American Red Cross Text-Book on Home Hygiene and Care of the Sick by Isabel McIsaac (best affordable ebook reader txt) 📕

Dr. Hill, cost us annually at least 10 billion dollars in addition to the loss of life, and he adds: "The infectious diseases in general radiate from and are kept going by women."—(Hill—New Public Health, p. 30.) Women, it is true, can prevent many of the infections, but they can do still more, for hygienic habits to be effective must be acquired early, and mothers and teachers, because they have practically the entire control of children, have the power to prevent many cases of degenerative as well as of communicable disease. EXERCISES Distinguish between communicable and non-communicable disease. Describe the part played by micro-organisms in causing disease. Describe the structure of bacteria and their method of multiplication. In what ways are pathogenic germs transmitted from person to person? Upon what preventive measures does the control of communicable diseases depend? What is meant by immunity? Against what diseases may immunity be acquired artificially? How has the practice of immunizing affected death rates from communicable diseases? What factors tend to lower resistance? Do they act equally in the case of all diseases? Define a carrier, and explain the importance of carriers in the spread of disease. Name some of the characteristics and causes of degenerative diseases. Whom do the degenerative diseases most commonly affect? Describe methods that should be employed to prevent degenerative diseases. FOR FURTHER READING The New Public Health—Hill, Chapters I-IX. Health and Disease—Roger I. Lee, Chapters XV-XXIV. Principles of Sanitary Science and the Public Health—Sedgwick, Chapters I, II, III. Scientific Features of Modern Medicine—Frederic S. Lee, Chapters II, IV-VI. Disease and Its Causes—Councilman, Chapter I. Preventive Medicine and Hygiene—Rosenau. Publications of the Life Extension Institute—25 West 45th Street, New York City.

CHAPTER II

HEALTH AND THE HOME

Of all the considerations that determine health, heredity is the one unalterable factor. Although certain characteristics are obviously hereditary,—complexion, height, and mental and physical traits in great variety,—yet in the past heredity has been little understood. In consequence it has served too often as a scape goat for faults and failings not beyond an individual's control. Our first clear understanding of the principles underlying heredity resulted from experiments made by Mendel, an Austrian monk, during the last century, and it is now possible to predict with a high degree of accuracy the inheritance of certain characteristics.

Many diseases, formerly considered hereditary because their actual causes were unknown, are now known to be communicable. Thus, it is now understood that tuberculosis is not hereditary, although little children may be infected by tuberculous parents. No germ diseases are inherited in the strict sense of the word; but a baby may be infected with syphilis before birth if his father or his mother has the disease.

It is true, however, that certain tissue weaknesses of the body seem to be hereditary, and in consequence one family is more susceptible to digestive disorders, another to diseases of the lungs, a third to deafness, and so on. Moreover, general low vitality may be inherited. It should be emphasized, however, that hereditary weakness does not inevitably lead to disease. Many persons have succeeded in preventing the development of active disease by guarding against strain in directions where they are weak by inheritance.

Of all tissue weaknesses that may be inherited, defects of the nervous system are the most serious. Nervous disorders of every degree of severity, from slight nervous instability even to insanity, may result when these tissues are defective; but it is now a recognized fact that nervous disorders in many cases can be prevented from developing. Feeblemindedness, another condition due to defective tissue, is known to be inherited in the majority of cases, and in all cases it is incurable.

HYGIENE OF ENVIRONMENT AND PERSON

By environment is meant everything outside the body that affects it; taken in its complete meaning the word might include everything that is or ever was in the whole universe. It is possible to consider here a few only of the many environmental and personal factors affecting the health of individuals.

The home constitutes the important part of environment for most persons, and for children in particular, since they spend the greater part of their time in or about it, and get there the foundation on which their health in later years depends. For persons employed away from home, industrial and occupational hygiene is hardly less important; but those subjects are too extensive to be considered here.

Most people live where they must, and few have any part in planning the construction of their own houses. In choosing a house, however, one should remember that rooms where sunshine never enters are unfit for continued occupation. For children in particular fresh air and sunshine are essential, and it may be economy in the end to pay a comparatively high rent for an apartment having sunshine during at least a part of the day. Ignorance and carelessness, unfortunately, can spoil the best living conditions, and sometimes even in the country fresh air and sunshine are excluded from sleeping and living rooms.