Personal hygiene : revised

Front matter

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Preface

Health education in public schools has been stand¬ ardized during the past ten years.- Modern syllabi in hygiene emphasize the practice of healthful living by the pupils, and dwell on those topics which can be put to daily use in daily life. This book conforms to the standard syllabi in recognizing three groups of topics, which require three different methods of in¬ struction, and which may be briefly designated as those of scientific information, health habits, and civic con¬ ditions.

The topics of the first group are items of scientific information, and are designed to be imparted by the method of classroom instruction. They cover all the basic actions of the body and include demonstrations and practical applications of the principles in useful ways, such as stopping bleeding and cleansing the nose. This scientific information is at the basis of all hygienic instruction, and will enable a pupil to read hygienic literature intelligently later in life.

The topics of the second group are health habits and health chores which are practiced daily by the pupils, such as posture, exercise, personal cleanliness, and 5

PREFACE habits of personal thought and speech. While these jtopics are based on scientific facts which may be briefly stated, yet their practice is secured principally by re¬ iterated advice and constant supervision by the teacher as occasion arises.

The topics of the third group are conditions of a civic nature which the pupils observe. They include such subjects as heating, ventilation, lighting, and cleanliness of the schoolroom, and the prevention of infectious diseases among the pupils. The teacher imparts information in these topics largely by calling the pupils’ attention to actual conditions, and by show¬ ing which ones are to be commended and which con¬ demned. References to points to be observed are made in the text of this book and in suggestions to the teacher at the end of each chapter.

The book embodies the experience of the author as a physician and health official constantly in intimate contact with people of all classes, and especially con¬ cerned with the subjects in which they need instruc¬ tion in order to prevent diseases, correct defects, and live efficiently. A simple, direct style of English, and the use of short, common words, make the book readily understandable by pupils of the third, fourth, and fifth grades, for whom it is designed.

Chapter I

Good Health. — Sometimes you are bright and cheerful, and are ready for work or play. You feel comfortable and at ease in every part of your body. You do not readily become tired, and you enjoy your tasks as if they were play. When you feel and act like this, we say that you are in good healthy or are well.

IO

Sometimes you are dull and gloomy, and do not feel like stirring. You have pains and aches, and can¬ not help thinking about your uncomfortable feelings. You are too tired to work. Playing is a hard task, and even a rest does not help you. When you feel like this, we say that you are in poor health , or are sick.

You can keep yourself in good health without great cost or trouble. Your body is a living machine which will work perfectly if you take good care of it. When you do not feel well and cannot work or play, the reason usually is that you have not given your body proper care.

A Strong Mind. — You are something more than a living machine. You have a mind as well as a body. Some persons with strong and healthy bodies fail in their work because they do not have good minds; but many persons with fine minds cannot work because their bodies are weak and sickly. Anything that harms your body is likely to harm your mind also. For ex¬ ample, after you have eaten too much dinner, you will feel too dull and stupid to study; a headache or a . toothache will keep you from thinking about anything except your pain; and when you have a bad cold or a fever, you may feel too sick to think at all. You go to school in order to train your mind, but you cannot have a strong and bright mind unless you learn to care. for your body also.

Health and Good Looks. — It is well for you to be as good-looking as possible, in order that your appearn ance may please other persons. A shapely face, blue eyes, wavy hair, and round cheeks will not give you pleasing looks if you are not in good health. Pleasing looks come from a fair skin, rosy cheeks, a pleasant

Apple Blossoms and the Bloom of Health The children are as healthy as they look.

smile, sparkling eyes, and a happy face, and these come from good health. If you have a headache, a scowl or a pout will take the place of a smile. If your body is weak, you will easily become tired and you will look dull and sleepy. You cannot have pleasing looks unless you feel well.

Sickness. — After you have worked or played hard, you may have tired feelings which seem like the feel¬ ings of sickness; but if your body is sound, a short rest will put it in order again. Sickness means a dis¬ order which a rest of a few hours will not repair.

Nearly every man, woman, and child is sick for several days in each year. But there is less sickness now than there used to be, and there will be still less sickness in years to come, for people are learning more and more about the care of their bodies. A doctor has to study for many years before he can cure diseases, but a school child can easily learn how the common diseases are caused, and how they may be pre¬ vented.

