Chapter 24—Hygiene
Hygiene of the Home and Premises
612. Dwellings, if possible, should be built upon high and dry
ground. If a house be built where water settles around it, remaining for
a time and then drying away, a poisonous miasma arises, and fever and
ague, sore throat, lung diseases, and fevers will be the result.—
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Live, 64
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613. If every family realized the beneficial results of thorough
cleanliness, they would make special efforts to remove every impurity
from their persons and from their houses, and would extend their
efforts to their premises. Many suffer decayed vegetable matter to
remain about their premises. They are not awake to the influence of
these things. There is constantly arising from the decayed substances
an effluvium that is poisoning the air. By inhaling the impure air, the
blood is poisoned, the lungs become affected, and the whole system is
diseased.—
How to Live, 60
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614. Stubborn fevers and violent diseases have prevailed in neigh-
borhoods and towns that had formerly been considered healthy, and
some have died, while others have been left with broken constitutions
to be crippled with disease for life. In many instances their own yards
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contained the agent of destruction, which sent forth deadly poison into
the atmosphere to be inhaled by the family and the neighborhood. The
slackness and recklessness sometimes witnessed is beastly, and the
ignorance of the results of such things upon health is astonishing. Such
places should be purified, especially in summer, by lime or ashes, or
by a daily burial with earth.—
How to Live, 61
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615. Shade-trees and shrubbery too close and dense around a house
are unhealthful; for they prevent a free circulation of air, and prevent
the rays of the sun from shining through sufficiently. In consequence
of this a dampness gathers in the house. Especially in wet seasons
the sleeping-rooms become damp, and those who sleep in the beds
are troubled with rheumatism, neuralgia, and lung complaints, which
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