Bible Laws - The Foundation Of Good Health 

Your health is a matter of CAUSE and EFFECT! There are REASONS for sickness and there
are LAWS which will promote better health. The MAKER'S INSTRUCTlON BOOK reveals those
laws of good health. You need to understand and apply them!

   God gave to the ancient Israelites basic laws of health which — if obeyed — would quickly
prevent or stamp out the terrible incidence of disease afflicting our modern world. 
   Does that sound shocking? 
   Biblical health laws reveal in plain language the way to avoid much illness and disease. They
reveal how to prevent contagious diseases and widespread epidemics. They show how to avoid
a host of modern maladies. In this article we will give you the documentation — the proof. 
   Strictly speaking, of course, the Bible is not a "health textbook" or medical manual. But it does
lay the foundation of knowledge, and reveals many health laws which stumbling, groping
mankind has required thousands of years to discover — yet all this time these laws have been
written in the pages of that Book which is so often ignored or lost in a seldom-perused corner of
the family bookshelf. 
   The Bible is God's Instruction Book for mankind. It tells how the human body and mind best
function. It reveals the basic keys to the abundant, radiant, robust and vigorous healthy life. 
   Why has mankind generally ignored this source of health information? 
   Why did so many physicians overlook and ignore it for countless centuries, consequently
having to learn the hard way about preventing sickness and disease? 
   Let's take a brief look at some of the major discoveries of medical science regarding health,
and see what the Bible says about them.

The Black Death

   During the 14th century bubonic plague struck Asia and spread to Russia, Persia, Turkey,
North Africa and Europe. Perhaps one third of the European population died in those tragic
years. 
   Relentlessly, the plague invaded every city, hamlet or village. Millions lost their lives to the
"grim reaper." Panic and confusion were rampant. Death was everywhere. The toll was so great
that bodies were thrown into huge pits, mass graves. 
   What led to the incredible spread of the "black death"? Modern science now knows that
unclean streets, poor sanitation, and filth were great contributors. In the l4th century, cities in
Europe were filthy, laden with garbage. Refuse was simply thrown in the gutter in London and
Paris. 
   The Jewish physician Balavignus lived in those times and saw that miserable sanitation was a
major factor in the spread of the disease. He instituted a cleanup movement among the Jews.
The rats, consequently, left the Jewish ghettos and moved into the "Gentile" sectors of the city.
As a result, the Jews' mortality rate from the plague was only five percent of what it was among
their non-Jewish neighbors! 
   The general population soon saw the difference, but instead of emulating the Jewish hygienic
measures, the people began to suspect the Jews of causing the plague and poisoning wells —
and a general massacre was launched. Balavignus himself, persecuted and tortured, was finally
compelled to "confess" that he and others were responsible for the disease. 
   How was the black death finally conquered? Declared David Riesman, professor of the History
of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania: "Isolation of the sick and quarantine came into
use. These practices not only eliminated the plague as a pandemic menace for the first time in
history but also led to general laws against infectious diseases, thereby laying the foundations
upon which modern hygiene rests" (Medicine in the Middle Ages, p. 260).

Laws of Quarantine

   Another plague which prevailed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in Europe was
leprosy. England, Sweden, Iceland and Norway showed alarming gains in the numbers of
leprosy cases in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. But when the authorities began to institute
the quarantine, in the form of segregation of leprosy cases, the plague was again brought under
control. 
   In Norway rigid national quarantine was introduced in 1856 because of the widespread
severity of leprosy. "Ninety years later the health authorities were able to report that Norway had
only five percent of the number of lepers that were there before segregation. Similarly favorable
reports come to us from Finland and Sweden, where enforced segregation of lepers had also
been instituted," writes D.T. Atkinson (Magic, Myth and Medicine, p. 64). 
   Where did these quarantine laws come from? 
   This same author tells us, "It is most singular that a description of leprosy, as found in the
thirteenth chapter of Leviticus, could have been written so long before our time. It is to be
noticed that such an accurate description of this dread malady as it appears in the Biblical
narrative is not to be found in the literature of any nation for the next seventeen hundred years"
(ibid; p. 25-26). 
   Astounding? Why should it be, since the Bible was divinely inspired by the God who created
mankind? 
   Speaking of the Biblical laws regarding leprosy, Atkinson states: "The laws of health laid down
in Leviticus are the BASIS OF MODERN SANITARY SCIENCE. Moses ordered that cases of
leprosy should be segregated, that dwellings from which infected Jews had gone should be
inspected before again being occupied, and that persons recovering from contagious disease
were not to be allowed to go abroad until examined. The modern quarantine harks back to these
sanitary regulations of the Old Testament" (p. 58). 
   Similarly, Arturo Castiglioni in A History of Medicine tells us, "The laws against leprosy in
Leviticus 13 may be regarded as the first model of a sanitary legislation" (p. 71).

