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The Toilet and Bath

THE SKIN-BATHS AND BATHING-KINDS OF BATHS-THE TOILET- TOILET SOAPS-MEDICATED SOAP-THE HANDS-MANICURING THE SKIN The Human Skin has two principal functions: to protect the body, and to remove, by perspiration, the results of certain bodily changes. The skin consists of two layers, as may be clearly seen when blisters form .

The upper layer or outer skin shows a tendency to form cells of a horny substance, such appendages as the hair, nails, and corns being a continuation of this process. These horny substances have the property of absorbing a certain amount of water. This softens them and causes Gormum Epidermis Sweat Glands Blood ressels Nerve Fibres Subcutaneous tissue.

Hair Shaft.

Sebaceous Glands Erector muscle of ttain Hair root sheath Hair Boot 888 FAT CELLS "The Anatomy of the Skin." them to swell. It is well known that the skin becomes soft by immersion in a hot bath or by having the hands for a considerable time in suds or dishwater, and that this softening extends to the nails, corns, and calluses.

After a warm bath a considerable quantity of the horny scales of the skin can be removed by the use of a rough towel. Nails, corns, and the like when wet can be readily cut or scraped off. A considerable amount of water remains in the skin after bathing, and unless care is exercised it tends by rapid evaporation to remove heat and to cause colds. But normally a certain amount of water should remain in the skin, and if too much of this evaporates, the skin chaps and cracks.

The permanent color of the skin is due to certain pigment granules found in its inner layer. The transient red color, as in blushing , depends upon the amount of blood in the blood vessels and the thickness of the epidermis or outer skin, most of the blood vessels themselves lying in the inner skin.

The skin contains sweat glands which secrete perspiration, and sebaceous glands, which secrete a fatty substance that tends to keep the skin smooth and to prevent it from drying by too great evaporation. This fatty substance also gives the hair its natural gloss. Obstruction of the sweat glands gives rise to pimples, blackheads, and the like. These are the principal facts regarding the anatomy of the skin, which should be understood by those who seek to improve its appearance.

There is a direct and reciprocal action between the condition of the skin and the general bodily health.

The two watchwords in the campaign for the preservation or improvement of the complexion are, therefore, cleanliness and hygiene. Plenty of 1 outdoor exercise, good ventilation, a well-regulated appetite, and a cheerful habit of mind are essential. As to diet, an excess of butter, fat meat, and greasy food should be avoided.

All stimulants, as coffee, tea, wine, and spirits, should be given up or used with great moderation. Fruit and vegetables should be the staples of diet; sweets, cake, and pastry, and also pickles and acid foods, should be dispensed with. If these instructions, with those given under baths and bathing, are followed until they become the habits of a lifetime, the bloom of youth can be preserved far into old age.

Hardening the Skin. -The power of the skin to adjust itself to changes in temperature varies greatly. It can be increased by measures which improve the circulation of the blood, as nourishment and exercise; also by what is sometimes called the "hardening process." The skin may be hardened by living an out-of-door life, wearing light but sufficient clothing with woolen next the body, sleeping with open windows but avoiding draughts, and taking daily baths, first with warm, afterwards with cold water. These steps should be taken gradually, and increased in severity as the body becomes accustomed to them.

Nervous persons, especially children, may be overstimulated by these measures, which may thus lead to lifelong nervous difficulties. The danger is minimized by giving the warm bath first. Cold baths alone should not be taken except by persons of strong constitution. The air bath in various temperatures and currents of air is also a valuable means of hardening the skin. This hardening process tends to prevent colds and their consequences.

Diseases of the Skin. -No general treatment can be suggested that will apply to all diseases of the skin.

Eruptions and rashes are often symptomatic of diseases of the blood and other grave conditions. When a strange eruption suddenly appears on the skin a physician should, as a rule, be promptly consulted. There are, however, a number of common disease conditions which yield to simsunburn, freckles, moth patches, pimple remedies. Among these are tan, ples, blackheads or flesh worms, moles, etc.

Blackheads or "Flesh Worms."- The fatty substance which exudes skin, if not removed by washing, from the sebaceous glands of the sometimes hardens and corks up the gland itself. As the gland continues to to secrete this substance it accumulates and causes a hard lump or swelling. When these blackheads are numerous, they become very unsightly. The best treatment is to press out the contents between the fingers or press the hollow end of a watch key over each speck. The entrance to these glands is in spiral form like a corkscrew. Hence the contents when pressed out have a vermiform appearance, and are supposed by many to be small animal creatures, hence called "flesh worms," but this is not the case.

A warm face bath twice a day, and gentie friction from a soft towel, as above directed, is the best preventive and remedy for this condition. Specifics for blackheads are the sulphate of zinc or of copper, or common potash properly diluted. To use, mix 20 grains of sulphate of zinc or copper in 1 pint of distilled water or rose water, or mix 1 dram of fluid potash with 1 ounce of oil of sweet almonds. Then add 6 ounces of pure soft water. First press out the contents of the blackhead, rub with a rough towel, and apply this lotion with a camel's-hair brush or soft rag.