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Show The Effect of Steam Heat on the Complexion. I !T seems not unlikely that a good deal more attention will be paid to the amount of moisture in the air of our dwelling houses since physicians have tome to discuss seriously the relatlon-I relatlon-I ihip of dry air to dryness of the skin. I Chapped lips, chapped hands, cracking of the 6kin and the occurrence of other lesions, even those in which there is iconic pus present, develop because the resistive vitality of the skin Is very 'much lowered by being surrounded by air in which there is not enough water vapor present. It is well known that our modern systems of heating, while producing pro-ducing much more comfort, are not nearly so healthful in many respects as the old fashioned methods. The open grate, for instauce, was a most wasteful mode of 1 heating, since it carried the air out of the room constantly and in large amounts, (but us It changed the air in the room just ns constantly, drawing fresh air from the outside, there waa almost absolute purity of air, and then, besides, there was nn abundance of moisture in the air that is, ut least, ns much as there was ip the air outside the house. ' I The furnaco method, provided free Ingres In-gres of air was permitted, also furnished excellent ventilation, though thero was temptation sometimes in particularly cold weather to closo the cold ulr box and then use the nir of the house over and over again for heating purposes. This, too, usually uuppllcd an adequate amount of moisture In the air. Stenm and hot water hearing, llowever, besides making no provision for ventilation ventila-tion at all, simply heat tho air of the room, and Hun makes it very dry. Ar at thirty degrees will hold much less vapor of water than air n, sixty to seveutjj degrees de-grees and by just bib much the wanner air is' dry and has n definite tchdcjicy io take moisture out of nil the objects in the room. Books and their bindings suffer, suf-fer, furniture becomes dryr easily falls apart, wall paper readily cracks, and Wherever udhesivc material has been used its adhesive quality is likely to suffer. Human beings also nre affected. While most of the moisturo is taken from tho lungs, and ns a consequence the lungs arc nindo much less rcsistent to various forms of respiratory disease, a large amount of moisture is often taken out of the skin; hence the tendency to crack so often noticed. no-ticed. This ih likely to affect thin people much more than the stout, though there I are some individuals who suffer much more than others without tho reason being be-ing easy to discover. The roughness of the skin that results becomes somewhat unsightly, and irritative irri-tative conditions develop which tempt to itching and rubbing. In this process various vari-ous bacteria on the skin surface may be rubbed into it aud Bet up various forms of skin disease. All this is comparatively easy to understand. Besides this roughness and dryness of the skin, with tendencies to furthor disturbances, dis-turbances, the color of the complexion is often seriously impaired. This color depends de-pends on a healthful dilatation of the small blood vessels in certain parts of thu face. The cheeks Bhould haTc a more or leas permaqent blush of low grade pink-incss pink-incss for real prettiness. This ib sometimes some-times secured by means of rou.o, but the artificial is rather easy to delect. "Where there is a dry living atmosphere the little blood vensel shut up rather readily, because be-cause otherwise watery elements would be attracted out of the blood with some disturbance of circulation. In the countries coun-tries where the climate is very moi, ns in England, and, above all, in Ireland, mid jWhere during most of the year there s noj question of diyncss of the air, the w&meul nre noted for their fine compjoxlonn, and,! above all, for the roslness of their checks, f They ncd no rouge nor even Dink talcum M to Improve their personal appearance Practically always near the seashore, this fl sort of complexion is very common, as we kuow from our own Southern coast cities. H In the North, however, our steam hented houses, with the dry, hot, irritating air, in fl Which our women live for many months each year, prevent the development of this rosy complexion or soon destroys it, even in those who had it in their youth. It has been rather, hard for physicians fl to call attention to tho necessity for M haying an abundance of moisture in the 'M nir in spite of the fact that they cm- M phasized the tendency to respiratory dis- H wise winch is likely to be &0 marked in connection -with living In very dry nir. Now, however, that it has become a ques- , tlon of personal beauty and especially M b,eauty of complexion, there seems every r'euson to think that more attention will 1 ho paid to their representations, After nil, a handsome complexion depends not on any artificial aids, but is an index of qood health and of thoroughly healthful M living conditions. If complexion blom- M isbes would not tempt to. the us of new, j highly lauded beautifiers, but to the cor- j reetion of faults in living conditions, then the search after beauty of face l which occupies so many women at the J present time would be nn unmixed bless- ing and not the evil that it somctiucs is at the present time. H |
