CHAPTER XIV.

PREVENTION OF DISEASE BY AN ACTIVE AND CHEERFUL STATE OF MIND, SUFFICIENT CLOTHING, AND WHOLESOME DIET.

The bad effects of despondency and apprehension have been already stated, and they were found to be very important and highly favourable to the invasion of disease. Instances have already been given of disease and general decline of health following depression of mind and long continued apprehension, and it now remains to point out the salutary action of an active and cheerful state of mind.

An active and cheerful state of mind imparts an activity to the various organs of the body, whereby their functions are more perfectly performed; it spreads a kindly glow over the entire system, and tends to dispel any sluggishness of action present in any part which perhaps would, under other circumstances, increase, and lead to the development of disease.

On some occasions a cheerful state of mind, induced by sudden improvement of prospects, or by the unexpected receipt of good intelligence, has been the efficient instrument in dispelling the first symptoms of disease which had been induced by depressing causes.

It has been often observed among soldiers and sailors, who, losing their health and beginning to suffer from disease, under no other apparent unwholesome cause than the distrust with which they regarded an insufficient and unskilful commander, that their health has suddenly improved, and disease has rapidly diminished when they have been put under an able chief in whom they reposed confidence, and with whom they were willing and ready to place the safety of their lives.

Soldiers and sailors suffering many privations, mortified with defeat, failing in their energies, and beginning to drop under the influence of disease, have, on the sudden and unexpected brightening of their prospects, regained their lost strength, cast out the seeds of disease, thrown off their despondency, and have achieved worlds of enterprise. The following interesting case, which illustrates well the powerful influence of hope, and a cheerful state of mind, is taken from Paris’s Pharmacologia.

“In the celebrated siege of Breda in 1625 by Spinola, the garrison suffered extreme distress from the ravages of scurvy, and the Prince of Orange being unable to relieve the place, sent in, by a confidential messenger, a preparation which was directed to be added to a very large quantity of water, and to be given as a specific for the epidemic; the remedy was administered, and the garrison recovered its health; when it was afterwards acknowledged that the substance in question was no other than a little colouring matter.”

That impaired state of health, and much of the disease, especially of the digestive organs, which is so much experienced by persons who are suddenly deprived of much occupation of the mind in business, and find themselves totally unemployed, and who, from their previous habits, are unable to derive enjoyment from literary and scientific pursuits, as some retired tradesmen, have been suddenly removed, and health has been fully re-established on the individuals being again immersed in business, either from choice or by a happy reverse in their circumstances rendering that step unavoidable.

During epidemics, that confident assurance which some persons are known to entertain, that they will escape the prevalent distempers, there is much reason to think, has on many occasions been a complete prophylactic or preventive.

Instances are not uncommon where an assurance or settled conviction on the part of the patient has gone far to promote, if not to produce, recovery from very dangerous disease, when physicians have despaired of life, and even when that opinion has been communicated to the unmoved and still confident sufferer.

The history of amulets or charms and of the cures performed by the royal touch, affords much amusing and interesting detail illustrative of confidence and hope, in the prevention and cure of disease. Instances are also familiar of naval and military officers who have lost their health from the long continued suffering of “hope deferred” in respect to promotion, and of neglect of meritorious services, where advancement and the grant of their longing and earnest wishes has at length acted as a charm upon every bodily ailment, and where a rapid succession of cheerfulness and health has been the immediate consequence, to the joy of anxious and apprehensive friends.

The beneficial effects of activity and cheerfulness of mind in warding off the attack of disease, and in promoting recovery therefrom, having been so strikingly illustrated in the above examples, there remains no occasion to say more than to recommend them strongly for adoption, both among those in health and in sickness.

CLOTHING.

The want of sufficient clothing as productive of disease has been already noticed.

Clothing in this climate is used for the purpose of retaining the body warm. Now this is an important purpose, and the means by which it is attained are highly deserving of notice, and they exert a very powerful influence upon health.

