NOTE.——This chapter is particularly recommended to the notice of members and friends of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
With a view to the exaltation of the condition of the entire organism, as well as simply that of the digestive and assimilative system——and in addition to the reform already suggested as to clothing, _i.e._, a reduction in the number and weight of garments habitually worn, when these have been superabundant,——I would say to all classes, sick or well, that great advantage will be derived from habituating themselves to transient exposure of the entire surface of the body to the air. Often enough, we observe persons sitting heavily clad, in a warm room and close to the fire, and yet feeling “shivery” and sure of having “caught cold.” To throw off all clothing would banish such chills _instanter_, especially if the person begins to give himself a brisk hand-rubbing. The skin is sweltered, and is numb for want of circulation in the capillaries. In the case supposed the person has _prevented_ a “cold.” Next to the water-bath, which is, of course, or ought to be, an air-bath and water-bath combined, the simple air-bath is invaluable as a prophylactic or a curative; and in very many instances, say for several mornings in each week, and whenever the usual water-bath is not convenient, the air-bath will prove an excellent substitute. In place of _dodging_ from the sweltering bed into his heavy day-clothing, the _robust_ man will be far more likely to maintain his vigorous condition by doffing his night-shirt and indulging for the space of, say, five minutes or less, in brisk hand-rubbing all over, however cold his sleeping-room, and again on going to bed; while the delicate ones should, with due caution, inaugurate the same system (some _will-power_ has to be exerted), but graduated, as to temperature and duration, to their special conditions——advancing as their physical condition improves under its influence until they are no longer members of that immense army——the victims of “aërophobia.” Patients themselves too weak for even the exercise of self-rubbing will still derive great benefit from the air-bath, in a temperature, say, of 65°, with an attendant to rub them briskly from neck to heels. Set in practice in a rational manner this custom will never injure the most delicate person, but on the contrary will always prove beneficial. It will not bring the dead to life, nor, indeed, “cure” the moribund; but it is one of Nature’s most efficient aids——it is Nature herself, in very truth——and I have seen patients who were thought to be hopelessly ill, begin to take on what seemed to be renewed life, largely through this new use of fresh air, and the _dismissal_ of the _unnatural dread of it_. For example: