out of town and back again. Q. 9. Why is the morning the best period for active exercise? A. Because the body is perfectly refreshed by the repose of the night—the stomach is not engaged in the work of digestion, while the purity, and during the summer season, the cool- ness of the early morning air, imparts a greater L 128 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. degree of vigour to the body thin it does per- haps at any other period of the day. 0.. 10. When the inclemency of the weather will not permit of walking or riding in the open air, what should be done ? A. Some active exercise should be taken within doors in a large and cool apartment. Section II.—Breakfast. H. 11. The morning exercise being finished, what is the next important circumstance to be attended to? A. The morning meal, or breakfast. Q. 12. Cannot this meal be dispensed with without injury to the system? A. As a general rule it cannot. In persons who rise early and use a sufficiency of active exercise, a craving appetite will be created; and if it be not satisfied, very considerable injury will result. Q. 13. Of what should the breakfast consist? A. It should consist of wholesome nourishing food, observing, however, the all-important rules of simplicity in regard to the articles of which CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 129 it is composed, and of moderation in partaking of them. I Q. 14. Should the breakfast consist princi- pally of solid or liquid food? A. This should be regulated, even by those in perfect health, by the appetite, the labour or exercise to be taken, and by the period that is to elapse before dining. Q. 15. Will those who labour or use much exercise in the open air, require a more sub- stantial meal in the morning than others? A. In such the powers of digestion are in general very active, and the degree of exertion to which their systems are exposed, requiring a greater amount of nourishing food for their sup- port, they will require a more substantial break- fast than one of tea or coffee and bread. Q. 16. Of what then should their morning's meal be composed? A. In addition to the bread and usual fluids, they may partake in moderation of almost any kind of solid food in common use, plainly cooked: the best, however, will be, a soft boiled fresh egg or two, or a slice of the lean part of cold roasted beef or mutton or of cold boiled ham. 130 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 17. Does coffee form a proper part of the morning's repast? A. The propriety of using coffee, to say the least of it, is very doubtful; if it be drunk, how- ever, it should be weak, taken with plenty of milk and sugar, and in moderation. The use of large quantities of strong coffee, there can be no doubt, is injurious. Q. 18. What bad effects result from the ex- cessive use of strong coffee? A. The stomach becomes injured, digestion is impaired, and tremors and various other ner- vous symptoms are produced. Q. 19. To whom is strong coffee the most in- jurious? A. To those who partake of little exercise, and to those of a weakly and delicate habit ge- nerally. Q. 20. Is it a proper article of diet for chil- dren? A. No; children should never be allowed to partake of it. Q,. 21. Is chocolate more wholesome than coffee? A. "Pure chocolate boiled in a large quantity of milk, and sweetened, but without the addition CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 131 of any fatty matter or spice, is both wholesome and nutritious to persons in perfect health, and in the daily use of active exercise. Q. 22. For whom is it improper? A. Chocolate is an improper article of food for the sedentary, and for those who have weak stomachs, as well as for individuals inclined to corpulency, or of full habits of body. Q. 23. What injury results to such from its use? A. It being a rich and oily substance, it is not readily digested by persons of the two first classes; hence it is apt to cause in them op- pression and uneasiness of the stomach, pain of the head and restlessness: for persons of the two last classes it is too nourishing and heating, in- creasing the corpulency in the one case, and tending to produce fever, and other serious dis- eases in both. Q. 24. What is necessary in order to render the bread eaten at breakfast wholesome and nutritive ? A. That it be made of good flour, not too finely ground; that it be light and well baked, and at least one day old. L 2 132 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 25. Which is the most wholesome, home- made or bakers' bread? A. Homemade bread, when properly pre- pared and thoroughly baked, is always more nutritious and easier of digestion, than the or- dinary run of bakers' bread. Q. 26. Is the addition of indian mush to the bread, previously to its being baked, objection- able*? A. On the contrary, bread thus made, when properly managed in the raising and baking, is equally wholesome, and even more nutritious than without the addition of the mush. Q. 27. Is bread newly baked unwholesome? A. Fresh bread, particularly when eaten warm from the oven, is extremely indigestible: it is apt to oppress even the most healthy stomach, and in feeble, sedentary and dyspeptic indi- viduals, it will often produce violent pains, and other serious complaints. Q. 28. Is bread that has been toasted injurious to the stomach ? A. No: with many stomachs it agrees better ihan that which is not toasted; provided it be eaten without butter, or the butter is not spread on it until it u cold. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 133 Q. 29. What harm results from eating hot toast and butter? A. The butter becomes converted by the heated bread into an oily fluid, almost totally indigestible, and extremely irritating to the sto- mach. Hot toast and butter, when taken even in moderate quantities, have been known to pro- duce heartburn, rancid eructations, nausea, head- ach, and other distressing symptoms. Q. 30. Is butter spread upon warm bread equally injurious? A. From the use of hot buttered bread or rolls, nearly the same train of symptoms will be found to result, particularly in those of weakly and delicate habits, as from hot toast and butter. Q. 31. Is butter of itself an unwholesome ar- ticle? A. No: a moderate quantity of perfectly fresh butter spread on cold bread is rather wholesome than otherwise. Q. 32. Are shortcakes an improper article of food? A. Shortcakes, whether hot or cold, should be banished from our tables as an unwholesome article of diet; there are few stomachs to which they do not prove peculiarly offensive. 134 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 33. Are buckwheat cakes unwholesome? A. Excepting in very moderate quantities, they cannot fail to be unwholesome, from the large amount of heated butter with which they are eaten. Q. 34. Is it proper to eat cheese with break- fast? A. From the small quantity of cheese which is eaten at this meal, provided it is of a good quality, and not too new, scarcely any injury need be apprehended, by those in perfect health, and in the daily use of active exercise. Q. 35. As a general rule, is not cheese a wholesome article ? A. Cheese is one of the least digestible of our aliments, and if it be very rich, recently made, or eaten in any quantity, it will disorder the stomach, produce rancid eructations, pain and uneasiness. Q. 36. By whom should cheese be particularly abstained from? A. By all persons of delicate constitutions and invalids, as well as by the studious, and those of sedentary habits. Q. 37. Is cheese, when cooked or toasted, more injurious than in its ordinary state ? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 135 A. It is far more so; symptoms of a most vio- lent character have been produced by partaking of it. Q. 38. What are the least objectionable arti- cles for the morning meal? A. Milk and its various simple preparations, with well baked bread one day old, and eaten with a small quantity of fresh butter: soft boiled eggs; and for those who are robust, and engaged in some laborious employment, or those who take much active exercise, a slice or two of cold roast beef, mutton or chicken will be a very proper addition. Q. 39. Is fish a proper article to be eaten at breakfast? A. The fish which is ordinarily served up at this meal, is either shad or mackarel, salted and fried, or herrings salted, dried and smoked, all of which are extremely indigestible, and op- pressive to the stomach, and should not be eaten excepting by those whose powers of digestion are very strong, and then in moderation only. Q^40. What is to be observed of sausages, and similar articles of food frequently met with on the breakfast table? , A. The same as has been just observed of 136 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. salted and fried fish: they are fit only for strong stomachs, and persons who labour hard in the open air. Q. 41. Of what should the breakfast of chil- dren be composed? A. Principally of the preparations of milk and bread. Section III.