To all those who may be ignorant of, or any way sceptical on, the point of the hygienic value of personal ablution, we would recommend the perusal of the writings of Drs. Andrew Combe, Southwood Smith, &c.--they will then become acquainted with the important uses and functions of their _own covering_,--they will find in the above-mentioned authorities the subject of cuticular economy ably investigated, and the intimate connexion of the outer and inner skins (the one being a continuation of the other) clearly set forth, showing that through the perspiratory system, consisting of openings in the skin called pores, the temperature of the body is not only managed to a certain extent, but also that a number of compounds, noxious to animal life, are removed from the system, by which means the blood and other fluids are kept in a state of purity. Perspiration, both as to matter or quality and its quantity, is absolutely necessary for the well-being of the human body: and in order to give some idea of the injurious effects of interference with the functions of the skin by the retention and the necessary accumulation of innumerable chemical agents, we may refer to Lavoisier and Seguin’s researches on the subject. It was estimated by them that _eight grains_ of perspiration are exhaled by the skin in the course of _a minute_, a quantity which is equivalent to _thirty-three ounces_ in the _twenty-four hours_. On the cuticular surface it has been computed by them that there are seven millions of pores, which being blocked up by impurities for want of personal cleanliness, must prevent the elimination of their contents, and these being again thrown into the system by the circulation, cannot but be highly detrimental to health. Again, IRRESPECTIVE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SKIN TO EXTERNAL LIFE, IT IS NO LESS SO TO THE INTERNAL ECONOMY OF THE BODY IN PRESERVING THE GRAND EQUILIBRIUM OF THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS (THE BODY BEING A SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS) BY WHICH THE HUMAN FRAME IS SUPPORTED. To a want of personal purification by washing, therefore, the frequency of many of our most distressing and fatal diseases, such as those of the lungs and of the kidneys, termed consumption and Bright’s disease, may be traced, as also the affection so common in this country, and very justly termed ‘an Englishman’s inheritance,’ ‘dyspepsia,’ by our making the lungs, the kidneys, and bowels, which are depurating organs as well as the skin, act the part of scavengers to the entire system, in the elimination of the greater portion of its impurities, and thus perform the proper office of the skin.