Air, water and food from a sanitary standpoint / by Ellen H. Richards and Alpheus G. Woodman.

  • Richards, Ellen H. (Ellen Henrietta), 1842-1911.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Air, water and food from a sanitary standpoint / by Ellen H. Richards and Alpheus G. Woodman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    14/246 (page 2)
    a means of securing the highest individual capacity both for work and for pleasure is being aroused as the application of the principles governing the evolutionary progress of other forms of living matter is seen to extend to mankind. Will power may guide human forces in most economi- cal ways, and may concentrate energy upon a focal point so as to seem to accomplish superhuman feats, but it cannot create force out of nothing. There is a law of conservation of human energy. The human body, in order to carry on all its functions to the best advantage, especially those of the highest thought for the longest time, must be placed under the best conditions and must be supplied with clean air, safe water, and good food, and must be able to appropriate them to its use. The day is not far distant when a city will be held as responsible for the purity of the air in its school- houses, the cleanliness of the water in its reservoirs, and the reliability of the food sold in its markets as it now is for the condition of its streets and bridges. Nor will the years be many before educational institutions will be held as respon- sible for the condition of the bodies as of the minds of the pupils committed to their care; when a chair of Sanitary Science will be considered as important as a chair of Greek or Mathematics; when the competency of the food-purveyor will have as much weight with intelligent patrons as the scholarly reputation of any member of the Faculty. Within a still shorter time will catalogues call the attention of the interested public to the ventilation of college halls and dor- mitories, as well as to the exterior appearance and location. These results can be brought about only when the stu- dents themselves appreciate the possibilities of increased mental production under conditions of decreased friction, such as can be found only when the requirements of health are perfectly fulfilled.