Hygiene. — The study of caring for the body is called hygiene (hl'ji-en). When you study hygiene, you learn about such things as how to keep your body clean, what to eat and drink, how to care for a wound, how to take exercise, and how to keep the air of a room fresh and pure.

In order to understand the care of your body, you * must study about what goes on inside of it. This study is called physiology. In it you will study about such things as how food is digested, how blood flows through the body, and how breathing takes place. If you wish to have a bright mind, a sound body, and good looks, or if you wish to have strength to do great deeds, you will study hygiene and physiology, and will practice the lessons which you learn.

What is meant by good health f

In what way may an unhealthy body prevent the mind from doing good work?

In what way will a healthy body help your good looks ?

What is sickness ?

What is the study of the care of the body called?

What are some of the subjects which are studied in hygiene?

What is physiology ?

What are some of the subjects which are studied in physiology?

For the Teacher. — Why should any one try to be well and strong? Three answers are usually given:

1. In order to look well.

2. In order to be physically strong.

3. In order to be cheerful, mentally active, and able to work efficiently.

Vigor and strength of both mind and body depend on the care of the ma¬ chinery of the body. How many pupils in the class have been absent during the past week because they were sick or over-tired ? In how many instances was the absence the result of sitting up too late? of wrong eating? In how many instances could the sickness have been easily prevented ?

Impress the pupils with their personal responsibility for their own strength and vigor.

CHAPTER II Causes of Disease. — Diseases are divided into two

classes:

1. Those which can be caught from other persons.

2. Those which cannot be caught from other persons.

Some diseases spread from one person to another,

like a fire. They are caused by something which passes from those who are sick to those who are well. Measles is an example of a disease which spreads from one person to another. If any one has measles, it is because he has caught the disease from some one who had (or has) measles. Over half of the people who are sick have caught their diseases from other sick persons.

Infectious Diseases. — Those diseases which are caught from other persons are called infectious dis¬ eases, and some of them are commonly known as conta'gious diseases. All of them are called commu'nicable diseases, because they can be communicated, or spread, from one person to another. They are caused by tiny living things, called disease germs , which grow in the body. Examples of infectious diseases are :

measles

mumps smallpox

tonsillitis (ton-si-ll tis) tuberculo'sis pneumonia (nu-mo'-ni-a) ty'phoid fever scarlet fever whooping cough

Each disease is caused by its own kind of germ, just as each kind of tree comes from its own kind of seed. Tuberculosis, for example, is always caused by the germs of tuberculosis, and measles by the germs of measles, just as pine trees come from the seeds of other pine trees. There are as many kinds of disease germs as there are infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases spread because some of their living germs leave the bodies of the sick and become planted in the bodies of other persons. You will not have an infectious disease unless you take its living germs into your body. One of the principal things that you will study in hygiene is how to keep germs of sickness out of your body. It is therefore important for you to learn what disease germs are, where they are found, how they are spread, and how to keep them out of your body.

Disease and Decay. — An infectious disease in a living body is caused in the same way that decay is caused in a dead thing. A living thing remains sound while it is alive, but after it dies, it undergoes a change called decay . A decaying thing becomes soft and falls to pieces, or becomes a liquid. Most forms of decay i6 are caused by two kinds of living things, called molds and bacte'ria.

Molds. — Molds are plants which are shaped like the smallest and finest threads or fibers of cotton or silk. Mold on bread or cheese looks like short hair, or fur, but the part that is seen on the outside of the food is only the fruit of mold plants. Many more of the same kind of threads grow through the food itself and cause it to become decayed and spoiled.

The tips of many mold hairs bear knobs which are filled with tiny balls called spores. You can sometimes see the spores floating away as dust when you strike a spot of mold. They are like seeds, and when they

fall on other pieces of bread or cheese, they may grow into long threads of mold. Many millions of spores are formed in each spot of mold, and so the spores are scattered nearly everywhere.

Bact e r i a. — The common forms of decay in which bad odors are produced are caused by tiny plants called bacteria , which are the smallest living things that are known. Millions of them could swim in a small drop of water without crowding one another. Power¬ ful microscopes are needed in order to see them at all, and even then, most bacteria look like small dots and dashes on the page of a printed book. When millions of them grow to¬ gether in a dish, they may look like a spot of mold.

When a decayed substance becomes dried, the bacteria which may be in it may remain alive and float in the air as dust, and may grow again in a substance upon which they fall. The bacteria of decay, like the spores of mold, are scattered almost everywhere, and are ready to grow in every dead substance which was once alive; and so it is difficult to keep meat, eggs, and other food from decaying.

