The fresh-air book

Front matter

THE

1“resh Air Book

I5Y j. /A Oliver

Contents

Chapter. Page.

Preface by the Author ... ... ... ... 13

I. The Fresh-Air Movement... ... ... ... 17

Chapter I. The Fresh Air Movement

The “Nature Cure” in Europe — The Argument of the “Naked Cult” Teachers— The Family Light and Air Bath — The Naked Cult overdone — What is meant by “Health.”

TOURING the last decade a vigorous movement has been making itself felt throughout Central Europe, the watchword of which is “ Back to Nature.” Advocates of the Nature-cure, numbering hundreds of thousands, are working with tireless zeal towards the introduction of vegetarianism, absolute abstemiousness in the matter of stimulants, and against the use of medicine, serum, vaccine, etc. Bitter strife has been caused for many years between orthodox and Nature-cm-e practitioners, notwithstanding the fact that a great many of the latter are fully qualified physicians. This conflict of opinion has been the means of doing both harm and good. Good, because many doubtful questions have been threshed out ; evil, because both parties have gone to extremes and extravagances, thereby overlooking the golden mean of truth. That Nature-cure doctors without proper training — in other words ” quacks ” — are able to practise, as throughout the German Empire, is certainly objectionable, and leads, naturally, to a deal of disgust. This rule does not apply to men such as Kneipp, Priessnitz and Rikli, who are exceptions. That some half-century has elapsed before “atmospheric” cure by means of air and sun-baths has been recognised and adopted by the official medical authorities as a restorative and preservative of health lies simply and solely in the fact that it was regarded as a subject fit only for laymen, and because of this long delay mankind has had to bear untold suffering and loss.

One result (many people, perhaps, will call it a natural outcome) of this Nature-cure is the “ Naked Cult.” Prophets (among whom Diefenbach, Guttzeit and Gust. Nagel are the best known) with

B i8 long hair and beards, clothed only in a single garment or toga, travel around and preach, while periodicals and books are issued proclaiming their creed that all human sickness, all mental and bodily infirmities proceed from the use of clothing. The chief and most powerful argument of these teachers is that naked we are born into the world, and that, therefore. Nature has intended that naked we should go through life. Clothing, according to this doctrine, is the outward sign of the deterioration, ill-health and immorality of the present race. Against the argument that man, originally a tropical animal, has been scattered by force of circumstances over the temperate and frigid zones, and must wear clothing to protect himself from the cold, there is quoted the case of the climate-hardened women of Terra del Fuego, who, clad in nothing but a rag round their loins, feed their naked children at their breast, or the case of the stark-naked Eskimos in the frozen north, who entertained the wondering Frith] of Nansen in their earth huts.

Several fanatics in Germany and Austria have put their ideas into actual practice, that is, so far as the law would allow them, with results that go far to prove the truth of their assertions. There are several families, the members of which when at home doff every article of clothing (even bathing-drawers or loin cloths) no matter what the time of the year. In some cases the servants have followed the example of the masters and mistresses, work, especially in the kitchen, being much easier to do when the worker is not hampered by clothes. The conditions of health and morality in such cases have been entirely without taint (in one case this judgment has been passed after an experience of eight years) If ever it becomes the fashion to go about naked both at home and abroad, one thing is certain, people will be obliged to pay strict attention to body culture and the preservation of their natural grace. The majority of men and women nowadays, adorned and rigged out by every means known to the art of the tailor, barber and corset-maker, would cut a very sorry figure, nay, more, would inspire natural aversion, if they were suddenly called upon to show themselves as their Creator — or, rather, their own mismanagement — has made them.

