Part II THE HYGIENE OF THE HUMAN MECHANISM AND THE SANITATION OF ITS SURROUNDINGS CHAPTER XVI INTRODUCTORY A. HYGIENE AND SANITATION: THE RIGHT USE AND PROPER CARE OF THE HUMAN MECHANISM In Part I of this work we have examined in some detail the normal structure and workings of the human mechanism. We have now to consider that care and use of the mechanism which constitute a wise and proper conduct of life, to the end that we may possess and enjoy the greatest possible measure of bodily health, strength, and usefulness. <Callout type="important" title="Important">The owner of any valuable lifeless mechanism, such as a watch, a yacht, or a piano, gives close attention to the proper care, management, and use of his property; and if, as often happens, great sums are invested in such property, this care is naturally all the greater.</Callout> Comparatively few persons own such things, but every one of us—every man and woman, every boy and girl — begins life possessing a far more valuable mechanism which we call the human body. Some of these mechanisms are of marvelously strong and perfect construction; they seem to be equal to any amount of work and to suffer but little from careless operation or unfavorable surroundings. Many are not so strong, but yet with reasonable care give excellent service. Others require constant, intelligent attention, without which they readily get out of order, but with which they do fair and even good work. Much of the best work of the world has been done by persons in poor health; Darwin never had robust health; Heine was an invalid in his later years; Milton was blind; Sir Walter Scott was always lame; Pasteur was partially paralyzed during much of his life. On the other hand many, originally robust, have not only broken down and failed to do good work for themselves and their fellows, but have actually become a burden to the world, simply because they have refused to give to their bodies the care which they would freely bestow on a watch or a bicycle. <Callout type="risk" title="Risk">Improper management and operation of the human mechanism requires not only care, but intelligent care. A locomotive is intrusted only to an engineer who knows its construction, who can detect the evidences that something is wrong, who knows how much steam to apply at different times, what to do on various grades, how to start his engine safely, and how to bring it to rest.</Callout> By lessons on anatomy and physiology, in Part I, we have endeavored to impart to the student the same preliminary knowledge of _the construction and workings of the human mechanism which any one intending to be an engineer must have of machinery before he can master the practical operation of his engine. The chapters immediately following are concerned with the proper care and management of the mechanism under the various conditions of daily life. <Callout type="tip" title="Tip">The principles governing the proper care and right use of the human mechanism and its surroundings form the subject-matter of hygiene and sanitation; and practical hygiene and sanitation consist in the application of the principles of physiology and sanitary science to the conduct of physical life.</Callout> Their object is the preservation and promotion of health, the prevention of premature death, and the establishment and maintenance of the highest possible working efficiency of the human mechanism. HYGIENE AND SANITATION B. HEALTH AND DISEASE All things vary from time to time in respect to their condition. They may be cold or hot, wet or dry. Machines may be in good condition, — in good working order, — or the reverse ; and the human body, the human machine, is no exception. It may be cold or hot, wet or dry, in good condition or in bad condition. Health is a condition of the human mechanism in which all the organs are sound and in good working order. «Perfect health” is much the same thing, since imperfect health suggests lack of soundness, i.e. disease. “* Robust health,” “strong health,” “sound health,” “good health,” and all similar terms are easily understood as signifying various states or conditions of the human mechanism. <Callout type="warning" title="Warning">The common use of such a term as “broken health” testifies to the popular recognition of the fact that health is the normal or sound condition of the machine. The terms ‘poor health,” “‘ weak health,” «feeble health,” etc., are obviously contradictory in themselves, and really refer to states or conditions in which health is either imperfect or altogether wanting.</Callout>
- Degrees of Health. — There are, nevertheless, degrees or variations in health as in other conditions. A stone may be very wet or very dry, or only slightly wet or half dry. A watch may be in tolerably good condition or in excellent condition. Likewise the human body may be in fair health only, or in excellent health, or in “ splendid ” health.
- It is the Aim of Hygiene and Sanitation to secure the Best Health Possible under Any Given Conditions. —In youth fair health is not enough to expect, but in extreme old age anything beyond this may be impossible. Some trades or industries are, from their very nature, unhygienic and correspondingly dangerous. Moreover, the degree of health, as of other things, is largely determined in each individual by personal ambition, resolution, and effort. <Callout type="beginner" title="Beginner">Many persons go through life on too low a plane of health simply because they are too unambitious, too careless, or too indolent to make the effort needed to rise to any higher plane. Without strong desire for improvement, improvement rarely comes.</Callout> One characteristic of the human body in health is that it does its work with ease; but when it passes into an unsound or abnormal condition this characteristic tends to disappear, and dis-ease, disturbance, or difficulty in operation takes its place. A “jumping” toothache, the “sore” throat of diphtheria, the “uneasiness” of dyspepsia, the “pains” of rheumatism, the “racking” cough of advanced consumption, the “splitting ” headache of incipient typhoid fever are good examples. Disease is a condition of the human mechanism in which one or more of the organs is unsound or abnormal, or in — such poor working order as to interfere seriously with the welfare of the entire mechanism.
