THE TRIPLE BATH: WATER, AIR, LIGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17862, 2 June 1926, Page 8

THE TRIPLE BATH: WATER, AIR, LIGHT.

BODY NEEDS THE LOT IF IT IS TO BE HEALTHY.

Ihe body, to be healthy, needs kinds of bath—water, air and light,” declares Dr. C. W. Saleeby, in an article on “Clothing” to be published in the May issue of “The Bulletin.” the organ of the New Health Society, Sentinel House, Southampton Row, W.C. lie adds the perhaps difficult advice that the cult of the. triple bath should be followed “when possible” with the body free from clothes. W e dress for decoration, decency and defence,” he goes on. “Health requires, at times, defence against cold an d " et mechanical injury. At other times, the less clothing the better. Decency depends on custom, which varies. Women are fortunate in that nowadays custom regards as decent a freedom of body and exposure of skin which were formerly condemned, and anaemia is rare and consumption rapidly declines amongst women accordingly. “In so far as we must wear clothes for use, as distinguished from ostentation or limitation, they should be as light in weight and limited in extent as possible. The best way to ‘keep out the cold’ is to have active internal fires, which make plenty of heat. The muscles are the fireplaces of the body. No clothing will keep a corpse warm. “Since clothing is not unfairly to be called a necessary evil, we must minimise its evil as far as possible. First, all clothing must be loose. Any tight or hard clothing is an abomination, and all such cause local injury; a hard hat hurts the hair, a .hard corset does manifold injury, a tight boot causes corns, and so on. “All clothing next the skin should be absorbent and washable. Clothing is abused not only when it is tight, hard, non-absorbent, but also when it unnecessarily arrests the ultra-viofet rays of complete sunlight. Where possible we should wear clothing of loose texture, between the fibres of which the precious light can enter, also we can and should choose materials such as artificial silk, always white if possible, which obstructs the ultra-violet rays less than anything else.”