Sanitation and Hygiene

   The Old Testament contains many injunctions which relate to health. If the world would have
obeyed them, its disease toll would have been drastically cut. 
   Until the close of the 17th century, hygienic conditions in cities were generally deplorable.
Excrement and filth were often dumped into the streets. Flies, breeding in the filth, spread and
carried disease to millions. 
   However, the principle of burying excrement and filth was given by the Scriptures over 1400
years before Christ. God told Moses and the children of Israel: "Thou shalt have a place also.
without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy
weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt
turn back and cover that which cometh from thee" (Deut. 23:12-13). 
   Says medical historian Arturo Castiglioni, "The regulations in Deuteronomy as to how soldiers
should prevent the danger of infection coming from their excrement by covering it with earth
constitute a most important document of sanitary legislation" (A History of Medicine, p. 70). 
   Castiglioni declared, "Study of Biblical texts appears to have demonstrated that the ancient
Semitic peoples, in agreement with the most modern tenets of epidemiology, attributed more
importance to animal transmitters of disease, like the rat and the fly, than to the contagious
individual" (ibid; p. 71). 
   Three thousand years later, when the bubonic plague devastated Europe, this knowledge had
generally been lost. Some blamed noxious fumes in the air; others attributed it to the stars;
some thought it was caused by a conjunction of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn; yet others blamed the
Jews, and many blamed God. 
   Generally, the world did not wake up to the importance of hygiene and cleanliness until about
the end of the 18th century. Yet vital principles of sanitation and cleanliness were expounded by
God to Moses almost 3,500 years ago! 
   The Biblical laws of cleanliness, washings, and purification were not all merely customs or
rituals. They protected the camp of Israel from the dangers of contagious diseases and deadly
plagues! 
   States Dr. D. T. Atkinson, "In the Bible greater stress was placed upon prevention of disease
than was given to the treatment of bodily ailments, and in this no race of people, before or since,
has left us such a wealth of LAWS RELATIVE TO HYGIENE AND SANITATION as the
Hebrews. These important laws, coming down through the ages, are still used to a marked
degree in every country in the world sufficiently enlightened to observe them. One has but to
read the book of Leviticus carefully and thoughtfully to conclude that the admonitions of Moses
contained therein are, in fact, the groundwork of most of today's sanitary laws. As one closes
the book, he must, regardless of his spiritual leanings, feel that the wisdom therein expressed
regarding the rules to protect health are superior to any which then existed in the world and that
to this day they have been little improved upon" (Magic, Myth and Medicine, Atkinson, p. 20). 
   Unfortunately, even in our modern world people are beginning to lose sight of the vital
importance of sanitation and hygiene in combating and preventing illness and contagion. Our
modern cities are becoming increasingly congested, polluted, filthy and dirty. Garbage strikes
pose serious health problems. Our air is becoming unfit to breathe because of pollution; and our
water is becoming increasingly contaminated with industrial chemicals, urban wastes, and a
host of modern pollutants unheard of even twenty years ago! 
   Could the continuing decrease of sanitation, and the growing violation of Biblical hygienic and
health principles, be contributing factors in the escalating incidence in modern degenerative and
contagious diseases around the world? 
   Think about it.