It must, however, be confessed that the Nature-cure in general, and the fervent pursuit of the Naked Cult, especially in the manner of our southern neighbours, are overdone. The family-light-bath (to give it its full title), such as I have referred to, is not exactly suitable in damp, windy climates, apart altogether from the question of taste and social convenience. Nevertheless, it is quite worth our while to study a little the Nature-cure movement itself and see if there is nothing good and useful in it that we can select and adapt for our own benefit. I can name some, very excellent ideas fostered by it ; such, for instance, as the demand for fresh air, the insistence on the necessity of fresh air, wherever and whenever we breathe, and the introduction of a simpler and healthier method of clothing our forms.

It is not necessary to lay any emphasis on the incalculable value to the individual and to the community of good health. Everyone knows that without it life is well-nigh insupportable, and that only with it can life be happy and beautiful. Yet it is astounding to find how vast is the number of persons entirely ignorant of the first principles by which it is to be ensured and maintained.

By the word “ health ” I mean a condition in which all parts of the body, the internal organs as well as the external muscles are developed to their natural extent and brought to that pitch, of strength (power of resistance) to which Nature originally intended. Such health can only be obtained by the use and exercise of all those organs and muscles in a rational manner, and the oxidation of the blood by the consumption of fresh air.

We all know that the average human being inhales, takes into his system, millions of microbes in the course of a day, and that if it were not for the ability of his blood to destroy those microbes he would very quickly succumb. He knows also that the destroying-power (so to speak) of the blood is dependent upon the absorption of pure oxygen for its efficiency ; and whilst it is amazing upon what a small quantity of pure air he can manage to subsist, it is even more mystifying that he should seldom, if ever, attempt to consume as much of it as possible in order that his physical — and, consequently, mental — organism should attain its fullest efficiency.

Next in importance to the vitalisation of the blood by the consumptibn of fresh air, is the strengthening of the multitude of tissues and muscles. This can only be attained by use. Again, it is the simplest, most obvious proposition. Just as iron will rust for want of use, so will any part of a living body atrophy if unexercised. How many famous athletes are there who, possessing mighty muscles, have 3'et fallen to the commonest* most trifling diseases ? It is eas}^ to find in an^" gymnasium scores of men with strong arms and legs, but weak lungs and hearts and stomachs ; and as for the town-dwellers and the non-athletic, they are vulnerable at a hundred points. Through lacking knowledge in the proper care of the bodjq or at least through failing to practise it, they not only lose vigour and, consequently, their capacity for work and usefulness, but more than half the joy of life.

Given a body that is free from disease, the maintenance of good health and the maximum of energy and vigour are perfectly eas}- to acquire. It is a matter merely of internal and external application of fresh air and the practice of rational g}-mnastic exercise. In the following chapters will be found information on the several departments of this all-important subject, which embody the results of special study, observation and experiment extending over many years.

The Author and his two sons, Ib and Per.

Chapter II. Fresh Air And Bad Air

Belief in value of Fresh Air Universal, but rarely put into practice — Physicians no Exception — Fresh and Warm Air — Fallacies about “ Draughts ” — The Length of Human Life.

EARLY everyone is agreed to-day that sickness and short life are the consequences of unnatural and unhealthy modes of living. All are confirmed in the belief that fresh air is an all-powerful source of health, and that bad air, on the other hand, is exceedingly harmful, even dangerous. These things are common knowledge, but how uncommon it is to find practice in accordance with the knowledge ! The vast majority of people live in bad air. That celebrated savants and erudite hygienists are no exception to this rule, I have had occasion to prove. Some little while ago, at a congress in Liege, throughout an entire week, some two hundred hygienists of all nations sat in a hall of the University, in which not the slightest trace of artificial or natural ventilation was to be found. The hall, moreover, was covered by a large glass roof. A small pane, cut in two, formed an opening in this roof just above our heads, and it was my only consolation during the first day of the congress; but my hope' of fresh air was frustrated, for over the first glass roof was a second — hermetically closed. I tried once to let a little air into the hall by opening a door in the background, some half an hour before the proceedings commenced ; but, five minutes later, a very much laced-in and black-clothed lady (also a hygienist) appeared and closed that door. Another day I opened at least ten times a side door that led to the vestibule, but it was always re-shut by servants. At last I declined to stay in the hall, and tried to follow the proceedings from without as best I could. ' If I did not protest at once against the dreadful air in the hall it was because I took a great “ scientific” interest in finding out if an assembly of learned people would really sit for a number of days in such an atmosphere. In that place, where the air grew every day closer, thicker, fouler and more stinking, the assembled hygienists remained ; many of them looked pale and unhealthy, and several sat in their overcoats and hats, although it was mild, late summer weather.

