Disease is carried about in the air and in water by tiny invisible “germs” or “microbes”. You are very apt to breathe them in through the mouth or to get them in your drink or food and to swallow them, and then they breed disease inside you. If your blood is in really good order, it generally does not matter, no harm results. But if your blood is out of order, these germs may make you ill.
A great point is, therefore, to abolish the germs, if possible. They like living in dark, damp, and dirty places. And they come from bad drains, old dustbins, rotting refuse, etc. Therefore, keep your room, or your camp, and your clothes clean, dry. And as sunny as possible, and well aired; and keep away from places that smell badly.
Before your meals you should always wash your hands and fingernails, for they are very apt to harbour microbes which have come from anything that you may have been handling in the day.
“Do Not Spit”
You frequently see notices in public places requesting you not to spit. The reason for this is that many people spit who have diseased lungs, and from their spittle the microbes of their diseases get in the air, are breathed by healthy people into their lungs, and may make them also diseased. Often you may have disease in you for some years without knowing it, and if you spit you are liable to communicate that disease to sound people so you should not do it for their sake.
Tuberculosis is spread in several ways. Here is one of them: A sick man spits. The spit dries and the ger ms are carried into the air. A boy who breathes through his open mouth may suck the ger ms i nto his lungs. A Scout breathing through his nose has a better chance.
A great many people have the disease called tuberculosis, and it is very catching. But you need not be afraid of that kind of disease if you breathe through your nose and keep your blood in good order. It is always well on coming out of a crowded theatre, church, or hall, to cough and blow your nose, to get rid of microbes which you might have breathed in from other people in the crowd. The best chance of getting cured of it, if you get it, is to sleep always out of doors and to get plenty of rest.
Sleeping in Fresh Air
A Scout has to sleep a great deal in the open air anyway, therefore, when he is in a house he sleeps with the windows as wide open as possible. If he is accustomed to sleep in a warm atmosphere he might catch cold when he goes into camp, and nothing could be more ridiculous or more like a Tenderfoot than a Scout with a cold in his head. When once he is accustomed to having his windows open, he will not catch cold.
Many persons who are pale and seedy, are often made so by living in rooms where the windows are seldom opened and the air is full of unwholesome gases or germs. Open your windows every day to let the foul air out.
Food
A good many illnesses come from over-eating or eating the wrong kind of food.
A Scout must know how to keep himself light and active. Once he has got the right kind of muscles, he can remain fit without further special exercising of those muscles, provided that he eats the right kind of food.
In the siege of Mafeking, when we were put on short rations, those of the garrison who were accustomed to eat little at their meals, did not suffer like some people, who had been accustomed to stuff themselves well in peace time and who became weak and irritable. Our food there towards the end was limited to a hunk of pounded-up oats, about the size of a penny bun, which was our whole bread supply for the day, and about a pound of meat and two pints of “sowens”, a kind of stuff like paper-hangers’ paste that had gone wrong.
The cheapest foods are dried peas, flour, oatmeal, potatoes, rice, macaroni, hominy, and cheese. Other good foods are fruits, vegetables, fish, eggs, nuts, and milk, and one can live on these perfectly well with little or no meat.
If you have lots of fresh air, food keeps you healthy. If, on the other hand, you are sitting indoors all day, much food makes you fat and sleepy. In either case you are better for eating moderately. Still, growing boys should not starve themselves but, at the same time, they need not be like that little hog at the school feast, who when asked, “Can’t you eat any more?” replied, “Yes, I could eat more, but I’ve no room to swallow it.”
A great weakness nowadays is the amount of medicine which fellows dose themselves with when there is no reason for taking any medicine at all.
The best medicine is open air and exercise and a big cup of water in the early morning if you are constipated, and a pint of hot water on going to bed.
Clothing
A Scout’s clothing should be of wool as much as possible, because it dries easily. Cotton next to the skin is not good unless you change it as soon as it gets wet—it is so likely to give you a chill.
One great point that a Scout should take care about, to ensure his endurance and being able to go on the march for a long time, is his shoes or boots. I like shoes better than boots, because they let more air in for the feet.
A Scout who gets sore feet with much walking becomes useless.
You should, therefore, take great care to have good, well-fitting, roomy boots, and fairly stout ones, and as like the natural shape of your bare feet as possible, with a straight edge on the inside. Keep your boots soft with lots of grease, mutton fat, dubbin, saddle soap or castor oil.
If feet are allowed to get wet, from perspiration or from outside moisture, the skin is softened, and very soon gets blistered and rubbed raw where there is a little pressure of the boot.
Therefore, the feet should be kept as dry as possible. To do this it is necessary to wear good woollen socks. If a man wears thin cotton or silk socks, you can tell at once that he is no walker. A fellow who goes on a long walking trip for the first time is called a
“Tenderfoot,” because he generally gets sore feet until by experience he learns how to keep his feet in good order.