The Bible and Heart Disease

   At first one might think it strange that the Bible would have something to say about
cardiovascular disease or arteriosclerosis — but it does! 
   In 1970 heart disease claimed 750,000 victims in the United States — it is far and away the
number-one killer. Similar statistics could be cited for England, Australia, New Zealand, and
other nations. 
   Modern researchers have pinpointed several contributing causes of heart disease including
improper diet, overweight, smoking, lack of exercise and nervous stress. What does the Bible
have to say about heart disease? Much more than you probably imagine! 
   First, the Bible clearly recommends a balanced life — "moderation" in all things (see Phil. 4:5).
It condemns gluttony and overeating (Prov. 23:20-21). Secondly, many Biblical principles
condemn smoking and cigarettes as a lust of the flesh which denies the body. (Write for our free
booklet You Can Quit Smoking and our free reprint "Should a Christian Smoke?") 
   Thirdly, the Bible tells us we should exercise regularly and moderately throughout our lives. I
Timothy 4:8, correctly translated, shows that bodily exercise profits "for a little while" — that is,
in this life. Fourthly, the Bible admonishes us to avoid nervous stress, anxieties, and worries
which can trigger heart attacks. Many scriptures could be cited to prove this. (See, for
example, Proverbs 15:13; 17:22; Psalms 119:165; Matthew 11:28-30; John 14:27; Philippians
4:7.) 
   Perhaps the most interesting point of all, however, is the fact that medical science has proved
there is a correlation between heart disease and cholesterol in the bloodstream. Cholesterol, a
fatty, waxy material which your body needs in limited amounts, is a curse to health when it clogs
vital arteries. Diets high in cholesterol may cause the blood to be burdened; excessive amounts
collect on the inside of the coronary arteries. Fatal coronary heart disease has been related to
diets containing high levels of cholesterol and fat, though other factors are also involved. 
   But what does this have to do with the Bible? Simply this: Dr. Paul Dudley White, the heart
specialist who treated President Elsenhower while he was in the White House, once
quoted Leviticus 7:23, "Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat," Animal fats
are high in cholesterol. Therefore, Dr. Paul Dudley White asserted, "It is conceivable that a few
years from now we medical men may repeat to the citizens of the United States of America the
advice that Moses was asked by God to present to the children of Israel 3,000 years ago." 
   How could Moses have known? But, of course — it wasn't Moses' words but GOD'S
instructions which the Bible records! Here is further evidence that the Biblical health laws
"scooped" modern medical science by 3,400 years!

Bible Dietary Laws

   Proper diet is also important in the prevention of disease. 

   In Leviticus 11 we read of important dietary laws which God gave His people. Among other
things, He forbade them to eat the flesh of pigs or swine, rabbits, or shellfish (Lev. 11:6, 7,9-12).
Were these laws merely ceremonial, ritualistic, and therefore, abolished today? 
   Not at all! Writes Dr. Louis Lasagna, "Many of these make good medical sense,.. The
prohibition of hare and swine as sources of food certainly must have diminished the incidence of
disease, in view of the capacity of these animals to transmit tularemia and trichinosis,
respectively. The transmission of gastrointestinal infections (including typhoid fever) via polluted
shellfish or water also testifies to the apparent wisdom of the Hebrews in warning against such
sea food and impure water" (The Doctors' Dilemmas, p. 85). 
   If you would like more information on this subject, write for our free article "Is All Animal Flesh
Good Food?" It will explore the meaning of these vital dietary laws to our present generation.
Suffice it to say, however, that Dr. Lasagna's comments on the ancient dietary laws of the
Hebrews show that those were indeed wise and good laws!

