Advice to Shakuntala by her Foster-Father Reply of Damayanti to her Husband, Nala. Reply of Sita to her Mother-in-law... USEFUL INSTRUCTION. VOLUME I. 1. ABLUTION. Ablution is the ceremony of washing or bathing the body in water, which has been in all ages and in all countries, but particularly in the East, resorted to as conducive in a high degree to health and comfort. But from the earliest times ablution has been also practised as a religious ceremony intended to denote that inward purity which a holy God requires of all his worshippers. In oriental countries the people almost uniformly observe ablution as a part of their religious rites.* The daily bath is an essential requisite in Indian life, and when the excessive action of the skin is recollected, and that in every square inch of skin there are some 3,000 perspiratory pores, the necessity of From Gardner's Faiths of the World. attention to this organ becomes sufficiently apparent. But besides these little tubes there are large numbers of small glands, secreting an oily substance, which is conveyed through other minute orifices to the surface of the skin, which it thus insensibly lubricates, while freeing the body of material no longer required in the system. It is therefore not only external impurity but also internal waste which finds its way to the surface, to the extent of about 10 grains per hour, which has to be removed. If this oily secretion and the perspiration are left undisturbed, the pores become blocked up, a safety-valve of health is closed, and some malady is almost certain to ensue. In India, moreover, there is at all times a greater action of the skin than in temperate climates, and if more attention is not paid to this organ the health will very soon suffer. The bath is, therefore, an essential part of the ordinary daily routine, if only as a matter of cleanliness. But it may also be regarded as a general tonic, imparting or maintaining vigour and energy, and fortifying the system against the influences of climate. Whether cold, tepid or warm water is used must be decided by the effect produced. There are many persons who, after a cold bath, feel a pleasurable glow over the whole surface. To these the cold bath cannot fail to be beneficial. On the other hand, there are numerous individuals, who, after a cold bath, feel depressed, languid, and as if shrivelled, and whose cutaneous surface does not answer the shock of the cold water by any reaction. If this occurs, or if the fingers become at all cold or white after bathing, cold water must be abandoned, and tepid or even warm water substituted. * * * * * Some persons will bear a cold bath in the warm weather but not in the cold season. The extreme of |
