The Biology, Physiology and Sociology of Reproduction Part 6

It is hardly necessary to add in this connection that care should be taken that during the sweating or immediately following it, the _body should not be exposed to catch more cold_. In this method of treating a cold, one should _take a strong cathartic_ such as two or three teaspoonfuls of castor oil, and should remain in bed twenty-four hours. During this twenty-four hours _no other food than a little light broth should be taken_. This treatment usually completely breaks up a cold and one is able, in two or three days, to make good the loss of the twenty-four hours, during which time he was confined to his room.

This dietetic method of caring for an acute catarrhal cold is incomparably wiser and more economical than to drag around, hoping to "wear out the cold," only to be worn out by it.

2. BATHS.

a. =The Bath for Cleanliness.=--Little need be said regarding the bath for cleanliness except that it should be taken at least once in a week during the colder portion of the year and perhaps as frequently as once a day during that portion of the year when there is free perspiration.

Where one is bathing for cleanliness he may well use soap and warm water over the whole surface of the body. If he takes this bath just before retiring, it is not necessary to take a cold shower or sponge at the end of the bath. If, however, one takes a warm soap bath in the morning the relaxing effect of the bath upon the skin makes it necessary to take a cold shower or a cold sponge after the warm bath in order to secure the tonic effect upon the skin and fortify one against catching cold.

During the hot weather when one may bathe daily for cleanliness he should guard against an excessive use of soap, as a daily soap bath may have a tendency to remove the oils from the skin so completely as to make the skin rough. With the daily bath for cleanliness it is possible that warm water and soap need not be used more frequently than once or twice a week and that a laving of the whole surface with cold water followed by a vigorous rub down with a coa.r.s.e towel may serve the double purpose of insuring absolute cleanliness, and at the same time serving as a skin tonic.

In this connection the author would emphasize the importance of insuring absolute cleanliness of the s.e.xual apparatus. In primeval conditions less attention was necessary as these organs were more or less exposed, but the present method of dress is such as to permit the acc.u.mulation of the skin secretions. While these may in part be removed by the friction against the clothing, it is advisable to wash the external genitals and all neighboring surfaces as a regular part of the daily toilet.

b. =The Tonic Bath.=--In warm weather when one takes a daily bath to insure cleanliness, at least five of these baths each week may be in cold water, sufficiently cold to secure the tonic effect as described above. In cold weather, when one takes not more than one or two warm soap baths a week, the cold tonic bath can be made to serve a most important purpose in the hygiene.

Some have followed the custom of immersing the body completely in a tub of cold water. This method of taking the cold bath is not to be recommended except for those who are in the most robust health, and in these cases, so vigorous a treatment is not necessary nor particularly beneficial. The author has seen many people who were injured by this method of taking the tonic bath.

There are two methods to be recommended: Those who have access to a cold shower may stand for a moment, and for a moment only, under the cold shower, then step at once upon a warm rug and rub the whole surface of the body vigorously with a dry crash towel until the whole surface of the body glows with the warmth of the reaction. If one does not have access to the cold shower, he may take a most effective tonic bath in his room, using cold water, the coldest obtainable, and a bath sponge, or even a wash cloth, dipping the sponge into the cold water, then pressing out enough of the water so that there will be no excess of water to run over the surface of the body from the sponge.

Begin by sponging face, neck, shoulders, arms and chest, then wipe these parts dry, subject them to vigorous friction with the crash towel until the arms, shoulders and chest particularly glow with the warmth of the reaction. While the upper half of the body is receiving its bath the lower half may be kept covered, and conversely.

This tonic bath should be taken immediately upon arising in the morning, and as a part of the morning toilet.

If one takes such a tonic bath on arising, then dresses hurriedly and takes a brisk walk of fifteen or thirty minutes, the regime quickly brings his body into the most vigorous and robust state of health; unless there is something wrong with his digestion or his excretion, and even moderate derangements of these will be very likely to be corrected by the regime just suggested.

3. EXERCISE.

Incident to the above topic mention has been made of the brisk morning walk before breakfast. This has a most salutary tonic effect besides the influence that it exerts upon the bowel movements. Not the least important result of this morning exercise depends on the fact that the lungs are repeatedly and completely inflated with the pure out-of-door air. This naturally exerts a most valuable influence upon the development of the lungs in the youth or the maintenance of their vigor in middle age.