The Bible Versus Venereal Disease

   The fastest spreading contagious disease in the Western world today is venereal disease. In
the United States, someone contracts venereal disease every 12 seconds! Dr. Geoffrey
Simmons of the Los Angeles County Health Department predicts that by 1975 the present two
million annual cases of V.D. in the United States will rise to five million. But why? What is the
cause? 
   Medical authorities frankly admit that V.D. is spread through sexual contact. Homosexuals
account for nearly one fifth of the reported cases! As long as there is promiscuity, free sex, and
homosexuality, there is bound to be venereal disease. 
   But the solution to this terrible worldwide curse is as simple as it is ancient: "Shun immorality!
Any other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own
body" (I Cor. 6:18, Moffatt translation). 
   What does the Bible say will happen to those who devote themselves to sexual vice, who
dishonour their own bodies? God says: "... their women have exchanged the natural function of
sex for what is unnatural, and in the same way the males have abandoned the natural use of
women and flamed out in lust for one another, men perpetrating shameless acts with their own
sex and getting in their own persons the due recompense of their perversity" (Rom. 1:26-27,
Moffatt). 
   The growing incidence of this ancient plague speaks eloquently that the solution is prevention!
Thousands of years ago the Biblical standards of morality safeguarded against this plague
which blights the lives of as yet unborn generations. There is no safe, reliable "cure" for this
disease — except prevention. Why do millions insist on hiding their eyes from this obvious
truth? 
   When God created mankind He said, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Gen. 2:24). If this one basic, scriptural
principle were obeyed, today, the world would see the end of venereal disease. It would be
totally stamped out! 
   The Bible, clearly, is a remarkable book. Its various portions, written from 4,000 to 2,000 years
ago, speak authoritatively regarding health and disease prevention. The Bible not only gave
laws of sanitation and hygiene thousands of years before the world in general stumbled across
those laws by "accident," but it also gave other fundamental principles of prevention of disease
which the world still refuses to face!

The Solution to Mental Illness

   There are an estimated 20 million Americans who are mentally, ill — suffering various forms of
neuroses, psychoses, and emotional mental problems. 
   The National Association for Mental Health admits, "We know very little about the causes of
mental illness, and until we know much more, we cannot identify any sure way to prevent mental
illness." 
   Wrote Dr. Sarnoff A. Mednick in Psychology Today, "We have been working on the problem of
schizophrenia, however, for more than 100 years, and at this point it is fair — in fact necessary
— to say that we know very little definite about the origins of this disease. Zero" (Mednick, "Birth
Defects and Schizophrenia," Psychology Today, April, 1971). 
   When medical authorities admit they don't know the causes of mental illness, or how to
prevent it, perhaps we should look to another source — another Authority — for counsel and
advice. What about the Bible? 
   Does the Bible say anything about mental and emotional illness? In view of the amazing
statements in the Bible pertaining to other modern afflictions, it would be surprising if the Bible
didn't say anything about mental illness. 
   God warned 3,400 years ago that if men insisted upon breaking His laws and commandments,
and living their own ways, the result would be disastrous. God said if we broke His laws we
would be smitten with mental illness — "The Eternal will strike your minds with madness,
blindness, and dismay, till you grope at noon like a blind man in the dark, and fall into disaster"
(Deut. 28:28-29, Moffatt). 
   The original Hebrew word for "madness" in this verse is shiggaown and refers to insanity.
Fully 25 percent of our hospital beds today are occupied by victims of schizophrenia! 
   What is the solution to the plague of mental illness devastating millions of lives today? If our
modern nations would obey God's laws, God would remove these curses which we have,
brought upon ourselves (Deut. 28:58-62; Lev. 26:40-46). 
   Obedience to the laws of God is the key to mental health. "Great peace have they which love
thy law," David wrote in the Psalms (Ps. 119:165). God's Law is the way to a long life,
happiness and peace (Prov. 3:1-2). 
   God's Law, summarized, is the law of love — outgoing concern for others (Matt. 22:36-40).
Love is the fulfilling of God's Law (I John 5:3; Rom. 13:10). Perfect, mature love casts out fear,
worry, anxiety, depression, and the negative emotions which can wreck mental health. "There is
no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not
made perfect in love" (I John 4:18). This kind of love is outgoing concern for the welfare of other
people, as opposed to self-centered, selfish concern for one's own self. It is the attitude of giving
service to others, helpfulness. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). 
   This kind of love is the essential key to mental health and emotional well-being. It conquers
the negative emotions of jealousy, envy, fear, hatred, vanity, worry, anxiety, inferiority, etc. 
   If a person has true love for others, he will radiate cheerfulness and joy. Cheerfulness and joy
are tremendous antidotes for mental illness. Modern clinical evidence supports the statement of
Solomon who declared, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine" (Prov. 17:22). Also
see Proverbs 12:25 and 15:13.