—Forenoon Luncheon. Q. 42. After breakfast, what is proper to be done? A. The proper business of the day is of course to be attended to, according to the calhng, trade or profession of each individual. Q_. 43. By those who have no occupation to command their time and attention, how should the period which intervenes between breakfast and dinner be spent' A. The first part of it in some bodily exercise in the open air; the latter part in reading, writ- ing, or other mental occupations. Q. 44. Is it proper to partake of food in the course of the morning? A. This will depend entirely upon the solidity CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 137 of the breakfast, and the period of the day ap- propriated for dining. Q. 45. If a substantial breakfast has been taken in the morning, and the dining hour is one or two o'clock, is a morning luncheon necessary? A. It is totally unnecessary, if not injurious. Q. 46. If, however, the breakfast has been veiy light, and the dinner hour is protracted until four, five or six o'clock, would it be proper to remain until the latter without food? A. When a proper amount of exercise is taken, and the appetite is keen, it would not: in such cases something ought to be eaten about midway between breakfast and dinner. Q. 47. What ought this to consist of? A. Of a very moderate quantity of light food, such as a cracker or two, a slice of bread, a draught of milk, a custard, or perhaps a few oysters eaten raw, or simply warmed through. Q. 48. Would not equal benefit be derived from a tumbler of brandy and water, or a glass of wine ? A. No: either of these might take off the sensation of faintness arising from an empty stomach; but the former especially, indepen- 138 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. dently of its laying the foundation of habits of intemperance, is always injurious to the stomach. Q. 49. What is to be said of the practice pur- sued by many ladies, of taking in the course of the morning a glass of wine and slice of pound- cake, in order to allay their appetite until dinner? A. It is one which ought not to be imitated: the poundcake in particular is an article which can seldom be eaten without its being pro- ductive of more or less injury. Q. 50. Should not persons whose occupations are sedentary take some gentle exercise pre- viously to dining? A. If their time will allow of it, they will ex- perience by so doing the best effects. Q. 51. Is the practice of whetting the appetite by a dram, or bitters, before setting down to dinner, a good one? A. It is in the highest degree mischievous. During health, with a proper amount of exercise, the appetite is sufficiently good without any excitant; under other circumstances the appetite created by stimulants is entirely fictitious. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 139 Section IV.—Dinner. Q. 52. Of what should the dinner be com- posed? A. Of any wholesome food that is in season and plainly cooked. Q. 53. Should the dinner be composed of many dishes? A. No: a single dish of meat, with a proper quantity of bread and vegetables, forms the most wholesome dinner. Q. 54. What injury results from partaking at dinner of a number of dishes? A. The principal injury is, that the appetite being artificially kept up by a variety of food, too much is taken, more often than the stomach can digest; a grossness of habit in the one case, and all the evils of indigestion in the other, are consequently produced. Q. 55. Is it proper to commence the dinner by partaking of soup? A. No: if soup be taken, the dinner should be made of it entirely; immediately after soup the stomach is not in a fit state to digest solid food. Q. 56. Is soup a wholesome dish? M 140 CATECHISM OF UEALTH. A. If not too rich or too highly seasoned, nor taken too warm, soup, with a due quantity of stale bread, is a food of which any one in health may partake. Q. 57. Why is it prudent to eat with it a quantity of bread? A. Because in this manner it is rendered more easy of digestion, and capable of communicating a greater amount of nourishment to the system. Q. 58. To whom is soup an improper article of food? A. Rich soups, those which are highly sea- soned, as well as those made of veal, or the flesh of other young animals, are improper for persons whose powers of digestion .are weak, or who sit much within doors. Section V.—Animal Food. Q. 59. Is beef a wholesome food? A. To persons in health, beef, that is, the flesh of the ox, is a highly nourishing and whole- some food, when fresh, properly cooked, and not too fat; it is also very readily digested. Q. 60. Is the same true of mutton ? A. Yes: mutton, when neither too young nor CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 141 too old, is equally as nourishing as beef, and perhaps the most digestible of all animal food. Q. 61. Does veal constitute a food equal in quality to beef and mutton? A. No: it neither affords as much nourishment, nor is it so easily digested; when very young it is decidedly unwholesome. Q. 62. Is the flesh of the lamb a wholesome food? A. It is when the animal has not been killed too young. Q. 63. What is very generally to be observed of the flesh of young animals? A. That it is less nutritious and less easy of digestion, and consequently a less proper article of food than that of the same animals when full grown. Q. 64. What is the character of pork as an article of food' A. To persons in health who lead an active and laborious life chiefly in the open air, pork affords a sufficiently wholesome nourishment; but to those under different circumstances it is less appropriate than either beef or mutton. Q. 65. Is it prudent to confine one's self en- tirely to the use of pork? 142 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. No. The constant or long continued use of pork is particularly improper for those who live indolent or sedentary lives; it is apt to produce a grossness of the body, disorder the stomach and bowels, and occasion diseases of the skin. Q. 66. Does it produce the same effects on the laborious and active? A. With a proper addition of fresh vegetables, such persons may confine themselves to the use of pork for a considerable time without expe- riencing any ill effects from it. Q. 67. Should meat be eaten immediately after it is killed? A. No: when the weather will permit of meat being kept for some time after it is killed, it is rendered much more easy of digestion. Q. 68. Is meat of any kind which has been so long kept as to become tainted proper for food? A. No: very serious injury will be very apt to result from its use. Q. 69. Is fresh or salted meat most whole- some? A. Fresh meat, as a general rule, is more wholesome, as well as more easy of digestion, and more nutritious than that which is salted. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 143 Q. 70. Does the preservation of meat by smok- ing and drying impair its nutritious properties? A. It does in a very considerable degree: meat prepared in this manner is also rendered less easy of digestion. Q. 71. Which is the most wholesome, lean or fat meat? A. Meat that is finely marbled with fat, which is always the case with the flesh of animals that have been properly fed, and allowed their na- tural exercise, is the most wholesome. Q. 72. What rank does poultry hold as an article of food? A. The flesh of the common fowl, and turkey, affords very excellent nourishment, and is rea- dily digested by most stomachs, when properly cooked. Q. 73. Is the flesh of the duck and goose as readily digested as that of the fowl and turkey? A. No: the flesh of the former is digested with difficulty, excepting by those who labour much or use constant exercise in the open air. The flesh of the tame duck, though somewhat difficult of digestion, is esteemed a more whole- some food than that of the goose. Q. 74. Do those birds generally ranked under M 2 144 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. the head of game afford a wholesome nourish- ment? A. The flesh of the partridge, pheasant, wood- cock, snipe, pigeon and grouse, when these birds are in season, and it is properly cooked, furnishes a very excellent and savoury food, and one very readily digested. Q. 75. Is the flesh of the wild water fowl an equally proper article of food? A. No—generally speaking, it is heavy and indigestible, excepting to those of robust habits, and who are accustomed to active exercise. Q. 76. Is fish to be considered a wholesome food? A. On this subject there is much difference of opinion: salted fish, or that which is very fat, excepting in very small quantities, is certainly injurious to those stomachs not possessed of very active powers of digestion. Q. 77. Is the same true of fresh fish? A. A moderate quantity of fresh fish, plainly cooked, is found to agree very well with many persons; but as a general rule, fish affords much less nourishment, and is more difficult of diges- tion than the flesh of the birds or quadrupeds in common use. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 145 Q. 78. Does the lobster furnish an eligible food? A. No: the flesh of the lobster affords but little nourishment, while it is extremely difficult of digestion: as generally prepared, it is among the most unwholesome articles to be met with on our tables. Q. 79. What is the character of eggs as an aliment? A. Eggs, especially those of the common do- mestic fowls, when newly laid, and soft boiled, afford a very light and nutritive food. Q. 80. Are they equally wholesome when hard boiled, or fried? A. No; when thus cooked they are very diffi- cult of digestion, and otherwise unwholesome O.. 81. Are oysters a proper article of food? A. The soft part of salt water oysters, when perfectly fresh, and eaten raw or slightly roasted in the shell, is a nutritious food, and of very easy digestion. Q. 82. Does the cooking of oysters impair their wholesomeness? A. Yes: oystera, when stewed or fried, become extremely indigestible, and altogether unfit for food. Eaten in any quantity thus cooked, thay 146 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. have been known to produce symptoms of a very serious character. Q. 83. Do gravies, meat jellies, and similar articles afford wholesome nourishment? A. No; they are to be ranked among the least wholesome articles of a modern dinner table: to weak stomachs they are peculiarly pernicious. Q. 84. What is the best mode of cooking meat to render it a wholesome and nutritious food? A. Fresh meat is rendered the most whole- some, nutritive, and easy of digestion by roasting or broiling, provided it is not over done, nor highly seasoned. Q. 85. Is it wholesome to eat much of the outer crust of roasted, baked or broiled meat? A. No; this portion of the meat is very apt to disagree with persons of delicate habits, and if it has been slightly burned it is injurious to every one. Q. 86. Is not meat rendered wholesome by boiling? A. Meat, when properly boiled, is sufficiently soluble, and less stimulating to most stomachs than that which is either roasted or broiled; but it is less easy of digestion and less nutritious. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 147 Boiling, however, is perhaps the only proper method of dressing salted provisions. Q. 87. What effect has stewing upon the wholesomeness of meat? A. Stewed meat is not more nutritious than that which is boiled, and it is even less easily digested: food thus prepared is consequently improper for those whose powers of digestion are weak; it may, however, be used occasionally by those in robust health and of active laborious habits. Q. 88. Is frying an objectionable mode of cooking? A. It is probably the most objectionable. Q. 89. What renders it so objectionable? A The butter, oil, or fat which is employed in frying, is converted by that process into a substance almost totally indigestible, and highly irritating to the stomach, which is also the case with the brown and dry crust of the meat thus cooked. Section VI.—Vegetable Food. Q. 90. Does bread form a proper addition to the other articles of food of which the dinner is composed? 148 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. Bread, or some other wholesome vegetable matter should always constitute a part of this meal. Q. 91. What forms the best substitute for bread at dinner? A. Potatoes or rice. Q. 92. Is the potato a wholesome vegetable? A. When mealy, simply boiled or roasted, and seasoned merely with a little salt, it is one of the most wholesome vegetables that can be placed upon the dinner table. Q. 93. Is the wholesomeness of potatoes im- paired by their being mashed or fried? A. Mashed potatoes, particularly with the addition of butter, and those which have been fried, are very indigestible, and altogether unfit for delicate and sickly persons. Q. 94. Is the sweet equally as wholesome as the common potato? A. It is; particularly when roasted. The sweet potato is not, however, quite as readily digested as the common kind. Q. 95. In what manner should rice be pre- pared to eat with meat? A. By simply boiling, with the addition of a small quantity of salt. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 149 Q. 96. Are turnips a wholesome vegetable? A. Turnips simply boiled are very whole- some, afford considerable nutriment, and are easily digested. Q. 97. Are onions to be ranked as a proper vegetable food? A. When well boiled they are easy of diges- tion, and in moderation, are a very wholesome addition to meat. Q. 98. Is cabbage a wholesome article of food? A. Cabbage properly boiled, especially after it has been subjected to the frost, is a very wholesome vegetable for persons in health and who exercise much in the open air. With the delicate and sedentary it is, however, very apt to disagree, producing flatulence, colic, and other uneasy symptoms. Q. 99. Is the same true of sour crout, or fer- mented cabbage ? A. Yes; it agrees very well with the active and laborious, and as it will keep for a long time when properly prepared, affords to them a very wholesome substitute for fresh vegetables, un- der circumstances where the latter cannot be procured. 150 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 100. What are the dietetic properties of the parsnip and carrot? A. The former, when well boiled, is a whole- some and nutritive vegetable; the latter, how- ever, is more difficult of digestion, and less wholesome. Q. 101. Does Indian corn afford a wholesome nutriment? A. When very young, or green, as it is called, it affords but little nourishment, ana is extremely indigestible: eaten in this state by those who use but little exercise, and whose powers of diges- tion are consequently weak, it is very apt to disorder the stomach, and produce violent co- lic, or other serious disease. Q. 102. Is it equally injurious when fully ripe ? A. No: when well boiled, or ground and made into mush, bread, or cakes, it then forms a very nourishing and readily digested aliment. Q. 103. What is the character of beans, peas, and similar pulse as articles of food? A. Whether in their green or dried state, they afford but little nourishment, and are very in- digestible, and flatulent; hence they should be carefully refrained from by all, excepting the CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 151 strong and laborious: to those of weak stomachs they are particularly injurious. Q. 104. Are the green pods of the French or string beans equally unwholesome? A. No: when well boiled, they are not diffi- cult of digestion, and may be ranked among the most wholesome of our vegetables. Q. 105. Do salads, lettuce, celery, cresses and similar vegetables, generally eaten in their raw state, constitute a proper addition to the food eaten at dinner ? A. These vegetables afford but little if any nourishment, and are not very easily digested; in moderation, however, dressed simply with salt and a small quantity of pepper and vinegar, they seldom disagree with persons in health, and in the enjoyment of sufficient exercise; but by the weakly, the sedentary and dyspeptic they should be avoided. Q. 106. Do not these vegetables under cer- tain circumstances constitute, however, a very important addition to animal food? A. Yes: when persons are obliged to confine themselves for any length of time to salted pro- visions, fresh vegetable substances such as those N 152 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. referred to, become a very wholesome article of food, whenever they can be obtained. Q. 107. Is the use of beets objectionable? A. No: when well boiled, eaten with or with- out vinegar, they are a very wholesome vege- table; they are not difficult of digestion, and afford considerable nutriment. Q. 108. Is the same true of cucumbers? A. No: cucumbers afford very little nourish- ment, while they are difficult of digestion, and irritating to the stomach: they should, therefore, be banished entirely from the table. Q. 109. Does the same objection apply to them when pickled? A. Yes: pickles of all kinds are extremely indigestible, and afford no nourishment what- ever to the body: the weakly and dyspeptic are always injured by their use. Q. 110. Is it proper to eat our food very warm? A. No; it should be eaten rather cool than hot: in this state it is more easily digested; we are less liable, also, to commit an excess in the use of cool than of very warm food. Q. 111. Should the food be highly seasoned? A. No: all seasoning used with food, except- CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 153 ing salt and a small quantity of pepper, is pre- judicial to health. Q. 112. In what manner is it prejudicial? A. Independently of its injuring the tone and digestive powers of the stomach, high seasoned food leads to excess in eating, heats the system, and creates an excessive thirst, to allay which wine or spirits is too often resorted to. Q. 113. Should the dinner be composed of a number of dishes? A. No: dinner should be restricted to a single dish of animal food, with the addition of pota- toes, bread, and