The increased heart action is also advantageous as it leads to hastened circulation through the muscles, glands and brain. This hurrying blood current not only carries nutriment to these organs, but carries away their acc.u.mulations of effete material to the excretory glands.

The student must be cautioned not to overdo this early morning exercise. The mile run, the mile row or any other strenuous exercise is strongly to be discouraged at this time of the day. If one overdoes morning exercise, he is likely to feel somewhat depleted and fatigued, throughout the remainder of the forenoon, and his ability to do a high grade of mental work is decreased rather than increased.

Besides the morning exercise, every person who wishes to live a vigorous physical life should have from one to two hours of heavier exercise during the latter part of the day or evening. This exercise may take any one of many forms. It may be golf, tennis, foot-ball, base-ball, cricket, rowing, lacrosse, basket-ball, cross country running, track or gymnasium work, etc., etc. The immediate results of this exercise should be largely to increase lung and heart action and to cause a sufficient fatigue of the muscular system so that rest is sought and may be followed by dreamless, recuperative sleep.

It might at first seem paradoxical that to build up strong muscles we must first fatigue them, but that seems to be Nature's plan. The only way to build up a strong physique is to use that physique and use it to its maximum capacity.

If one exercises thus freely and eats abstemiously he ought not to lay on fat. If he does lay on fat, he may know that he is eating more than he needs and he should make his diet more temperate. The youth of eighteen or nineteen who is tall and rather spare, and whose muscular system has not reached its full development would, of course, increase his weight incident to the growth of his muscular system. This increase in weight must not be confused with increase of weight through fat deposit. The latter should be avoided--the former should be encouraged.

Not by any means the least important thing accomplished by physical exercise is the a.s.sociation with his fellows incident to his exercise.

The courage, nerve control, quick judgment, agility and strength required on the foot-ball field make no small part of the young man's equipment to fight the battles of life. The conditions of these games give frequent opportunities for the young man to cultivate the spirit of honesty and fair play--the spirit, without which, no man can reach his highest success in the real contests of life.

4. THE HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS OF SLEEP.

The personal hygiene of sleep is by no means an unimportant topic, though it may be briefly treated.

The amount of sleep that each individual requires and should take can only be determined by the individual. Some seem to require ten hours, others eight, others six, while rarely individuals are found who seem to thrive on even so little as five hours of sleep out of twenty-four.

The average requirement seems to be about eight hours. If one has by experience or experiment determined the amount of sleep which he requires, he should so plan his daily regime that he can secure that amount of sleep. While a brief departure from this regime may be without serious results, any prolonged departure from it will certainly bring its natural retribution. So, the young man having determined how much sleep he needs, should adopt a daily program that will provide for just that many hours in bed, and he should early establish the habit of going to sleep at once upon retiring, and of arising at once upon awakening. Dallying in bed has led many a young man to lapse into habits of thought and of action that are in a high degree deleterious, morally and physically.

So far as one may choose the equipment of his sleeping apartment, he should choose a hard bed and a cover as light as possible and yet be comfortable.

One should never retire with cold feet. A most effective way to warm the feet is to dip them for a moment in cold water and then rub them vigorously with a coa.r.s.e towel until they glow with warmth.

Furthermore, no more effective remedy for habitual cold feet could be devised than this nightly tonic bath.

One will add greatly to his comfort and decrease largely the danger of taking cold if he provides himself with a pair of warm bed room slippers, which should always be worn during one's excursions to the bath room, and during his tonic sponge bath.

As to posture in bed, the experience of men in general is, that the most comfortable posture and the most hygienic one is to lie upon the side. The right side is to be preferred to the left because in this position, the heart being on the upper side, is not embarra.s.sed in its free movement by the superinc.u.mbent lung tissue. Furthermore, this position facilitates the pa.s.sage of digesting foods from the stomach.

To maintain comfortably this side position, requires that the knees be at least moderately drawn up. This posture when asleep is practically identical with that of nearly all higher animals, and is unquestionably the most hygienic one for man. No animal but man ever lies upon its back unless it is dead. Furthermore, the dorsal position puts tendons, nerves and muscles on a stretch, while the flexed lateral position puts these in a more or less relaxed position, which is most favorable to rest.