The Great Paradox

   Paradoxically, the world has come to acknowledge many of the health principles outlined in
the Bible, but still refuses to acknowledge the Source. 
   When will men cease to overlook the Source Book for good health? 
   God's laws were designed to PREVENT illness — to maintain vibrant good health. But the
world only gives lip service to them and ignores their source. What a paradox! 
   It is time we admitted that thousands of years ago when pagan, Gentile nations — steeped in
idolatry and superstition — were propounding all kinds of weird remedies and quack cures for
illness, there was a nation free from idolatrous superstition, which was taught principles of
health and disease prevention which are still valid today! 
   What does this momentous fact mean? Just this: The Bible is no mere book of men — its
authorship is divine! Biblical health laws prove — along with the proofs of Biblical prophecy —
that the Bible was divinely inspired by the Eternal God! 
   There is a Creator God. He "manufactured" the human race. And He wrote an "Instruction
Book" that goes along with His product, and tells how it is best operated. Just as any automobile
manufacturer sends an instruction book along with each new automobile, so God gave us an
Instruction Book — the Bible — which tells us how to live, and how to have robust, radiant
health and vitality! 
   The Bible is the foundation of all knowledge, including the knowledge of health. If society will
build on its fundamental precepts wisely and soundly, we can avoid the tragedy of increasing
sickness and disease. We can begin to eliminate the terrible scourges of modern disease. 
   Biblical laws are the keys to abundant health. They were devised for your protection and well-
being. But if you break them, they will break you. 
   Will you begin to obey those laws? 
   Your future health — physically, mentally and emotionally — will depend in large measure on
how you answer that question!
Moses, the First Sanitarian
 William F. Norwood
By WILLIAM F. NORWOOD, Assistant Professor, History of Medicine, C. M. E.

 
When Moses submitted to God's plan for him to lead the trek of a million
and a half slaves from Egypt to Palestine, he must have been aware of
some of the public-health and hygiene problems involved. Had he
known from the first that his task would involve ministering to the
spiritual, material, and physical needs of his undisciplined brethren for
the remainder of his life, rather than for the few weeks or months
ordinarily required for such a migration, the stupendousness of the task
might have overcome him.
It is often pointed out that Moses secured valuable training in statecraft,
military tactics, and organization while he was a member of the royal
family in Egypt. It was perhaps equally providential that he observed
first-hand the Egyptian system of personal hygiene, which was not
without merit. Further, Moses must have had access to the medical
papyri of earlier Egypt, which revealed to him a more rational method of
health and healing than the superstitious and theurgic system which
characterized the declining Egypt of his day.
While Moses studied and contemplated Jehovah's promises to Abraham
and Jacob, his idolatrous companions at court turned to sorcery, magic,
and enchantments. They trusted in a multitude of gods to each of which
was attributed some definite healing or protective power. Many years
later, after Moses had experienced a spiritual renaissance, he returned
to attack this philosophy which bound his people and which he so
thoroughly despised. Each plague brought upon Egypt was a mortal
thrust at some deity, and each failure of Pharaoh's magicians to rid the
land of its distress was proof conclusive of Jehovah's will to reclaim His
people.
Circumstances conspired to make Moses' task a colossal undertaking
so far as health and hygiene were concerned. First of all, the people of
Israel, although hardened in labor, were not used to the hardships of
travel in the wilderness. There was the problem of water supply—
insufficient at times and at times contaminated. Satisfactory food was
not always available in sufficient quantities. Traumatic injuries from the
battlefield had to be treated. Personal and mental hygiene, and the
ever-present threat of epidemics, were factors to be considered.
About three months after Israel left Egypt. the Lord instructed Moses to
give His people a fuller understanding of His design for them. "Now
therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then
ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people : for all the
earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy
nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of
Israel."
This was meaningful language to people who had lived in Egypt. The
priests of the Pharaohs were almost fanatically devoted to personal
cleanliness. Their idolatrous holiness depended in large measure upon
the precision and thoroughness of their ablutions. The new pro-
nouncement of Jehovah, then, must have been to the Hebrews a call to
personal hygiene and cleanliness as well as to purity of soul. To Moses
it was new light on the magnitude of his task. It was then that the leader
of the chosen people, under divine guidance, put himself to the task of
drafting laws and rituals which, if obeyed, would preserve Israel and
make of it a special treasure to the Lord.