other wholesome vegetables. Q. 114. Why is dining off a number of dishes injurious? A. Various articles of food taken at one meal into the stomach oppress that organ and ren- der the whole mass less easy of digestion, than would be either of the articles eaten by itself: a variety of dishes, also, by keeping up an ar- tificial appetite, causes almost always an im- proper quantity of food to be indulged in. Q. 115. Is it proper to drink at dinner? A. This must depend altogether on circum- stances: if the food is of a dry nature, and any degree of thirst exists, a moderate quantity of 154 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. drink will be proper: too much fluid, however, being drank at dinner, has a tendency to impede digestion. Q. 116. What is the best fluid for drink at meals? A. Pure water: on this subject there ought to be no difference of opinion; water is the only proper diluent for our food: from the use of any other liquid more or less injury must invariably result. Q. 117. What injury results from drinking wine or spirits with our food? A. In some persons it destroys or lessens the natural desire for food, so that a less quantity is taken than the wants of the system call for; most generally, however, it has a contrary effect, and by keeping up an artificial desire for food, causes the stomach to be filled to excess, while, if taken in any quantity, it invariably protracts and ren- ders imperfect the process of digestion. Q. 118. Is it most conducive to health to eat slowly, or very quick? A. As perfect digestion, and of course the wholesome nourishment derived from our food depends very much upon its being perfectly masticated, it should therefore be eaten very CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 155 slowly, in order that every portion of it be re- duced to a fine pulp by the teeth previously to its being swallowed: persons who eat very fast most generally eat too much. Section Vn.—Dessert. Q. 119. Is it wholesome to partake of a des- sert immediately, or soon after dining? A. On the contrary, it is in the highest degree prejudicial to health. Q. 120. What renders the dessert thus un- wholesome? A. Independently of the pernicious effects produced upon the stomach by many of the articles of which a dessert is generally composed, the stomach becomes filled with a variety of substances interfering with the proper digestion of each other, while the excitants offered to the appetite cause a much greater quantity of food to be eaten than the wants of the system demand. Q. 121. Are all the dishes which usually com- pose the dessert in themselves unwholesome ? A. No; many of them are light and easy of digestion, and if eaten by themselves, or before N2 156 CATECHISM OF HEALTH, the stomach has been filled with other articles of food, constitute wholesome nutriment. Q. 122. Which are the most unwholesome articles of the dessert? A. Pies and pastry of all kinds, jellies, creams and ices. • Q. 123. To whom are these articles particu- larly injurious? A. To that class precisely by whom they are most frequently made use of;—those of delicate health, the sedentary, the studious and the dys- peptic. Q. 124. What species of pies are the most unwholesome ? A. Those made of minced meat, with the addition of fruit, liquor and spices. . Q. 125. Are fruit pies particularly unwhole- some? A. Baked fruit, with the addition of sugar, when eaten in moderation, cannot be considered unwholesome, excepting to those whose diges- tion is so weak as to allow it to run into fer- mentation. Fruit pies, therefore, to those in health, are unwholesome only in consequence of the crust in which they are baked. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 157 Q. 126. Are puddings an unwholesome article of food? A. Plain light puddings made of flour or bread, with the addition of milk, eggs and sugar, are not unwholesome articles of food, excepting when eaten after a full meal, or in immoderate quantities. Q. 127. Is what is termed plum or English pudding equally wholesome? A. No: it is very difficult of digestion, and with the sauce with which it is eaten, oppresses and disorders the stomach, and injures the health generally. Q. 128. Do custards, when eaten, injure the stomach? A. Light custards, made principally of eggs, milk and sugar, are not injurious to the stomach; they on the contrary afford to most persons a light and wholesome food. Q. 129. What is the character of preserves as an article of diet? A. Preserves made of fruit tolerably ripe, and not too acid, may be eaten in moderation and at proper times by persons in health, without the fear of any injury resulting from their use. 158 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 130. Is it proper to eat them without any addition? A. No: they agree better with the stomach and are more readily digested when eaten with bread. Q. 131. Is the common opinion correct, that cheese eaten after dinner, or with the dessert, assists digestion? A. No. There are few things more improper to be taken after a meal than cheese, it being in itself of difficult digestion. Cheese can scarcely be considered a proper food, excepting when in the course of the morning the appetite indi- cates the propriety of taking something by way of luncheon; even then its use should be re- stricted to the robust, and it should be eaten with bread. Q. 132. Is honey a proper article of food? A. Though honey disorders invariably the stomach and bowels of a few individuals, and seldom agrees with those who have any disease of these organs, yet as a general rule, when eaten by persons in health in moderation and with bread, it is nutritive, easily digested, and perfectly, wholesome. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 159 Section MIL— Fruit. Q. 133. Are fruits to be considered as whole- some food? A. When perfectly ripe, fresh fruits, eaten in moderation at a proper period of the day, are to be considered extremely wholesome; espe- cially those which afford a bland saccharine pulp. Q. 134. What are the fruits which come un- der this description? A. The peach, different varieties of the pear and apple, oranges, and grapes. Q. 135. What should be attended to in order to render even these wholesome? A. To reject the skin, or external covering, and the seed; and to partake of them only in the fore part of the day, or early in the evening, when the stomach is not actively engaged in the digestion of food already eaten. Q. 136. What other fruits may be eaten in moderation without injurious effects? A. Strawberries, rasberries, gooseberries, and the red or white currants, when fully ripe. Q. 137. Are not cherries and plums to be considered as wholesome fruits? A. They are more difficult of digestion than 160 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. those already enumerated, and, particularly when acid, very generally disagree with the sto- mach: the sweeter kinds, however, may be eaten in moderation by strong and active persons without injury, provided they reject the skin and stones. Q. 138. Is the pine apple a wholesome fruit? A. Those generally eaten in this country are plucked from the tree before they have become perfectly ripe, and are consequently difficult of digestion: they should be eaten only by those whose stomachs are in perfect health, and by such very sparingly. Q. 139. Are those fruits which are imported in a dried state injurious to the stomach? A. No. To those in health, raisins, figs and prunes, eaten with bread, are very nutritious; and except when indulged in to excess, or when the stomach is already loaded with food, they are not difficult of digestion. Q. 140. What is the character of melons as articles of food' A. The pulp of the water melon being ex- tremely indigestible, renders this fruit a very unwholesome and dangerous article of food, excepting for the robust and labouring classes, CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 161 by whom it may be taken in moderation without injury. Q.. 141. Is the same true of the other melons? A. It is to a certain extent, for although the pulp of the cantaleupe melon is less difficult of digestion than that of the water melon, it is ne- vertheless an unwholesome article for those of weak and delicate habits—for the sedentary and dyspeptic. Q. 142. Are apples, peaches and cherries less wholesome when dried than in their recent state? A. They are more difficult of digestion than when fresh, but if stewed with sugar they are sufficiently wholesome, excepting for weak stomachs, in which they are very liable to run into fermentation and to produce acidity. Q. 143. Are nuts esteemed wholesome food? A. No: to individuals in particular whose- di- gestion is slow and imperfect, few articles more injurious to health can be taken into the stomach. Q. 144. What injury results from their use? A. Even in small quantities they are liable to oppress the stomach, produce a difficulty of breathing, colicky pains, and disorders of the bowels: even death has been known to result in delicate persons from their immoderate use. 162 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 145. Is the chesnut, when boiled or roast- ed, equally unwholesome as in its raw state ? A. No: it is still, however, difficult of diges- tion, and should be eaten only by the robust and healthy. Q. 146. When the kernels of nuts are eaten even by those in health, what precautions are ne- cessary to guard against their injurious effects? A. Not to eat of them late in the evening, when the stomach is loaded with other food, or when they are in the least degree rancid: never to partake of more than a very small quantity at a time, and always to eat them with a small quantity of salt, and with bread. Section IX.