It goes without saying that sleeping rooms should always be thoroughly ventilated. The occupant should take care that he does not lie in a direct draught from a window or door, because it has been found by experience that one is less likely to catch cold if he sleeps out of doors than he is if he sleeps in a direct draught from a window or door. Just why this is has not been satisfactorily accounted for, but the fact remains. So if you must sleep in the house, secure perfect ventilation without direct draughts.

5. THE CONTROL OF THE THOUGHTS.

There is no more effective safeguard for the man who wishes to lead a continent life than the control of the thoughts. It goes without saying that the man who thinks about s.e.xual matters, especially the one whose imagination runs wild upon all kinds of s.e.xually stimulating images, is only inviting temptation to relax his continence. If he controls his thoughts during those times when he is less amenable to temptation, he is far more likely to be able to control his acts at those times when his physical condition makes him most amenable to temptation.

The most effective way to control the thoughts is so to plan one's work as to insure the complete occupation of the mind with affairs that are wholly independent of s.e.xual experiences or considerations.

One should set a mark for himself so high above his present position that he is compelled to put forth strenuous and unremitting efforts in order to accomplish his aim. The old saying that, "Satan finds work for idle hands to do" is all too true. Anyone may observe the influence of idleness or even the influence of a partially occupied program upon the habits of the youth and young man. Beard and Rockwell, in their valuable work on this subject say: "Go to work; develop your muscles and brain; resolve to become at least useful if not famous. The activity which will be necessary in carrying out these ambitions will divert the mind from imaginary evils, if they are imaginary, and will be one of the best means to cure the real ones."

CHAPTER VI.

DEVELOPMENT.

DEVELOPMENT.

The development of the child within the uterus of the mother represents a chapter in the life history of every individual so important in its relations to maternity and paternity that every young man should be acquainted with at least its general features.

As stated in the chapter on Reproduction, every living organism begins life as a single cell, or globule of protoplasm. In the case of the human subject, the cell from which each child begins its development is formed by the fusion of two cells or globules of protoplasm, one furnished by the mother, and called the ovum, or egg; the other furnished by the father, and called the spermatozoon. The egg is very much larger than the spermatozoon, and contains enough yolk material to afford nourishment for the embryo for a number of days.

When the ovum reaches the finished state, which is called "maturity,"

it leaves the ovary, and is carried along the fallopian tube (see accompanying figure) into the uterus, where it usually finds a lodgment in the upper part, as shown in Figure I. Once the minute ovum has been caught in the projections of the velvety inner surface of the uterus, this thick velvety lining of the uterus in the neighborhood of the ovum begins a rapid growth, gradually enveloping the rapidly expanding ovum, as shown in Figures I and II of the accompanying plate.

Within the ovum there are taking place some of the most marvelous changes in the whole life history of the individual. The nucleus of the fertilized egg, and the protoplasm which surrounds it, divide into two cells, then into four, eight, sixteen, etc. These divisions follow each other in such rapid succession that there are many hundreds of cells by the end of the first twenty-four hours. These cells soon begin to arrange themselves into layers and groups, which, step by step, develop the different tissues and organs of the body.

By the end of thirty days the little embryo, about as large as one inch of the end of a lead pencil, would be recognized as the embryo of some mammalian animal, but it would be quite impossible to say whether it would develop into a human being or some other animal, if it were seen quite apart from its immediate surroundings. By the end of another thirty days, however, the little embryo has multiplied its size several times, and has reached a form instantly recognizable as the young of the human kind, as shown in Figure IV. It still, however, retains the vestige of a little tail, which within the next thirty days will have been completely absorbed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION]

Note that the little two months embryo has projecting from its abdomen a large structure which is labeled "cord." This cord is a part of what is called the umbilical cord, and it is this that joins the embryo to the mother. Note in Figure III the large stalk of this cord pa.s.sing upward from the body of the embryo and merging into the structures in the top of the uterus. Note further that there are little branching structures pa.s.sing from the base of this stalk up into the base of the uterus. These branching structures are loops of blood-vessels, and they form part of the placenta, or "afterbirth." Through this cord the embryo receives its nourishment from the mother. The blood of the mother bathes these loops of blood-vessels, and the embryo absorbs from the mother's blood the nourishment which builds its bones, muscles, brain, spinal-cord, and glands. From the same source the embryo receives the oxygen necessary for the maintenance of its life.