- Degrees of Disease. — We speak of “mild disease,” “severe disease,’ and even of “malignant disease,” using phrases which testify to the fact that there are degrees of disease or disturbance of the human mechanism, no less than of its health, and the attention which we give to disease is largely determined by its severity. When we have a cold in the head we regard the disease as a trifling matter and expect it to pass away of itself in a day or two. We are apt to summon a physician only when we find that we have a fever, or when some trouble, which at first seemed of small consequence, “ hangs on” or seems to be getting worse instead of better. We are especially apt to call in the doctor when we are actually suffering pain and are unable to find relief, — all of which facts bear witness to our practical recognition of the truth that there are various degrees of disease as well as of health. HYGIENE AND SANITATION
- Different Attitudes assumed towards Disease. — Various attitudes are assumed by different persons towards health and disease. One attitude, represented perhaps by the practice of the majority of people, is to go about one’s work, whatever that may be, giving no thought whatever either to the maintenance of health or to the avoidance of disease ; in other words, to pay no attention to the mechanism and to do nothing to keep it in order; to wait until something happens, some breakdown occurs, some dis- ease has clearly developed, and then hastily to take a dose of medicine, or, finally, to call a physician. This we may call the attitude of heedlessness. A second attitude is that of neglecting any active culti- vation of health, but carefully attempting to avoid those things which are liable to produce disease. In this case persons often give great attention to the choice of diet, to protection against cold, to the purity of their drink- ing water, their food supplies, etc., fixing their attention wholly on the agents of disease and assuming that, if these be kept at a distance, the body will take care of itself. This may be called a half-hygienic attitude. A third attitude — the reverse of the second — consists in actively cultivating abounding health by attention to those things which are believed to build up a strong con- stitution, in the belief that no disease can attack a strong and vigorous body. Such persons concentrate attention on health and underestimate the possibilities of succumb- ing to attacks of disease. This also is a half-hygienic atti- tude, although in practice perhaps somewhat safer than the second; very many, perhaps all, diseases are less likely to appear in a strong and vigorous body than in one which is not in sound health. But if the experience of the race teaches anything, it is that strong men, seemingly in perfect health, often succumb to attacks of disease. It is not safe, even for a healthy man, to swallow the germs of Asiatic cholera; it is not safe, even for a healthy man, to prick his finger with a knife which has been used in lancing a boil. Without in the least undervaluing the importance of maintaining health and physical vigor as preventives of disease, we cannot too strongly affirm that these are not absolute preventives, that they are not reliable preventives, and that in some cases they are not preventive at all. A fourth (and the only right) attitude toward health and disease is that which actively seeks to maintain in the mechanism the highest possible degree of health under all conditions, and at the same time constantly takes all reasonable precautions to ward off attacks of the external agents of disease. This is the true hygienic attitude, as indicated by reason and modern science ; and this atti- tude of mind we shall endeavor in the following pages to encourage, justify, and strengthen in students or readers of this work. HYGIENE AND SANITATION O. Tore THREE GREAT Factors OF DISEASE 5. The Three Great Factors of Disease. — Keeping always in mind the truth that the human body is a machine or mechanism, and agreeing to regard any condition as one of dis-ease in which the body does not do its work smoothly or with ease, we perceive that there are three great causes of disease of the body, just as there are three chief causes of trouble in the running of a locomotive. These are (1) imperfections in the mechanism itself; (2) unskillful operation and care; and (3) unfavorable external conditions. Let us consider carefully the part played by each of these in the maintenance of health and the pre- vention of disease. (a) Imperfections in the Mechanism. — The wheels of an engine may not be perfectly true, some of its valves may leak, some bearing may be unduly exposed to dust. So is it with the human body. Wonderful as is the human mechanism, it is never perfect. A valve in the heart. may leak and permit “regurgitation” of the blood ; a defect in the structure of the spine may make it hard to hold the trunk in its normal posture ; the glands of the stomach or pancreas may be made of poor material and so secrete an ineffective digestive juice; in short, any organ may be of poor construction and so have imperfect capacity for work. Such constitutional defects may be born with us, or they may be acquired by some accident or other circumstance which leads to irreparable and permanent injury. Where they exist they must be recognized and reckoned with in what we attempt to do, although their cure or compensa- tion is by no means hopeless. The deaf mute adapts him- self to a lack of hearing, and in spite of it communicates with his fellows; and men and women with serious organic troubles may often lead useful and, on the whole, healthy lives. Again, every human body possesses as the outcome of its construction or constitution more or less capacity to endure hardship and to struggle for continued existence. In the strong this capacity, loosely called vital resistance, may be very great, and in the weak or feeble very small; but in order that life shall continue at all, every human body must have more or less of it. It is required to withstand heat and cold, underfeeding and overfeeding, the attacks of parasites, the work and the play of life, the infirmities of age. If it be very great, almost all hardships can be endured, almost all diseases avoided or overcome; if it be very small, as it often is in old age, even the grasshopper may become a burden. As we pass middle life and old age creeps over us we find this power of vital resistance lessened. Of all people who enter their seventieth year, a much larger percentage die before reaching their next birthday than is the case with those entering their twentieth year. This can only mean that the ability to cope with unfavorable conditions is lessened as age advances. The body shows by growing feebleness that it is wearing out, and ultimately succumbs to disease which in earlier life would have been a matter of small consequence. Hence it follows that old people must reckon with a poorer constitution, and must give greater care than the young to the bodily machine. (b) Unskillful Operation and Care.