—Liquors. Q. 147. Is it conducive to health to partake of wine or ardent spirits after dinner? A. Ardent spirits, whenever taken, are inju- rious to health; drank after dinner they prevent the proper digestion of the food, render the individual less fit than he otherwise would be for the duties of the after part of the day, while too often in this manner habits of beastly intem- perance are insensibly formed. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 163 Q. 148. Do the same objections apply to wine? A. From drinking wine at or after dinner, no advantage whatever is derived, either to the health or strength of the system; even though it be perfectly pure, and no excess should be committed. When, however, it is indulged in beyond a glass or two, it impairs digestion, and produces mischievous effects. It is a practice, therefore, which it is far better to relinquish than persist in. Q. 149. To whom is the practice of drinking wine after dinner particularly injurious? A. To young persons, and to those of robust and full habits. Q. 150. When children and young persons are of a weakly and delicate constitution, will not a glass of wine after dinner increase their powers of digestion, and tend to invigorate their systems generally? A. No. The manner in which the constitution is to be strengthened in these cases, is not by the use of wine, but by pure air, active exercise, early rising, and a sufficiency of wholesome nourishing food, plainly cooked. Q. 151. Are malt liquors, as beer, porter and O 164 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. ale, better adapted for a drink after dinner than wine or spirits? A. No: if any thing but water is taken, a glass or two of pure wine diluted with water is to be preferred to either ardent spirits or malt liquors. O.. 152. Do not malt liquors promote diges- tion? A. On the contrary they rather retard it, in consequence of the action on the stomach of the narcotic principle which enters into their com- position. Q. 153. To whom are malt liquors particularly injurious as a drink at dinner? A. They are particularly injurious to all per- sons who are inclined to fat; to those of full apoplectic habits; to those who are troubled with frequent headach; to the sedentary, the gouty and dyspeptic. Q. 154. Is cider equally objectionable? - A. Perfectly sound bottled cider may be dnmk in moderation by persons in health, but it is injurious to those subject to acidity of sto- mach, or who labour under dyspeptic symptoms. Q,. 155. Does any injury result from spruce beer, or mead, when drunk immediately after dinner? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 165 A. The quantity of fixed air which these fluids contain, by unduly distending the stomach, in- terferes with and impedes the digestive powers of the stomach; hence it is improper to make use of them shortly before, during, or imme- diately after a meal. Q. 156. What are the effects which result from the various cordials of which females are accustomed to partake with the dessert? A. A more pernicious drink than the cordials generally made use of in this country, could scarcely be invented: they are merely ardent spirits disguised with sugar and some spice. Q. 157. Do not some contain even more dele- terious ingredients? A. Yes: Noyou cordial, for example, contains a minute portion of an active poison: immediate death has, in some instances, resulted from drink- ing a small glass of it. Q. 158. Does any good effect result from drinking strong coffee after dinner? A. No: it is supposed by some, when taken after dinner without milk or sugar, to promote and accelerate digestion: this, however, is very doubtful. The only safe means of promoting digestion are active exercise, wholesome food 166 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. eaten in moderation and well chewed, and the use of pure water for drink, or at least the total disuse of ardent spirits. Section X.—Afternoon. Q. 159. Should active exercise be taken im- mediately after dinner? A. Whenever it can be avoided, it should not: resting for at least a couple of hours after this meal is proper, in order not to interrupt the process of digestion. Q. 160. How should this period be spent? A. By the man of leisure in conversation, or in the perusal of such works as do not require very close application, or any great exertion of the mind. Q. 161. Is the practice of sleeping for an hour after dinner a good one? A. No: it is one which should be avoided by all, excepting perhaps the aged. Q. 162. To whom is it most injurious? A. To the young and healthy, and to those of gross and full habits of body. Q. 163. What harm results to such from the practice? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 167 A. It tends to produce an undue accumulation of fat, to cause headach, particularly when the ordinary clothing is not removed, and, in the predisposed, apoplexy. From a nap after din- ner, the individual always rises with a feeling of languor rather than of refreshment. Q. 164. Is an afternoon nap particularly in- jurious to the labourer in the field? A. When taken on the grass or damp ground, or, excepting in very dry and not too warm weather, in the open air, particularly when the body is in a state of perspiration, or is fatigued, it is very liable to give rise to a very serious cold, pleurisy, or rheumatism. Q,. 165. What persons are most apt to expe- rience a strong inclination to sleep after dinner? A. Those who indulge to excess in the plea- sures of the table; particularly those who drink freely at this meal, of wine, or malt liquors. Q. 166. What is the condition, immediately after dinner, of those who eat in moderation of wholesome food, and drink nothing but water? A. Provided they use during the day sufficient exercise, they will rise from table with a feeling of lightness and of cheerfulness unknown to the intemperate or the glutton. 02 168 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 167. In what manner is the afternoon to be spent? A. They who have business to attend to will of course return to it; they, however, who have it in their power, will find it to their advantage in the after part of the day to spend two or more hours in exercise in the open air, provided the weather is favourable. Q. 168. Should the exercise of the afternoon be as active as that of the morning? A. No: the latter period should be reserved for the more athletic exercises, while walking or riding is best adapted for the afternoon, espe- cially in summer. d. 169. Is not some degree of exercise in the open air towards the close of the day important to the mechanic? A. Yes. Especially to those whose occupa- tions are carried on within doors, or in a seden- tary posture, a walk for an hour towards evening is an important means of preserving health. Section XI.—Tea. Q. 170. Is this beverage, which is generally drunk early in the evening, conducive to health ? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 169 A. No: particularly when drank strong, and in large quantity. Q. 171. What injury results to the constitu- tion from the immoderate use of strong tea? A. It impairs the powers of the stomach, pro- duces various nervous symptoms, palpitations of the heart, restlessness, headach, a pale and sallow hue of the skin, heartburn, and all the usual train of morbid feelings which accompany dyspepsia. Q. 172. To whom is the immoderate use of strong tea the most injurious? A. To children, to delicate females, or per- sons in infirm health, and to those who lead a sedentary life, or use but little exercise. Q. 173. What kinds of tea are the most pre- judicial? A. The green teas; these, particularly when drank in strong infusion, are very generally con- fessed to have a pernicious effect upon the sto- mach, bowels, and nervous system generally. 0-. 174. When a weak infusion of black tea is used in moderation, is it hable to the same objections? A. No: particularly when drank not too 170 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. warm, and with a sufficient quantity of milk and sugar, it is productive of very little or no injury. Q. 175. Is bread a proper article to be eaten with tea? A. Yes: a moderate quantity of good bread and butter should always be taken with the tea. Q,. 