The temperature of the human body is generally about 98° Fahrenheit, and that of the surrounding atmosphere being in this climate always below, sometimes in severe winters, as for instance the last, being near zero.

Now, all bodies possess a property by which they are disposed to maintain an equilibrium of temperature, that is, to be of the same amount of heat, and the temperature of the human body being above that of the surrounding atmosphere, in an amount varying at different times, it parts with a portion of its heat, or caloric, as it is called by chemists, which is communicated to the atmosphere and surrounding bodies.

A portion of the heat of the body is constantly, and under all circumstances, being abstracted by the atmosphere and other surrounding bodies which are at a lower temperature, and were it not that the loss of heat, which the body is thus constantly sustaining, is supplied by the formation of heat in the system, which is ever going on, the body would soon become so very cold as to be incapable of performing its functions, and death would consequently ensue.

The amount of heat which the body loses, and the rapidity with which it is abstracted, is proportionate to the coldness of the atmosphere and surrounding bodies.

But the rapid and great abstraction of heat from the human body, which is apt to take place when it is immersed in a very cold atmosphere, is very hurtful, and often induces disease, especially fevers, colds, coughs, and inflammations.

It is for the purpose of checking the rapid abstraction of heat from the body, that the warm clothing used in these latitudes is adopted. It is a bad conductor of heat, and the consequence is, that the temperature of the body is not reduced so rapidly as it would be were it exposed without any covering to the atmosphere, which, more especially when damp, is a superior conductor of heat.

Clothing of a sufficient nature is useful in the preservation of health, by preserving in its integrity the circulation of the blood on the surface of the body, by maintaining the constant flow of the secretion from the skin, or perspiration as it is commonly called, which is so useful to the system in many different ways, and by preventing any deviation from that balance in the distribution of the fluids of the body which that process goes so far to maintain, much to the comfort and freedom from disease of the individual.

Many instances of a very striking nature are known, where such inveterate and mortal disease has supervened in consequence of the privation, total and partial, of clothing, and from that being of a texture and nature inadequate to meet the exigencies of the case. Some have been referred to in this work where the want of sufficient clothing has been one of many concurrent potent circumstances, the attendants and consequences of poverty and destitution which have given rise to epidemics. On occasions of great distress and destitution, the disease which is then so very prevalent is not the product of one circumstance merely, such as want of food, but is induced by the many concurrent powerful and unwholesome influences to which poverty is ever sure to give rise. One of the chief circumstances on which the wide prevalence of disease depends on those occasions, there can be little doubt, is insufficiency of clothing among the poorer classes. But it is the advantages which are to be derived from sufficient clothing which should here occupy attention. Of late years, it has been the practice in some towns in this country, on occasions of fever and other diseases prevailing during the cold and inclemency of winter, for funds to be collected for the purchase and distribution of clothes among the poor and ill-clad portion of the population.

The motives and feelings with which this form of charity has been adopted, must of themselves be a sufficient and highly delightful return for the liberality and exertions of its benevolent projectors and supporters, but it must afford them much gratification and much encouragement in their laudable and christian endeavours, to know that the clothing which they have dispensed has had a powerful influence in preserving many from becoming the victims of the prevalent distempers, and of preventing the relapse of the convalescent.

The late Sir John Pringle, a distinguished army surgeon, states that “the best clothed were generally among the most healthy regiments.”

The quantity of clothing should of course vary with the season, more being used in winter than in summer. A minute account of the outer clothing is unnecessary here, but a word may not be thrown away; the body should at all times have that quantity of clothing which will secure it from unpleasant feelings of cold and chilliness, and it would be wise to be influenced more by comfort and a regard to health, and less by fashion and caprice in the choice of clothing, which is so intimately connected with the preservation of health and its unspeakable comforts and enjoyments.