How Decay Starts. — Decay is catching, just as

measles is catching.

A substance decays because mold spores or bacteria from some other decay¬ ing thing reach it and grow. A de¬ caying apple will cause other apples

Photograph of two kinds of bacteria growing in ,

decaying meat. (Magnified 1000 times.) to become decayed.

Mold Stalks and Spore Cases

Photograph of the velvety growth of black mold on bread. (Magnified 10 times.)

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Food that is canned does not decay or spoil because the molds and bacteria in it have been killed by heat and the cans are sealed so that no new spores or bacteria can enter them.

Disease Germs.—Thousands of kinds of molds and bacteria can grow in dead things and cause them to decay. A few kinds can grow in a living body, and these are the disease germs which cause most infectious dis¬ eases, such as diphtheria and typhoid fever. Diseases spread because some of their germs leave the bodies of sick persons and enter the bodies of well persons. Catching a disease means taking germs of that disease into the body. Most disease germs are bacteria.

How Disease Germs Leave the Body. — The in¬ fectious diseases of human beings are spread by means of disease germs which leave the bodies of sick persons. Very few disease germs pass out of the body of a sick person through the skin or with the breath of quiet breathing. They leave the body with the solids and liquids which pass out of the bowel and bladder, and from the nose and mouth of the sick person. If every sick person would guard these four gateways to the in¬ side of the body, and would destroy the substances which escape through them, there would soon be no more infectious diseases, such as typhoid fever, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and tuberculosis. The sub¬ stances that are blown from the nose and spit from the mouth may contain disease germs which are as dan¬ gerous as those which come from the bowel and bladder.

Dirt and Disease Germs. — If a person has an in¬ fectious disease, everything which he soils will be likely to contain disease germs. Dirt from his body, from his clothes, and from his room will often be danger¬ ous on account of the disease germs which it may con¬ tain. Those who are mildly sick give off living germs of their diseases, and so dirt from any person may be dangerous. One of the greatest reasons for keeping yourself clean is to avoid either taking or spreading disease germs.

There are two kinds of dirt:

1. That which contains disease germs.

2. That which does not contain disease germs.

The kind of dirt which contains disease germs and is likely to make you sick is that which comes from persons. Examples of dirty things which contain disease germs are:

1. Waste water and slops from houses.

2. Soiled towels, handkerchiefs, and underclothes.

3. The dishes from which persons have eaten.

4. Waste substances from bathrooms and toilets.

Examples of dirt which is not likely to contain dis¬ ease germs or to produce a disease, are:

1. Fresh ashes from a fire.

2. Grease from an automobile.

3. Coal dust.

4. Dust from a haymow.

Disease germs seldom grow outside of a living body, but nearly always are produced in the bodies of persons. They may remain alive for a time outside of the body, and may be found in substances which have come from the body, but they will not be found in dirt or decaying substances unless they are put there after they have grown in the body. If a garbage heap, or dirty water, or impure food causes an infectious disease, the physicians from the Health Department will look for the sick person from whom the disease germs came.

How Disease Germs Enter the Body. — The most common way by which you catch a disease is by taking another person’s waste substances into your mouth or nose. A very small quantity of waste substance from the body of a sick person may start a disease, for disease germs are like seeds, and a few in your body may grow to millions in a short time. Some of the common ways of spreading a disease to others are:

1. Sneezing or coughing into the face of another person.

2. Drinking water containing sewage, even in small amounts.

3. Eating food which has been handled by some one with dirty hands.

4. Using a handkerchief, or towel, or dish which has been soiled by another person.

Protection against Infectious Diseases. — You will learn about protecting yourself and others from disease germs in almost every chapter of hygiene which you study.

The rules of good manners and good housekeeping are also among the best rules of health. If you follow them, you will think of the comfort and health of other persons as well as of your own. You will keep all parts of your body, and your clothes, and your rooms clean; you will see that waste matters from your nose and mouth do not reach other persons; you will al¬ ways wash your hands after going to the toilet; and you will keep away from other persons when you have a cold, or measles, or other infectious disease.

What is the cause of diseases which spread from sick persons to those who are well?

What is meant by an infectious disease?

What is the cause of infectious diseases?

What are molds ?

What is the shape of a mold plant?