176. Are the sweet cakes which are usually eaten with the tea wholesome food? A. As a general rule they are not, particularly when eaten in the evening, and by persons of delicate habits, unaccustomed to active exercise. Q. 177. Does there exist any important ob- jection to the use with tea of the cakes denomi- nated muffins? A. The muffins in general use are composed of an imperfectly baked dough, which, particu- larly when eaten hot, and with butter, is indi- gestible, and capable of producing very serious disturbance of the stomach and bowels. Q. 178. Is coffee a more appropriate fluid for the evening meal than tea? A. No: the same objections apply to it as to strong tea; with many persons, taken in the eve- ning, it prevents sleep, or renders it disturbed. Q. 179. Is weak tea and bread the most ap- CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 171 propriate articles for the evening meal of the labouring classes? A. No: for those who use much bodily exer- cise in the open air, milk and bread, mush and milk, or rice and milk, will furnish a much more wholesome evening repast than either tea or coffee. Q. 180. Is the evening meal necessary for those who take their dinner very late? A. No: such persons would find their health better preserved by taking no meal during the evening. Section XH.—Evening. Q. 181. What is the proper occupation after the evening meal? A. Those who have partaken during the day of several hours active exercise, should spend the period between tea and bed time, in inte- resting conversation, or in fight and instructive reading. Q. 182. Are these occupations proper, also, for those whose pursuits during the day have been in a great measure sedentary? A. In summer, or whenever the weather will 172 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. permit, a walk of an hour's duration after tea will be highly beneficial to all who have been confined within doors, or otherwise precluded from exercise during the day. Q. 183. Is not the evening the period best adapted for study? A. No: the morning is in every point of view the portion of the day best adapted for study. Q. 184. Is it particularly injurious to health to study in the evening? A. Those who live a perfectly temperate life will experience but little inconvenience from occupying the early hours of the evening in study. Q. 185. Does any injury result to health from frequenting large or crowded assembhes after night? A. It is injurious at any period, but particu- larly at night. Q. 186. In what manner is it injurious ? A. The air in crowded apartments is rendered impure by the number of persons who breathe it, as well as by the hghts, and in winter by the fire: this, in addition to the excessive heat of such apartments, produces always a very inju- rious effect upon the system. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 173 Q. 187. What other bad effects result from such assembhes? A. Being in general protracted until a very late period of the night, those who frequent them are prevented from taking their natural repose without encroaching upon the morning hours; they are of course deprived of all the benefits which result from early rising. Q. 188. Is there no other objection to these assemblies? A. Yes: the dress worn at them, by females particularly, is in general much fighter than that to which they are accustomed at other periods; hence when heated from dancing, or from the high temperature of the room, the least exposure to cold, from a current of air, the opening of a door, or from entering a cooler apartment, or passing into the open air, is liable to produce the most serious injury to health. Q. 189. Is exposure to the night air of itself injurious? A. Yes: without proper precautions it is so under all circumstances; but in very warm cli- mates, or towards the close of summer, and during the autumnal months in all sickly climates 174 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. and situations, exposure to the night air is very generally productive of disease. Q. 190. Is the health of children particularly injured by their frequenting crowded assemblies after night? A. It is—even more so than that of adults: children should never be allowed to be present at such assembhes. Q. 191. Is dancing a proper exercise for the evening? A. Dancing, when moderately practised early in the evening, in a dress which does not com- press the body so as to restrain its motions, in rooms neither too warm nor too crowded, and when the stomach is not loaded with food, has no injurious effect upon health. Q. 192. When immoderately practised, or during the latter period of the night, what are its effects? A. It exhausts the system, destroys the fresh- ness, bloom, and sprightliness of youth, induces various nervous symptoms, and when repeated many nights in succession, may induce disease of some internal part of the body, terminating in speedy death. Q. 193. Is health injured when the mind is CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 175 intensely occupied in study, or other occupation, until a late period of the night? A. Spending the night in intense mental ap- plication, is in every point of view injurious to health; it exhausts the body, and by keeping the mind actively employed at the period which nature intended for its repose, it gives rise to nervous restlessness, dreaming, and disturbed sleep. Q. 194. Do occupations carried on at night by the artificial light of lamps or candles, pro- duce any injurious effect upon the eyes? A. They do. When the eyes are exercised much after night in reading, writing, sewing, and similar employments, they become red and inflamed, and their power of vision is often very materially diminished. Q. 195. What effect has late hours, whether employed in study, dissipation, or pleasure, upon the complexion and countenance of youth? A. There is nothing, perhaps, which more effectually destroys the freshness and beauty of the one, or gives to the other the early appear- ance of age. P 176 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Section XHI.—Supper. Q. 196. Is it wholesome to partake of a supper in the evening previously to retiring to bed? A. On the contrary it is a custom the observ- ance of which is extremely detrimental to health. Q. 197. In what manner do late suppers injure the health? A. Independently of their causing an excess of food to be eaten at a period when the stomach is in a condition unfitted for its digestion, they produce disturbed sleep, uneasy dreams, and in the predisposed are very apt to cause an attack of apoplexy, or other serious disease. Q. 198. What kind of food is the most inju- rious when eaten late in the evening? A. Every kind of food, when eaten at this period in any considerable quantity, is product- ive of mischief; but the worst effects are pro- duced by rich, solid and indigestible food. Q. 199. Is a supper of any kind ever neces- sary? A. By those who have eaten a late dinner, especially if they have partaken of tea and bread, or other food, at the close of the day, supper should always be abstained from. When from CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 177 any cause, however, an individual in health has been obliged to fast for many hours, he will re- quire some food previously to retiring to rest at night. Q. 200. What precautions should be taken in this case to prevent any injury resulting from the food eaten at this period? A. It is necessary that the food be very plain and light, that but a very moderate quantity of it be made use of, and that at least one hour intervene between the period when it is eaten and that of retiring to bed. Q. 201. When circumstances oblige an indi- vidual to eat immediately before retiring to bed, what food should he make use of? A. The best will be a slice of bread, with or without butter, and a draught of water or milk. If any thing more nourishing is required, it should consist merely of a couple of slightly boiled eggs. Q. 202. Are late suppers injurious to the health of children? A. They are so in the highest degree—the last meal of children should always be about the close of the day; soon after which they should 178 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. retire to bed, and not be allowed to eat, as a general rule, until the ensuing morning. Q. 203. When several individuals meet toge- ther with the view of passing the evening in each other's society, is the custom of presenting them at frequent intervals with nuts, cakes, fruit, sweetmeats, jellies, iced creams, and similar eat- ables to be reprehended? A. Most of these articles are difficult of di- gestion, and when the stomach is thus loaded with them in the evening, the sleep is very ge- nerally disturbed, or rendered unrefreshing; and if the practice be continued in, the powers of the stomach are injured, and the health of the system generally suffers. Q. 204. What is the proper period for retiring to rest? A. This will depend in some measure upon the age and occupation of the individuals and upon the season of