The clothing which is next the skin is more important, and will here obtain some consideration. It may be laid down as a general rule that flannel or some such woollen cloth should be used next the skin throughout the entire year. It will be well to vary the cloth or flannel in different seasons, perhaps using a thick flannel during winter, and a material of lighter and less close texture during summer and autumn. A fabric of fine flannel, or what is called “stocking,” answers very well for the summer, when the flannel which is commonly used is felt to be too warm and irritating to the skin. In the summer it is common for many persons who use flannel during winter to discontinue its use, but it is safer, merely to exchange the thick flannel which has been used during winter for one of a finer fabric or some such equally fine material.

During winter when the weather is always cold, and in spring when it is generally chilly, flannel or some such material should form an essential portion of the clothing of every inhabitant of these islands.

It is safe to say that hundreds in this country are at present alive and enjoy excellent health who, but for the use of flannel and such like fabrics next the skin, would have been, ere this, numbered with the dead; and it is not too much to say that thousands are at this moment in perfect health through the kindly action of the same clothing, whose lives were threatened with constant coughs, periodical colds, quinseys, rheumatisms, and incipient disease of lungs, and other organs of the chest, before this efficient guardian of health was adopted.

Flannel and fabrics of the same or like nature go far to preserve an equable temperature at the surface of the body, promote the perspiration of the skin, which they readily absorb when copiously secreted, and are specially useful in preserving the balance of the secretions on the surface and in the interior of the body. Now all these most important conditions, which the use of flannel goes so far to maintain, are ever liable to be subverted and disturbed, whenever the body is thinly or inadequately covered, by changes in the ever varying temperature of the atmosphere, and by the prevalence of winds and currents.

Most of the important constitutional diseases which occur in this country, begin with a sensation of coldness with shivering and trembling; now it is the usual property of flannel, and such fabrics, when worn next the skin, and indeed of warm and general good clothing, to obviate and prevent these conditions of the body, and thus disease may be met at its very onset, and perhaps baffled ere it has time to establish its dominion.

“In some situations my personal experience enables me to vouch for the utility of flannel. Of this we had a very striking proof in the second battalion of the Royals, while suffering from a most aggravated form of dysentery in India. General Conran, the late Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica, who at that time commanded the Royals, was so fully persuaded of the benefits likely to accrue from the general use of flannel, that he went down from Wallajahabbad, where the regiment was then stationed, to Madras, on purpose to represent to the government the distress of his men, and to suggest the expediency of a supply of flannel shirts. This he did with so much effect, backed by the late Dr Anderson, the Physician-General, that the flannels were immediately ordered, and, in my opinion, contributed much to check the alarming progress of the disease.”[11]

Footnote 11:

Ballingall’s Military Surgery.

It is usual with many individuals to wear flannel only over the chest, but it is wise to envelope the whole body in that most useful article of clothing.

The poor or labouring man should endeavour to procure thick soled shoes, in good repair, and substantial worsted stockings.

The latter are generally esteemed stronger and more durable when made at home, and will form excellent work for his wife or daughter in the winter nights.

The working man will find, that though clothing substantially, as has been above recommended, takes a considerable proportion of his money immediately out of his pocket, he will be a certain gainer in the end, aye, probably in the course of a few years or months, by consequent immunity from disease, and from continued capacity for labour.

FOOD.

It has been already shewn in this work, that the want of sufficient and wholesome food is frequently attended and followed by disease. It is now proposed to shew how important food and drink, of good quality, are to the preservation of health; but the fact is so well known, and so undoubted, that it is almost unnecessary to say that they are essential to the preservation of the body in its strength and dimensions.

That sense of sinking and languor, which is so commonly experienced upon long fasting, would soon be exchanged for the actual pains of disease, were it not to be removed shortly by the taking of food.

When the body is exhausted from the want of food for some hours, a good and ample repast imparts strength to the body, and cheerfulness to the mind, and goes far to prevent the evasion of some forms of disease.

An individual who is well fed, is generally more secure against the invasion of disease of a low character, than another who is only scantily and occasionally supplied with food.

It is generally believed that individuals who have lately partaken of food, are less subject to the operation of vitiated air, or as it is commonly termed, “contagious air;” and it was commonly reported during the late prevalence of cholera, that persons who took breakfast before going out, suffered less from that disease than those who followed a contrary course.