Mosaic Concept of Medicine

The basic concept of Mosaic medicine was that Jehovah, the one and
only true God, not only was the source of all health, but possessed the
only effective power over disease. In other words, to obey the Levitical
code was to secure the protection of God against plague and ill-health,
and to violate the ordinances was to invite sickness and disaster. This
monotheistic factor in the Mosaic concept of etiology, pathology, and
therapeutics, logically decreed that the priesthood become the custo-
dians of the healing art, and the officers of personal and public hygiene.
In this one detail, early Hebraic medicine was not unlike contemporary
systems of healing. The Egyptians, Sumerians, and other ancients also
accepted their priesthood as authority in medical matters. On the
contrary they worshiped a galaxy of gods, and respected the power of
innumerable evil spirits which were thought to be the purveyors of
plagues and maladies. It was also believed that human beings at times
became the custodians of these spirits, and were able to inflict evil on
others. Hence the therapeutics of the ancients was largely a matter of
magic, incantations, prayers, and amulets.
This system was anathema to Moses, and entirely foreign to the code
laid down by him. Severe punishment was authorized for Israelites who
worshiped other gods, and national destruction was predicted as the
penalty for wholesale idolatry. The priesthood was pressed with the
importance of following divine precepts with all the scrupulousness of
the idolators who invoked magic prescriptions, and of meticulously
carrying out religious and hygienic practices with equally fervid faith.
The object of the Levitical law, so far as health was concerned, was to
establish physical purity on a par with moral purity. To the priests, who
had the high function of supervising both religious and hygienic
practices, it was not admissible that the heart and mind could be pure
without cleanliness of the body. This lofty concept of life and service
was designed to make of Israel a nation of priests, and an unusual
treasure among the peoples of antiquity.
In a large measure this was accomplished, even though Israel
repeatedly wandered from an adherence to the law of Moses. One ex-
ample of Israel's failure, with its accompanying direful results, is
sufficient to mention. When Israel approached Moab, the king of the
land of Balak became alarmed, and sought the services of an apostate
prophet, Balaam of Mesopotamia. After much urging, Balaam made the
journey to Moab, only to discover that he was powerless to curse a
people whom God chose to bless. But the depraved Balaam, knowing
the weakness of human flesh, advised the king to tempt the men of
Israel to immoral acts, such as participating in the worship of Bael-peor.
According to the Talmud, Balaam's advice was that the God of Israel
detested lewdness, and "strict punishment would be meted out to all the
offenders."
The scheme worked. Many men in Israel prostituted themselves to the
daughters of Moab. A plague broke out which cost the lives of
thousands. As a severe emergency measure, Moses ordered that every
man in Israel who had exposed himself to the infection be slain. Later,
when the time came to avenge God's people of this disgrace, Israel's
men of war destroyed the enemy's armed forces and brought back to
camp many of the women and children. Moses, realizing the hazard that
such an act was to the health of the nation, wrathfully reminded the
warriors that among their prisoners were the women who had caused
the terrible plague.
Another stern health measure was ordered. All of the prisoners were
executed except the virgins. Further, the remaining prisoners and the
warriors who had slain any of the enemy, or touched any of the slain,
were held in quarantine for one week and required to participate in
strenuous purifications. The booty and equipment were also purified. In
describing the method of purification, Eleazar, the priest, said: "This is
the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses." In spite of
Moses' vigorous health measures, we discover that eradication of the
disease was subtotal. Years later Joshua referred to "the iniquity of Peor
...from which we are not cleansed until this day."
Today, many authorities look upon Moses as the father of public
hygiene and sanitation. Certainly he was the first sanitarian to provide a
race with a rational, extensive, and detailed code of laws designed to
preserve and develop a nation both physically and spiritually. God
works marvelously with educated men whose faculties are devoted to
the great objectives of His program.
PUBLIC HYGIENE "■ Look not every man on his own things, but on the things of others " (Phil. ii. 4 ; I
Cor. xii. 25 ; Gal. vi. 2). i. Secular Public Hygiene Public hygiene is the science of making hygienic laws