When such things happen at the fountain heads of physical wisdom, so to speak, is it to be wondered at that the public has no practical understanding of the value of good air ? Good air — be it cold or warm — is the foundation of all conditions of life ; bad air — cold or warm — is, everywhere, the most powerful and common cause of sickness and short life. Perhaps the reader will remark that the hygienists proved themselves as men strong and capable of endurance, as they were able to sit in that pestilential air and heat, while I, on the contrary, was the weaker, because I could not. But that is a great mistake. I can stand as much of the natural heat of the sun as anybody, and I am never thirsty, because my skin is in the best condition of activity. It is to be ascribed to this circumstance, in conjunction with my light clothing, that I enjoy strong exchange of matter, and, therefore, it is clear that I beget more warmth than others who wear many clothes.

But if it is a case of being in an enclosed room, filled with warm^ poisonous air, a healthy body is susceptible to reaction in a moment, and will feel unwell ; whereas a body accustomed to impure air will not be in the least affected, quietly absorbing one poison after the other, until the day of the inevitable hygienic crash comes.

It is by no means necessary that the warm air in a room be stale.

If the air be artificially warmed, that is, by a stove, it can, owing to its high temperature, even if it were originally pure, of itself prove a disadvantage, because it enervates those who inhale it, and makes them keenly sensitive to cold, owing to the great difference between the air outside and inside. A healthy body that, by means of a powerful skin activity, provides a lively exchange of matter, and possesses “ well-trained ” blood corpuscles — conditions by which we may be able to withstand attacks of sickness — will revolt at once against too much artificial warmth. The kind of man whose functions are naturally adapted to the temperature of the different seasons generates much more warmth than enervated people, and he, therefore, feels uncomfortable in presence of the latter.

Gymnasiums do not need to be very warm, but there 'is not much to be said against a certain temperature in the dressing-room. A slight warming of the gymnasiums — of course, with open windows — can, on the other hand, and especially when the weather is damp and cold, assist ventilation.

A scene in Vejlefjord Sanatorium, where air-baths were first employed in the cure of consumption.

Gymnastic exercises in enclosed places with bad air are not only useless, but often directly harmful. I have, on occasion, seen more die of tuberculosis, without any other cause of their illness being forthcoming, than that they had taken it upon themselves to practice gymnastics, often on so-called “ rational ” principles, in enclosed and badly- ventilated rooms, where they inhaled a mass of poisonous vapour, dust and bacilli. The cases were naturally not improved by the fact that they had inhaled through the mouth instead of through the nose, and that, after exercising, they had neither taken a bath nor had rubbed themselves down.

Many people have an actual and sickly fear of draught, and in their endeavour to escape the harmful consequences of a draught, they often avail themselves of a wrong medium. The more one lays oneself in a stove and the more one shuts onself in, the more harmful is the draught if it happens to gain an entrance, in spite of all precautions, at some tiny hole or other. Draught is caused, as is known, by the great difference of temperature between the inner and outer atmosphere. Cold air can easily stream in through the keyhole, unfastened windows, open doors, etc. Should such a fine, cold streak of air unluckily strike an isolated spot on an overheated and sensitive human bodv, it often causes cold or rheumatism. The same thing happens in the event of any one going from a lengthened sojourn in an overheated room out into the cold. Rather should the rooms be thrown open so that the difference of the temperature outside and inside is not too great.