How do molds spread from place to place?

What are bacteriaf

What have bacteria to do with decay?

What are disease germs ?

Where do disease germs grow ?

What are the four principal gateways through which disease germs leave the body of a sick person ?

Where are disease germs likely to be found outside of the body?

Name some kinds of dirt which may contain disease germs.

How does cleanliness help to prevent diseases ?

How do disease germs find their way into the bodies of well persons?

How may the rules of good manners help to prevent the spread of infectious diseases?

For the Teacher. — Modern discoveries have shown the nature of a cold, sore throat, and other infectious diseases, and how they are spread. An infectious disease is the result of something which is put into the body and planted like a seed. The two conditions which are necessary to produce a disease are:

1. Living disease germs, or seeds.

2. A proper soil in which the disease germs may grow.

Drafts, coldness, dampness, fatigue, and other conditions which were formerly supposed to cause infectious diseases, act by preparing the body to receive disease germs, but no sickness will result from them unless disease germs are planted in the body. This chapter deals with the germs, or seeds, of disease. The following points are to be emphasized:

1. The nature of disease germs and the similarity of disease to the process of decay.

2. The human origin of the germs of human disease.

3. How disease germs leave the body.

4. How the germs enter the bodies of well persons.

5. The kinds of dirt in which disease germs are likely to be found.

6. The value of good manners and good housekeeping in preventing the spread of disease.

Chapter III

Cleanliness and Good Health. — The principal way by which disease germs may be kept from the body is cleanliness. Many persons seem to think that the only reason for keeping clean is for the sake of good looks. A greater reason for keeping clean is to be well and healthy.

You will not take many disease germs into your body if you eat clean food, breathe clean air, drink clean water, and keep everything about your body clean.

The Skin. — The whole body is covered with a skin which is soft and strong. The thickness of the skin may be seen by grasp¬ ing a fold of flesh on the back of the hand.

Diagram of the Skin

(Magnified ioo times.) a, layer of dead epidermis; b, layer of growing epidermis; c, layer of epidermis with coloring matter which gives color to the skin; d, a ridge of true skin; e, a sweat gland extending down into the true skin; /, a small blood tube; g, fibers of the true skin; h, pockets of fat.

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Nearly all of the flesh which can be lifted up is skin.

The skin is made of tough threads of flesh. Leather is an animal’s skin that has been preserved by tanning, and its fibers and threads are like those in a person’s skin.

The skin is full of blood tubes. The blood in the tubes makes the skin look pink. When any one is faint, the skin is pale and almost white, for then there is only a little blood in it.

Epidermis. — The outside of the skin is covered with fine, soft scales which are matted into a thin sheet. This covering is like a sheet of paper pasted upon the skin. It is called the epider'mis. It may be cut and pricked without pain or bleeding. One of its uses is to keep the tender flesh under it from being hurt.

The epidermis is waterproof. It keeps the flesh from drying, and keeps liquids from soaking into the flesh. A healthy epidermis also prevents poisons and disease germs from entering the flesh, for very few kinds of substances can pass through it.

You are always shedding scales of epidermis from the surface of the skin, and new scales are always growing (Magnified ioo times.) next to the true skin. By scraping some of the scales from the back of the hand, and examining them with a microscope, you may see how they look.

Oil in the Skin. — The skin is kept soft by means of a kind of oil or fat. The oil is formed within tiny tubes, called oil glands , which lie deep in the skin around the hair roots. There are oil glands in the skin when¬ ever there are hairs, but more of the glands may be found among the hair roots on the top of the head than anywhere else on the body.

Perspiration, or Sweat, — If a bare finger is held against a cold windowpane, the glass soon becomes wet. This shows that water passes off from the skin. The water is the perspiration , or sweat. It is formed in small tubes, called sweat glands , which lie deep in the skin on all parts of the body. It passes off through tiny openings which are often called pores. Perspir¬ ation is always passing off from the skin. Over a quart leaves the skin of a grown person every day, even on a cold day of winter. The perspiration contains some waste matter which has a salty taste.

Waste Matter of the Body. — When the body works, its flesh wears out just as a machine wears out when it runs. In doing its work the body also uses up a great deal of food in the same way that a steam engine uses up coal when it runs. Flesh that has become worn out, and food that has been used up are waste sub¬ stances. They are of no more use to the body, but are often poisonous, and would make the body sick if they were not taken away. Some waste matter is dissolved in the water of the perspiration, and is carried outside of the body by the perspiration.

