Appendix 7 – Plain Facts for Old and Young

John Harvey Kellogg

Page 632 - "If a seed or other foreign substances has gotten into the ear, do not try to remove it by introducing a knitting needle or any similar means."

Score - Minor

Why 17 – Cleaning Ears (What 18)

Wax usually works its own way out of the ears. Attempts at self-cleaning are usually counterproductive.

Page 631 - “The wax dries up and falls out of itself. Efforts to keep the ear free from wax increase the difficulty by irritating the membrane, and causing it to make more wax."

Score - Verified

What 19 – Ears Temperature

Don’t put cold water or air in the ear.

Page 632 -"Never allow cold water to enter the ears, and do not let the cold wind blow in them." Comment – The result can be vertigo, but this is no more serious that suffering motion sickness.

Score – Unverified

What 20 – Tired Eyes

Don’t use the eyes when they are tired or painful.

Page 632 - "Never use the eyes when they are tired or painful."

Score - Unverified

What 21 – Dull light

Don’t read in a dull light.

Page 632 - "Never use the eyes …with an insufficient … light."

Comments – There is no danger to the eyes in insufficient light. It is only inconvenient.

Score – Unverified

What 22 – Bright Light

Don’t look into a very bright light.

Page 632 - "Never use the eyes with dazzling light."

Score - Minor

What 23 – Reading

Don’t read in a train, tram, wagon or when lying down.

Page 632 - "Never read on the cars, when riding in a wagon or street car, or when lying down."

Score - Unverified

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Appendix 7 – Plain Facts for Old and Young

John Harvey Kellogg

Score – Minor

Why 18 - Feet (What 25)

Tight shoes or socks slow the circulation to the feet.

Page 633 - "The feet cannot be kept warm unless the blood circulates freely in the extremities; and that will not be the case if the boots, shoes, or stockings are tight."

Score - Verified

Page 629 - "Clothe the body warmly and equally, giving special attention to the extremities."

Score –Minor

The warmth of clothing should be adjusted depending on the temperature.

Page 629 - "Clothing should be adjusted to the weather of each day independently. In the winter time, an unusually cold day demands an additional supply of clothing; in the summer time, an unusually hot day may require an opposite change of garments. In the spring and autumn, when the weather is very changeable, it may be necessary to change the clothing two or three times during the day in order to meet the exigencies of the weather."

Page 607 -"Clothing (children) should be adjusted to the weather of each day independently.”

Score - Minor

Why 19 – Children’s Clothes (What 27)

Children are more prone to temperature changes than adults.

Page 607 - "Children possess very little power to resist the influence of cold or heat."

Score - Verified

What 28 – Children’s Nightclothes

Children should wear a flannel night-gown.

Page 608 - "As a rule, flannel night-gowns should be worn,”

Score - Unverified

Why 20 – Flannel Nightclothes (What 28)

A warm night-gown will stop the chill of the sheets.

Page 608 - "as by this means the little ones avoid the chill often given by coming in contact with cotton or linen sheets,"

Score - Unverified

Page 628 - "Avoid sleeping in damp beds and cold bedrooms. A person had a great deal better sit up by the kitchen fire and doze in his chair, than commit himself to the horrible embrace of cold, clammy sheets, and run the risk of sowing the seeds of an incurable illness."

Score - Minor

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Appendix 7 – Plain Facts for Old and Young

John Harvey Kellogg

Flannel neck to ankle underclothes should be worn all the year round.

Page 630 - "The whole body should be clad in soft flannel from neck to wrist and ankle nearly the whole year round."

Comment – Even in the New England area of the USA this is not needed except may be in winter.

Score – Unverified

What 31 – Sitting in Draught

When hot enough to sweat, do not sit in a cool place.

Page 630 - "Lying in the shade when perspiring, or sitting in a draught in the same condition,” (is unwise for the health)

Score - Unverified

Why 21 – Sitting in Draught (What 31) Sitting in a cool place when hot causes colds.

Page 603 – “is as likely to give a person a cold in August, as getting the feet wet in December or March."

Comment – It needs a prolonged drop in body temperature to lower the immune system. If already hot and sweating this is unlikely to happen.

Score - Unverified

What 32 – Mouth Breathing

Mouth breathing is very dangerous to health.

Page 617 - " Few persons are aware that this practice (mouth breathing) so very common, is specially harmful, and many will be surprised when we say that it is exceedingly detrimental to health, even dangerously so."

Comment – This is an overstatement, but does highlight the need for nose breathing.

Score – Minor

Why 22 – Mouth Breathing 1 (What 32)

Mouth breathing causes throat diseases and chest deformities.

Page 617 - "Habitual mouth-breathing ultimately result in serious disease of the throat and larynx. It is also the cause of the peculiar malformation of the chest known as "pigeon's chest"."

Comment - Even though mouth breathing does increase the chance of throat and larynx troubles, it is not a major risk.

Score – Verified

Why 23 – Mouth Breathing 2 (What 32) Nasal obstruction is as a result of a bad habit.

Page 617 - "The cold soon recovers from, but the habit has been contracted, and is continued even to adult years, or during an entire life-time."

Score - Unverified

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Appendix 7 – Plain Facts for Old and Young

John Harvey Kellogg

Passive smoking is dangerous.

Page 604 - "In the street, on steamboats, in public places, in railway cars, everywhere, in fact, except in smoking cars or smoking rooms, we have a right, all of us, to the free, fresh, pure air”

Score – Significant

Why 24 – Passive Smoking (What 33) Side smoke from a cigarette is poisonous.

Page 604 – “(Smokers) take away the pure air from another, and put stinking, poisoned air in its place?”

Score - Verified

Page 622 - "If every house were provided with an efficient, automatic, ventilating apparatus, double windows would offer no disadvantage to health."

Page 305 - "Thorough ventilation of the sleeping-room, both while occupied and during the day-time, must not be neglected.”

Score – Significant

Why 25 – Ventilation (What 34)

In a closed room oxygen falls, carbon dioxide rises and dangerous gases are given off the skin stomach and teeth. This causes disease and death.

Page 620 - "Apartments are made as nearly air-tight as possible; and in these .... thousands of persons annually spend several months of the year, regardless of the fact that with the air which they respire day and night, they are inhaling debility, disease, and death. Life giving oxygen.... carries life .... but oh! What a smell!....Worst of all, the foul exhalations from half a dozen human bodies, - lungs, skin, stomach, decaying teeth, etc.

Comments – It needs to be a very airtight room to cause a drop in oxygen. The body smells are unpleasant, but not dangerous. Allergens and chemicals from modern building techniques are now the problem.

Score – Unverified

Why 26 – Danger of air pollution (What 34)

More people die from air pollution than malnutrition.

Page 627 - "Many millions of people die from want of lung food (air) than from a deficiency of other ailment.

Comment – It may not be true, but it is a very good insight of the dangers of air pollution.

Score – Verified

What 35 – Bedroom Plants

Plants in the bedroom purify the air.

Page 306 - " It is a good plan to keep in it (bed room) a number of house plants, as they will help to purify the air."

215