Then the air may blow through the large windows and doors, and if the occupants be well clad, it will be of more benefit than harm. Wind is not draught. We should protect ourselves against the thin, cold stream, and take care not to leave a very hot room to go out into the cold air.

People often have a remarkable horror of sleeping with the windows open, although it ought to be well understood that it is as necessary to inhale fresh air while asleep as when at one’s daily work. Many people regard night air as something mysterious and dangerous. If that were really the case, how would wild animals and birds be able to protect themselves ? At times I have encountered the superstition that blindness is caused by sleeping near an open window, while others labour under the absurd delusion that deafness results therefrom !

During the four and a half years that I was inspector to the Vejlefjord Sanatorium, I have seen to it that 1,058 patients had the windows of their bedrooms wide open, even during storms and the depth of winter. As one entered the room from the corridor, it often seemed like emerging from a warm room into an ice one. That a great number of these patients had their lives virtually restored to them was due to this day and night inhalation of fresh air. I never heard of a single case of ear-ache or eye-trouble among them.

People need not visit cafes, theatres, or variety entertainments where the air is tainted, unless they like, but the majority of people are forced to take a railway journey now and then. And if there is any poisonous, bacilli-laden air anywhere, it is to be found in these overfilled, tiny rooms, called railway compartments.

Even if the weather is quite calm and summerlike, there are some people who have a mortal horror of the smallest aperture through which air can enter. On the other hand, there are travellers who insist on opening the windows even in the coldest weather, because they cannot, nor will not, be deprived of the blessing of fresh air. As the number of the latter is ever increasing, the conflicts between Nature-lovers and fresh-air-nihilists become more frequent and relentless.

The only way out of the difficulty is to label certain compartments as “ free air compartments,” in the same way as the smoking compartments are labelled, then those rational and hardened citizens, who follow modern progress, will no longer run the risk of being poisoned and stifled, and the backsliding weaklings will avoid those frightful air-agitations.

Fresh air being not only the preventive, but also the cure, of most diseases, it is surely the most powerful factor in promoting longevity. There is and always has been a good deal of speculation as to the length of man’s life, as originally intended by Nature, and opinions as to the allotted span vary between eighty and one hundred-and-forty years. There can be no doubt that the last number is more correct. If a man, from his birth upwards, lived under perfect hygienic conditions, senile decay could not possibly' begin until he was nearing an age of 150 years. Evidence in support of this is negative : in face of inexorable law, that every cause has its effect, it cannot be accepted that all the different offences against hygiene ought not to have any shortening influence in a man’s age. The most common offence against hygiene of which we all, without exception, are, or have been, guilty is that of breathing tainted air. Here apparently is the chief cause of our too-limited existence. Every tissue and every nerve has been, therefore, inoculated with some kind of poison, and has lost entirely its power of resistance and its faculty of existence. Even if we go for a few hours’ walk every day in the open air, we are breathing in poison during the other hours in our own rooms, in restaurants, in theatres, in concert halls, in the street cars, and in the railway carriages. Nature has furnished us with a nose, which should serve as a sentinel to warn us of the approach of this poison ; but this means of intelligence is, by most people, as much unused and abused as the other weapons with which nature has provided us. At school and during student days we are directly forced to inhale poison ; therefore no human being living to-da\’ dare contemplate the possibility of living until the age of 140 years has been reached. But what can be done is this : to strive to improve our positions, both public and private, so that the coming generations can approach nearer that ideal. Nietsche was certainly correct when he declared that the meanness of life and the lack of ability to live of our present generation was attributable to our musty store-andcellar air.

Wrestling in the right surroundings — in the open air at the Vejlefjord Sanatorium,

Chapter III. Air And Sun-baths In Everyday Life

“ Applying ” Air Internally and Externally — Air and Sun Baths — In Winter as well as Summer — Air Baths at Home — Value of Skin Respiration — Fallacies about Clothing — Air and Sun Baths in the Garden — A Lesson from the Ancient Greeks.

S fresh air is the most important, nay, the vital factor in good health, bodily vigour and cheerful spirits, it will not be disputed, I think, that well-founded suggestions of method or system by which men may derive the greatest benefit from its use are of social value. I have already urged, and shall continue to urge, the necessity of breathing fresh air to maintain good health. I will now discuss a very efficacious means of promoting not only health and happiness, but physical vigour, by the outward application of fresh air. To breathe is to “ apply ” air internally ; by “ outward application,” I mean the exposure of the whole body to the air and that is what is termed an ” air-bath.”

This article is superscribed ” Air and Sun-baths,” because I wish to express m\^ opinion that air-baths taken in the sunshine, or, at least, in daylight, are the best. Sunlight kills all manner of bacteria and disease germs ; as soon as we permit the sun’s rays to penetrate our skin, our digestive powers are invigorated, our blood becomes healthier and darker, our disposition enlivened.

It need not be feared that I am going to give here a description of sun-baths situated in artistically arranged retreats, any more than I am going to supply information about expensive electric-light baths. Baths of this kind can be found in plenty of Continental sanatoriums and clinical institutions especially provided for the treatment of certain diseases, available to a well-to-do public. A good many things must be complicated and costly before people will believe in their usefulness ! Germany is wellsupplied with books which describe these baths in a more or less popular manner, a sharp distinction being drawn between airsun-and light-baths ; some, moreover, divide air-baths into complete, semi and partial air-baths, and even these last are again subdivided, the main principles of division being that the air-bath is considered effective by reason of its cooling qualities, and the sun-bath for its heating qualities.

Those who have no reverence for these artificial establishments will see that, practically, they consist of one and the same kind of bath, varied in some small degree by circumstances. No matter what distinctions are made, it is obvious that if a thick cloud should happen to pass in front of the sun whilst a sun-bath is being taken, it becomes in a moment simply an air-bath. If the bather feels somewhat cold and pulls on a garment, then he is having a semiair-bath. This would change, however, by magic into a semi-sun-bath if the sun came out again before he had time to again divest himself of his clothing ; but, having done this, he will be able to congratulate himself that he is again enjoying a regular sun-bath.

The majority of people have an idea that sun-baths can only be taken during the warm summer months. But the summers of Northern Europe are often only of short duration, and are frequently very cold, so that the meaning of the word “ summer” must be extended as much as possible. Even in winter we can provide ourselves with a little summer, when- the sun is shining brightly and we know the right way to go to work. It grieves me when I think of how much “ summer weather ” and sunshine is wasted which could be turned to good account b}^ suffering mankind if they only knew how to divide and utilise the time to their advantage.

During the dull seasons of the year the working hours of those who are forced to pursue their vocations in pent-up rooms should be absolutely re-arranged, so that they could obtain a few hours’ freedom in the brighter part of the day. It is a great mistake that sanatoriums devoted to natural sun-baths and atmospheric cures are only open during the four or five warm months of the year.

This gives j the public quite an inverted idea of things. Winter sun-baths are really the most pleasant and comfortable

The Morning Air-Bath in the Bedroom. (Note the absence of curtains or blinds.)

because the heat is not oppressive, and the most useful because there is more need for them at that period of the year.

As, however, we cannot all afford to go to Sanatoria, or other places at which open air-baths would be possible, 1 want to induce people to take them at home, and the simplest and most convenient way is to walk naked in the bedroom. But it is essential — for the same reason that it is not especially refreshing to bathe in dish-water — that care be taken, when preparing for an air-bath, that the air in the room is quite fresh, otherwise all the impurities of the foul and stagnant atmosphere will be absorbed by the skin and lungs.

The Author giving an Exhibition of Swimming.