Dirt on the Skin. — The skin becomes dirty from three principal causes:

1. Loosened scales of epidermis are always leaving the body. They may be seen on an arm where the clothing has kept them from flying away. Little rolls of the scales may be rubbed from the skin after a hot bath. Each person sheds about a tablespoonful of scales each day.

2. When perspiration dries, the waste matters that were in it are left upon the skin. These substances have a bad odor and cause the greater part of the smell due to a dirty skin.

3. Dust is blown upon the skin, and many kinds of substances stick to it during work and play. The dirt nearly always contains bacteria of decay, and very often it contains also the bacteria of diseases.

When the skin is dirty, the most dangerous things on it are disease germs. The germs are likely to be carried into the flesh when the skin is cut or pricked. There they may grow and produce pimples, boils, running sores, and blood poisoning. Some of the disease germs in the dirt may also be carried from the skin to the nose or the mouth, or to food, and in that way they may be the cause of a cold, or typhoid fever, or other infectious disease.

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Washing the Hands and Face. — The hands are the parts of the body that are the most likely to become dirty, for they are used in working and in handling dirty things. Dirt on the hands is likely to do more harm than dirt on any other part of the body, for they are used to rub the mouth, nose, and eyes, and to do other things which might carry poisons and disease germs into the body. Your fingers and hands are also used in handling food, and all the dirt and disease germs which they leave in the food are likely to be taken into the body. Keeping your hands clean will help to prevent you from becoming sick.

The face, too, is likely to become dirty, for it is sel¬ dom covered. If the face is dirty, the nose and the mouth are both likely to be dirty also. Much sickness is caused by breathing dirt into the nose and mouth. By washing your face you get rid of a great deal of the dirt and disease germs which might reach the inside of your body through the nose and the mouth.

Washing the face and hands once a day is not enough, for they get dirty again within a few hours. Wash them when you get up in the morning, for as much waste matter passes off from the skin during the night as during the day. Wash your face and hands before each meal so that you will not soil your food. Wash them again just before going to bed so that no dirt or disease germs from them may harm you while you are asleep. Wash them after any kind of dirty work or play. Also wash your hands after going to the toilet.

A dirty basin may contain disease germs which have been left on it by a sick person. If a basin is dirty, do not use it but wash in water running from a faucet, or in water poured on your hands.

Use of a Towel. — After washing the skin, dry it with a clean towel. If a number of persons use the same towel, some one who is beginning to be sick is likely to leave disease germs on it. A towel that is dirty, or smells as if it had been used, is not fit for dry¬ ing the skin. When you travel away from home, carry a clean towel for your own use; or else use paper towels and throw them away after you have used them.

Combing the Hair. — Dirt and disease germs are often caught in the hair of the head, and sickness may be due to failure to keep the hair clean. Germs of colds and sore throats are often blown upon the hair from dirty streets and soiled floors. These germs may be rubbed from the hair upon a pillow during sleep, and then they may be breathed into the body, and thus be the cause of a cold or a sore throat.

You remove a great deal of dirt and dust from the hair when you comb and brush it; and you keep dirt from catching among the hairs when you make them lie smooth and straight. By combing your hair you improve your health as well as your looks.

A dirty comb and brush may carry disease germs into the hair. Have your own comb and brush, and wash them whenever they become soiled. When you go away from home, take them with you so that you will not need to use those which have been used by another person.

Washing the Hair. — Hairs do not grow from the top of the skin, but from roots which lie deep in the skin. Baldness is due to a disease of the roots and is often caused by disease germs growing in the skin. Sometimes the skin of the scalp peels off in fine flakes called dandruff.

This, too, is often caused by disease germs. Washing the hair often helps to remove disease germs, and to keep it in good condi¬ tion.

Nails _ The roo ^ s ex tend halfway or more through the skin.

nails on the fingers and toes are hardened growths of the outer covering of the skin. Keep them trimmed even with the end of the flesh. Biting the nails will leave them rough and make the ends of the fingers sore.

Many persons suppose that the finger nails may poison the body if they scratch their skin with them, or swallow a bit of nail. The nails themselves are not poisonous, but the dirt that collects under their ends often contains decaying matter and disease germs. Keep your nails clean for the sake of your health as well as of your looks.