Many well authenticated instances are recorded of the health of armies undergoing very great improvement, and of disease in these bodies being greatly checked by the distribution of ample wholesome food, and by the privation which they had suffered for some time previous, being ended, by some accidental circumstances, as the gaining the enemy’s magazines, or the reduction of a siege. Sir George Ballingall relates in his work on Military Surgery, that “during the prevalence of a malignant fever in this regiment (33d), then stationed in the garrison of Hull, in the autumn of 1817, amongst other measures calculated to check the rapid extension of the disease, I recommended the regular supply of breakfast to the men. This was immediately ordered by the commanding officer, and nothing appeared either to the officers, to the soldiers, or to myself, to have so much effect in obviating attacks of the fever.”

The institution of soup kitchens in this country, for the distribution of wholesome and nourishing food to the perishing poor, there is no doubt, has a most salutary influence in the prevention of disease, by, in short, so fortifying individuals, otherwise incapable of resistance, as to render them proof against the influence of many causes of pestilence.

There can be little doubt that the liberal distribution of nutritious food, which of late years has happily taken place from these charitable institutions, has gone far to check the ravages of fever, which is so prevalent in this climate, during winter, when the labouring classes are subject in so great a degree to cold, and the privation of food and other necessaries of life.

It is stated on good medical authority, that no measure which was instituted for the purpose of stopping the progress of typhus fever in Glasgow, in the winter of 1837–8, then very prevalent and mortal, was so useful, and so immediately and obviously efficient, as the establishment of soup kitchens in that city.

Among the arrangements in Edinburgh in 1832, which tended apparently to render cholera less extensive than in other large towns, a soup kitchen formed one.

Fever has been much less prevalent in Tranent during the present, than for many winters past, and this is to be attributed partly to a soup kitchen which has been instituted in that village, and which has been in operation for about two months (16th March 1839).

The excellent tendency of such establishments must be obvious to all who are at all conversant with the nature of disease, and the animal economy, and it can form no valid objection to that proposition, that fever is still known to have raged where soup kitchens have been established; for, though the pestilence may not have been extinguished, still it may have been abated, and though the malignant character and mortality may not have been reduced, still these excellent institutions may have been the means of preventing their being increased.

Let not, therefore, those who are willing and able to support whatever is calculated to reduce the sufferings and privations of the poor, be driven from extending their support to soup kitchens, because they have only diminished the number of the victims of disease, and made the stage of convalescence more sure and less liable to relapse.

It would indeed be vain to expect, that the distribution of food would act as an entire preventive of fever and disease, which is the result not of scanty food only, but of that and many other circumstances of a very different nature, whose operation, the supply of soup, in any quantity, can go a very short way only, to remedy.

Some of the circumstances which exert the most important influence in the production of pestilential disease, and the measures which are best calculated to counteract their pestiferous tendencies, have now been detailed.

It is hoped the enforcement of the hurtful operation of many circumstances, erroneously thought to be innocent, may lead to their being remedied in future, and it is expected, that if the suggestions which have been thrown out in the latter part of this work, are duly acted upon, or if others of a like nature, which may, at a future period, emanate from another better qualified for the task, should meet with the attention, which this object so well demands, the amount of disease will be diminished, human suffering will be abated, and human life extended nearer to that point of maturity which the Divinity has decreed, and which the organization of the human body proclaims was meant to be attained by one and all of the members of the human family.

By avoiding the causes of disease which have been detailed in this work, and by attending to the rules which have been laid down here and elsewhere for the preservation of health, disease will be greatly abated, but a mighty revolution must be accomplished in the habits, the dispositions, and minds of men, ere mankind will enjoy that course of health, and all that greater freedom from pain and disease, of which their lot is capable:—but far from the consideration of the manifold changes and long course of time which will be required to make a very great improvement in the health of the human race, leading to apathy and inaction, it should serve to stimulate to powerful attempts, and persevering and reiterated efforts for amelioration.

END.

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.