Only beginners should take their air-baths with closed windows, and only then on the understanding that the windows have been wide open for an hour before. If corporal exercise, especially that of skin massage — a simple rubbing of the whole body with the hands — be added to the exposure which constitutes the bath, the need will soon be felt of opening the windows wider and \vider. Further, it will be found of more advantage, especially on a w^arm daj^, to open the door as w'eU, so that sufficient air current is allow^ed to enter to prevent the bather from breaking into a perspiration, w'hich, in this case, where the air-bath is not preceded by a water-bath, might prove deleterious. It is because of this that the air should have as much free access to the room as possible during an air-bath, so that there can be no difference of temperature between the air inside and that outside. Allow the air to stream in quietly through a wide apertmre. Wind does not constitute a draught, and can never prove injurious if skin-rubbing exercise is kept up while inhaling the air into the lungs. It is not always a sign of a neglected skin or obstructed pores when strenuous corporal exercise fails to induce perspiration. Being naked, with a goodly current of cold or dry air pla3nng on the bod}^ the exudation of the pores does not always take the form of sw'eat, but sometimes of a gaseous state. This kind of steam can be easily observed by standing in the bright sunshine on a cold day, and watching the outline of one’s owm figure, when little waves of shadow, like the dancing hot air above a flame, will be seen to rise upw^ard quickly and continualljc The skin is seen exhaling carbonic acid, steam, and a number of various other poisonous matters, while it absorbs in the meantime the oxygen of the air. Everybody" will understand that any check to this respiration of the skin, by diet or by thick apparel, prevents the free exchange of poisonous for pure gases, and, therefore, is injurious to the health. It also proves that a skin that can breathe freely through its pores, and is accustomed to air-baths, sun-baths, and other kinds of gymnastics for the skin, has special faculties for cleansing and improving the blood, which healthy blood laj^s the foundation of a vigorous and fatigue-resisting organism. Science teaches us that blood corpuscles attack eagerly and devour greedily all invading disease germs.

It is dangerous for beginners, as it is for hardened air-bathers, to perspire during the air-bath, if thej' cannot immediately indulge in a w^ater-bath, or dry themselves by vigorous rubbing with a towel. To feel cold when dry is by no means so dangerous as when the body is wet.

Here I would point out that many people make the mistake of guarding against a cold by wrapping themselves in too many thick garments. If they are then obliged to move quickly, they soon break into a perspiration, and soon after, from the very same cause, begin to feel very cold, because the moisture on their skin, being an uncommonly good heat-conductor, allows the warmth of the body to escape. How often one sees a perspiring cyclist sitting down in the shadow drinking ice-cold beer, or overheated ladies at a ball trying to cool themselves by eating ice-cream. Such methods are simply suicidal. On the other hand, people have accused me of gross shortsightedness because I took open air-baths in winter, which really are not at all dangerous, so distorted is the usual perception of the matter. In sunshine no one can feel the cold, even if it be freezing, if precaution be taken to protect one’s self from the wind. I have stood for hours at Christmas time on the shore of the Vejle Fjord, using the paper notices affixed to a wooden fence as a screen, without suffering the slightest inconvenience. It is of no use to suggest that I am, possibly, so

hardened to the cold that it cannot affect me ; for I had to sit as its inspector, that same evening, in the dining-hall of a sanatorium, with the thermometer registering 48 degrees (Fahr.), and I shivered with cold. There the warming rays of the sun could not reach me, and therein lay the difference. Cold garments rob the body of warmth, even if the}^ are not damp ; while a naked bodv exposed to the still dry air loses only that warmth that can escape by its own volition, which is as much as to say that it loses very little even if the temperature be under zero. If we remember that the warm rays of the sun not only heat the surface of the skin, but penetrate through the skin, spreading a generous glow, because they have not had to pierce a thick layer of clothing, it will be understood that, in certain conditions, in winter we are more sensible to cold when dressed than when naked.