the year. Q. 205. As a general rule, is not health pro- moted by retiring early to rest? A. Nothing has a more prejudicial effect upon health than the want of a sufficiency of healthy and refreshing sleep during the night; hence retiring early to bed and rising from it early in CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 179 the morning is a practice the neglect of which is always more or less injurious. Q. 206. In the present state of society, what may be considered a proper hour for retiring to rest during the summer season? A. For labourers, and all whose bodies have been actively exercised during the day, between eight and nine o'clock. By retiring to bed at this hour, they will be enabled to enjoy eight hours of repose, and to rise in the morning by five o'clock. Q. 207. Should children be allowed to remain out of bed until nine o'clock? A. No: young children should retire to rest soon after the evening has set in. Q. 208. In winter is not nine o'clock too early an hour to retire to rest? A. For this season of the year ten or eleven o'clock may be considered a very appropriate hour for adults, and perhaps eight for children. Q. 209. Do not those persons injure their health who habitually delay going to bed until after midnight? A. They do so in a very great degree; and being obliged to pass in sleep a portion of the P2 180 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. ensuing morning, they lose all the advantages resulting from early rising. Q. 210. Are we to consider then that upon an average eight hours of sleep are sufficient for an adult? A. Under ordinary circumstances eight hours spent in repose are fully adequate to all the wants of the system. Q. 211. Which class of persons require the greatest quantity of sleep, those who spend their days in sedentary employments, without much exertion of the mind, or those who labour hard, or use active exercise in the open air? A. The latter. It is essential to the health of the labourer that he enjoy a sufficient amount of sleep at night, to renovate fully the system from the exhaustion produced by the active ex- ertions of the day. Q. 212. Ought persons inclined to excessive fatness, or of a full habit of body, to indulge in the same amount of sleep as those under oppo- site circumstances? A. No: all such persons will best ensure their health and comfort by curtailing their hours of sleep, especially by early rising, so that the morning may be spent in exercise. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 181 Q. 213. Who are the most apt to be troubled by restless nights? A. The indolent and inactive; those who take late suppers, and the intemperate generally, both in eating and drinking. Q. 214. What other causes tend to produce restlessness during the night, or broken and disturbed sleep ? A. The excitement of the mind until a late hour by study, dissipation or pleasure; a very small and badly ventilated sleeping apartment; too much or too little bed clothing; bandages tightly drawn about the neck, chest or limbs; a constrained posture of the body, &c. Q. 215. Do not the same causes give rise to distressing and frightful dreams} A. They do. Perhaps one of the most fre- quent causes of frightful dreams is the presence of indigestible food in the stomach. Q. 216. Is the practice of reading in bed at night improper? A- It is highly pernicious; it strains the eyes, prevents sleep, and otherwise injures the health. Q. 217. What circumstances connected with the bed chamber are liable to prevent the oc- currence of sleep ? 182 CATECHTSM OF HEALTH. A. Sleep may be prevented by the bed cham- ber being too warm or too cold, or by its not being sufficiently dark and secluded from noise. Q. 218. Are those persons liable to be kept awake at night who partake of strong tea or coffee shortly before going to bed? A. Partaking of either tea or coffee late in the evening has very generally the effect of pre- venting the occurrence of sleep at the usual period, frequently during the whole night. Q.. 219. Does excessive fatigue prevent or invite sleep? A. It most commonly prevents it, in conse- quence of the sense of pain or soreness of the limbs which results from it: moderate fatigue, on the contrary, is the cause of sound and re- freshing slumber. Q. 220. Are strong mental emotions unfriend- ly to repose? A. Yes. The occurrence of sleep is pre- vented, generally speaking, in those whose minds are the seat of anger, sorrow, anxiety, disappointment and remorse, as well as of joy and love. Q. 221. What are the means by which an inability to sleep may be removed? CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 183 A. The avoidance of all the causes of sleep- lessness which have been enumerated; the pre- servation of as cheerful and contented a state of mind as possible; early rising; strict temper- ance, and active bodily exercise, carried to the extent of inducing slight fatigue. Q. 222. When an individual whose ordinary rest is good, is prevented from sleeping by some accidental cause, independent of bodily pain, or disease, what means may be resorted to to oc- casion sleep? A. A very simple one is, to get out of bed, shake up the bed clothes, and then take a few turns about the room; a sound and refreshing sleep will very commonly come on soon after returning to bed Q. 223. In a cold room, and during chilly or inclement weather, what precautions should be used by the person who puts this means of in- viting sleep into execution? A. He should guard against the effects of cold by putting on his stockings and a dressing gown; and whilst out of bed he should not set down or stand still. Q. 224. What other means is there of pro- curing sleep? 184 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. Brisk friction applied over the surface of the body with a hard brush or coarse towel be- fore retiring to rest has frequently the effect of inducing sound and refreshing repose. Q. 225. When the inability to sleep arises from cold feet, what should be done? A. Habitual coldness of the feet is in general occasioned by disorder of the stomach, and can only be permanently removed by restoring the healthy condition of this organ; much advantage will be derived, however, in many cases from friction applied to the feet by means of a brush or coarse cloth, and covering them with clean worsted socks. Q_. 226. May not those who are troubled with an inabihty to sleep resort with advantage to opiates? A. Opiates will no doubt in most cases pro- duce sleep; their use, however, is by no means to be recommended, as it will very generally be necessary to repeat them in augmented doses night after night; by which the health of the system will be greatly injured, while a habit of resorting to them, very difficult to be overcome, is in danger of being established. Q. 227. When an inability to sleep occurs in CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 185 young children, what does it generally arise from? A. Sleeplessness in children will be found almost invariably to arise either from pain or disease; from too much confinement within doors, or from too much or improper food. Q. 228. How may that distressing and some- times dangerous affection, the night-mare, be avoided? A. By living a regular and temperate fife; by daily exercise in the open air; in short, by all the means which have been pointed out for pro- moting sound and refreshing sleep. Q. 229. What is the chief cause of the night- mare? A. A disordered condition of the stomach, in consequence of its being overloaded at night, or from eating indigestible food. Q. 230. May not too much food, or that which is indigestible, taken at other periods occasion it? A. Overloading the stomach, or partaking of improper food during any part of the preceding day may give rise to an attack of the night-mare, even though no supper has been taken. Q. 231. What period of the night is best adapted for refreshing repose? 186 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. A. The early period. According to the old- est and most accurate observers, three or four hours repose before midnight is very nearly as refreshing as double this portion in the morning. This constitutes an additional argument in favour of retiring soon to bed and rising early. Q. 232. What precautions should be taken by travellers in regard to their bed chamber and bedding? A. To see that both are perfectly clean, and free from dampness. Q. 233. When under the necessity of passing the night in a damp apartment, what should be done in order to prevent any injury to their health? A. A fire should be made in the apartment an hour or two previously to going to bed, before which the bed clothes should be thoroughly dried. Q. 234. How may disease be avoided by tra- vellers forced to sleep in damp, marshy, or other- wise sickly situations? A. By occupying a chamber in the upper story of the house; the windows of which should be carefully closed before sundown; and by dry- ing and ventilating the room by a fire previously to retiring to bed. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 187 Q. 235. Is travelling at night conducive to health? A. No; it should be avoided whenever cir- cumstances will permit. Section XIV.—Of the Passions. Q. 236. Has the proper government of the passions any connexion with the preservation of health? A. Yes, a very important one: unless the pas- sions of the mind be kept in subjection, health invariably suffers. Q. 237. What disposition of the mind is most conducive to health and longevity? A. A calm, contented and cheerful disposition. O.. 238. In what manner does the inordinate indulgence of the passions act prejudicially upon health? A. It impairs digestion; suspends the proper functions of the skin; injures the nervous sys- tem; disorders the circulation, either by inor- dinately exciting or by depressing the action of the heart and blood vessels, and renders the body more susceptible to all the causes of disease. Q 188 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. Q. 239. What are the passions an indulgence in which is most prejudicial to health? A. Anger, hatred, revenge, jealousy, fear, grief and despair. Q. 240. What persons are most subject to inordinate fits of anger? A. They who are intemperate in eating and drinking; particularly such as indulge in the use of ardent spirits. Q. 241. Has the indulgence of violent anger been known to produce immediate death? A. It has in many instances. History fur- nishes us with numerous striking examples. Q. 242. In whom is the indulgence of anger liable to be attended with the most fatal effects? A. In those of full habits, with short, thick necks; in those labouring under disease of the heart or lungs, or who are subject to a spitting of blood, or to convulsions. Q. 243. Has violent paroxysms of anger in- dulged in by nurses, any effect upon the infant to which they give suck? A. Such a change is frequently produced in the milk by this cause, as to induce convulsions and even death in the infant, when applied to CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 189 the breast during or immediately after a violent fit of anger in the nurse. Q. 244. Is the sudden destruction of life ever caused by excessive joy? A. It is, though not so frequently as from violent bursts of anger. Q. 245. Has excessive fear been known to destroy life ? A. It has frequently caused instantaneous death; when this is not the case, it is apt to produce insanity, convulsions, or a state of fa- tuity. Q. 246. What effect has extreme fear upon the hair? A. It has been known to render it perfectly white, instantly, or in a very few hours. Q. 247. Is not the same effect most generally produced by grief and anxiety? A. It is, but not commonly in so short a pe- riod as by fear. Q. 248. Does any particular mode of life in- crease the susceptibility of the mind to fear? A. Yes—the susceptibility to fear is most usually increased by a luxurious and indolent mode of life; neglect of bodily exercise; or in 190 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. fact, by whatever reduces the energies of the system. Q. 249. Are there no instances, however, of persons in perfect health, and endowed with great bodily strength, being peculiarly subject to excessive fear? A. Yes: ignorance, superstition and guilt will cause the mind to be disturbed by extreme ter- ror from the most trifling causes, when neither the strength nor health of the body is impaired. Q_. 250. In sickly seasons, or during the pre- valence of an epidemic, are persons who give way readily to fear particularly liable to be at- tacked by disease? A. Yes; even under a less degree of exposure than individuals of an opposite character. The same, however, is true of all who labour under the effects of any of the depressing passions. Q. 251. Is the occurrence of any circumstance calculated to give the mind a sudden shock at- tended with danger? A. On delicate and very sensible habits, it produces the same bad effects as excessive fear. Q. 252. What effect has a paroxysm of any of the passions upon the appetite ? A. It will not only immediately destroy the CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 191 appetite, but it will suspend also the digestive powers of the stomach; so that food taken under such circumstances will either remain unchanged or run into fermentation. Q. 253. What influence has the inordinate indulgence of the passions upon the natural dis- position to sleep? A. It very generally suspends it. Persons la- bouring under the influence as well of the ex- citing as of the depressing passions, have been known to experience an inability to sleep for many nights. Q. 254. Does the inordinate indulgence of the passions produce any effect upon the nu- trition of the system? A. It almost always diminishes it: hence the peevish, those labouring under sorrow, anxiety, disappointment, or whose minds are the seat of jealousy, hatred, or remorse, very generally be- come emaciated. Q. 255. Is joy, when moderately indulged in, prejudicial to health? A. On the contrary it increases digestion, promotes the circulation of the blood, facilitates the healthy action of the skin, and acts as a Q2 192 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. beneficial stimulus upon the brain and whole nervous system. Q. 256 Has the indulgence of hope any beneficial effect? A. The anticipation of future good, or of some favourable change, when moderately indulged in, produces the same beneficial effects as mo- derate joy: but irrational, ungrounded, or mis- placed hopes, on the other hand, are productive of injury, which is increased by the severe dis- appointment and chagrin to which their ulti- mate failure sooner or later gives rise. Q. 257. Have not the hopes of a happy im- mortality the power of increasing our health and longevity? A. There can be little doubt that the state of mind caused by the possession of such hopes acts beneficially upon the health, and may even prolong our days. Q. 258. Is the studious cultivation of a kind and virtuous disposition influential in promoting health? A. It is in a very high degree. The fact can- not be too strongly impressed upon the mind of youth, that between vice and disease there exists an intimate connexion. CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 193 Q. 259. Is the indulgence of ambition inju- rious to the system? A. Ambition, governed by discretion and di- rected to commendable objects, has a beneficial influence upon the system; but when inordinate, or tending to improper or unworthy ends, its effects are in the highest degree prejudicial. Q. 260. When individuals are attacked with disease, in whom is the danger always the great- est? A. In those whose minds are in a constant state of^ perturbation from the indulgence of passion, or are depressed by fear, grief, anxiety, remorse, or disappointment. Q. 261. Are not such individuals, likewise, those most subject to diseases of the mind, and to the loss of reason? A. It is unquestionably the case that in such nearly all the diseases of the mind, including mania, are of more frequent occurrence than in those whose passions are less active, or kept more perfectly under the control of reason. Q. 262. In what manner does intense grief prove prejudicial to health? A. By depressing the action of the brain and nerves, destroying the appetite, impairing di- 194 CATECHISM OF HEALTH. gestion, and rendering defective the nutrition of the body. Q. 263. While the state of the mind has so powerful an influence over the health of the sys- tem, is the mind in any degree affected by the state of the body? A. The influence is reciprocal: a slight dis- turbance of the stomach from too much or indi- gestible food is sufficient often to render the temper irritable and peevish, or discontented with every thing to which its attention is di- rected. CONCLUSION. Q. 264. From the preceding view of the causes by which the health and vigour of the system are promoted or impaired, what general conclusion is to be drawn? A. That they who owe their birth and educa- tion to healthy, well informed, and industrious parents; they who from their earliest infancy have constantly breathed a pure, fresh and dry air, and have been allowed the free and natural motion of their limbs in daily exercise; they whose persons and apparel are always preserved CATECHISM OF HEALTH. 195 strictly clean; who in regard to their meals ob- serve moderation, order and simplicity, and drink nothing but pure water; they whose habitations are orderly, clean, dry and well ventilated; they who have been accustomed from their youth to order, assiduity and industry; whose reason and virtue have been fortified and improved by early instruction and example; and who have been taught to fear God, love mankind, and do justice to all; they, and they alone can enjoy continued health and happiness, and have a well grounded hope of prolonging their mental and physical powers to the latest period. llllllli! 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