meant to promote the health of communities ; and the art of carrying the public acts founded thereon into
practical effect It investigates the sanitary needs of nations, nay of humanity. It is necessarily, and for
obvious reasons, founded or private or personal hygiene. And both in practice and theory the two branches
of the science are inseparably connected. As strict personal hygiene is the surest and indeed only way to
best preserve the physique and beauty, physical strength, intellectual vigour ; to keep the entire body
healthy, to live long, pre- serve a lengthy youth, ensure a vigorous manhood, and a hale and hearty old age
; to enjoy the largest possible amount both of physical and mental happiness ; and the best aid to give life
throughout a healthy, social, moral, mental, and spiritual tone : so, too, is it with public hygiene for the
community, nation, and race. Clearly, therefore, attention to hygiene is not only the duty of everyone as
individuals, but of such as form units in public bodies and states : to enable them to cope with and
counteract the many unhygienic influences always around us, and often so potent that it is only by united
and concerted action we can lessen or overcome them. Human life is valuable not only from a moral and
social point of view, but also from an economic, pecuniary, commercial, and national standpoint. The
financial value of each able- bodied man is over £300: and of each man, woman, and adolescent over
twelve, ^"200. Every life lost which might be saved by proper hygiene therefore represents so much
money lost, not only to the individual's family but to the community and the State ; and of labour which
might be spent in trade, agriculture, manufactures, commerce, &c, to add to the wealth of families,
communities, or the State. The financial value of soldiers, sailors, is even greater, on account of the cost of
their A2
2 DIVINE HYGIENE training, to the community ; an expense in which all share. From several points of
view, therefore, both lower and higher, the great hygienic problem applicable not only to the more highly
civilized but also to the lower grades of humanity, is how to free the mass from diseases inherited from and
through the primal pair, therefore hereditary ; and to develop in the mass the physical, intellectual, moral,
and spiritual qualities of the ideal, and that have already distinguished some in one or other, sometimes
more, than one of these points ; and to reach towards the Divine image to whose likeness all should aspire,
as it was that which Man once lost. This can only be a slow process: and the first step towards it is clearly
to improve the health of the living generation, using the term health in its widest sense, body and soul.
Pursue this as assiduously as we cultivate the health and physique of inferior animals ; and it will appear in
the children, and again in their offspring. A slight gradual development for the better in each generation
would in the end yield valuable results, which, if at once manifested, would seem miraculous. Although
the general well-being and health not only of individuals but of the public at large is, and will always be,
mainly in their own hands ; and depend chiefly on personal exertion and self-restraint ; there are
circumstances under which private persons cannot control the necessary hygienic agents ; and also ethers
in which they themselves will not attend to them. These are cases where persons are not their own masters,
but in the service of others, whose duty it is, among other things, to super- intend the hygiene of their
households, workshops, factories, warehouses, &c. : and also those still larger bodies of people that
congregate to form villages, towns, and cities, among whom hygienic circumstances may arise which only
the public as a body can deal with. These have to transfer their power to health officers or to local and
government officials whose duties are both legislative and executive, and who not only make sanitary
laws but also carry them into effect. In a wide sense, however, it is the people and their physicians who are
the sanitarians : and as such they clearly ought to have a fairly complete knowledge of public hygiene or at
least its broad outlines. For this a vigorous and intelligent public opinion on local government should be
created in many places. Since, until this is done, the action of authorities is more or less hesitating and
inconvenient. Thus, to give examples, the water supply of a town, city, or village, may be polluted or
deficient. Or their provisions may be adulterated. Or the houses and streets may be indifferently drained,
and the air thereby rendered deleterious. In such cases health authorities must act for the people and
remedy the
DIVINE HYGIENE 3 evil. