Our young folks should never sleep in bedrooms that have not the
direct sunshine. They should never sleep in bedrooms the windows of
which are shaded by a piazza or a tree; and if they would have the
very best health, they must live as constantly as possible in the
sunshine. And all who have delicate health must, with their clothes
removed, take daily sun-baths during the summer season. Such a bath
will give them very little trouble, and they have no idea how much
it will add to their health and happiness. One good bath in the
sunshine is worth more than many baths in water, valuable as these
are. Some people admire pale girls. They make very good ghosts, but
are not worth much as girls. God hung up that great sun in the
heavens as the fountain of light, health, beauty and glory for our
earth. Our young folks, by living in houses with piazzas, shade-
trees, close blinds and curtains, and by using in their walks broad-
brimmed hats, gloves, parasols and veils deprive themselves, in
great part, of the many blessings which our Heavenly Father would
confer on them through the great sun.
The above was widely circulated in "Our Young Folks," and has been
copied into other magazines and papers. I can but trust it has been
productive of good.
For many years I have advised, in the case of a weak, emaciated
child, the sun-bath. These little, frail, half-baked creatures that
die of marasmus, would, in hundreds of cases recover, if they could
be thoroughly cooked, or baked over in the sun. With what magical
rapidity I have seen little, ghostly, dying things recover, by two
or three hours daily sleeping and rolling about naked in the
sunshine.
We all know that hot fomentations, sharp friction, mustard
poultices, blisters, and other counter-irritants constitute the most
effective part of medical treatment; it is the only feature which
has continued from age to age in the art of medicine. In everything
else there has been constant change, revolution, contradiction. But
the practice of counter-irritation has continued, without essential
modifications, from time immemorial to the present hour. In exposing
the skin to a burning sun, we get more of counter-irritation than by
all other means; it reaches every part of the surface, and more than
all this, there is, in the sun's rays, a vitalizing power which
comes from no other source. Plants soon die in any other light. The
strongest gas-light will not help them; but they reflect the
gorgeous beauty of the sun, and send up a fragrance of thanksgiving.
Men would become ghastly in the concentrated light of a thousand
gas-burners; it is only in the sun-light that they can live. If this
vitalizing power could flood the entire skin of a pale girl two or
three hours a day, in a few months she would astonish us with her
abounding vitality and spirit.
EXPERIMENT UPON A HOUSE-PLANT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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