— The most perfect engine will behave badly in the hands of an ignorant, un- skillful engineer or fireman. There is a proper method of firing, a proper method of starting; and when a grade is to be ascended it must be taken in the proper way. When these things are not done rightly the engine is very apt to suffer damage, even to acquire structural or constitutional defects ; and in no such case can it be expected to do its best work, or to do any work, with perfect ease. Human life involves the operation of a much more delicate engine or mechanism, The human body is a machine calculated to do work, and when we say that it is alive, we mean that it makes use of the potential energy of foods to accomplish ends which no lifeless machine can accomplish; but it does not do this life-work without management or operation. It is the faithful servant of an intelligent will, and it may be worked or used wisely or unwisely, skillfully or unskillfully. This engineering, management, direction, or operation of a human mechanism constitutes the physical conduct of life, and is one of the most fundamental and important elements in the maintenance of health. (c) Unfavorable External Conditions. — Again, the best work of an engine requires more than good construction and skillful operation ; it also requires favorable conditions and surroundings. If the road-bed be poorly ballasted or the rails rusty and uneven; if the weather be so cold as to make it impossible to keep up full steam in the boiler; if the water tanks be not kept supplied with water, or the coaling stations with fuel, poor work and often actual injury to the mechanism itself — constitutional injury — is the result. Finally, if by chance a stone has rolled upon the track, or a signal has been wrongly set and a collision results, a good locomotive may be disabled or even ruined. So with the human mechanism. Like all other living things it cannot continue its work under certain external conditions. It cannot live without food in a desert; it can- not endure exposure to extreme cold without protection ; it cannot keep sound in a room with leaky gas fixtures, or in a cell which admits no sunshine. It must have pure drink and pure food, and it must avoid exposure to the contagion of diseases against which it has no sure defense.
- Definition of ‘‘ Environment.’ — We have already used and shall hereafter often use the terms “environment ” and “ environmental,” and a word in explanation of them may be serviceable at this point, although they have been defined briefly in Part I and will be further considered beyond. They are used in this work, as in biology in general, for that portion of the universe not ourselves, and generally for those portions of it comparatively near to us. A man’s home, for example, is a part of his normal environment, and so are his relatives, friends, and neighbors, his horses, dogs, and pets, his clothing, and
Key Takeaways
- Proper care and management of the human body are essential for maintaining health.
- There are three main factors contributing to disease: imperfections in the body, unskillful operation and care, and unfavorable external conditions.
- Health can vary from fair to excellent, with degrees of health indicating varying states of well-being.
Practical Tips
- Regularly check for signs of poor health or disease early on, as minor issues can become major problems if left unchecked.
- Maintain a balanced diet and stay hydrated to support overall bodily functions.
- Practice good hygiene habits such as handwashing to prevent the spread of diseases.
Warnings & Risks
- Improper care and management of the body can lead to serious health issues, even in seemingly healthy individuals.
- Avoiding risky behaviors like consuming contaminated food or water is crucial for maintaining health.
- Ignoring early signs of disease can result in more severe conditions that are harder to treat.
Modern Application
While many historical practices and terms have evolved, the core principles of hygiene and sanitation remain relevant. Understanding the importance of proper care and management of one's body still applies today, as does recognizing the impact of environmental factors on health. Modern advancements in medical science provide better tools for prevention and treatment but underscore the timeless value of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the three main factors contributing to disease according to this chapter?
The three main factors contributing to disease, as mentioned in the text, are imperfections in the body itself, unskillful operation and care, and unfavorable external conditions.
Q: How does the chapter suggest maintaining health in old age?
The chapter suggests that older individuals must give greater care than younger people to their bodies due to a reduced capacity for vital resistance as they age. This includes recognizing constitutional defects and taking reasonable precautions against external agents of disease.
Q: What is the importance of recognizing early signs of disease?
Recognizing early signs of disease is important because, according to the chapter, minor issues can become major problems if left unchecked. Early detection allows for timely intervention and better outcomes in treatment.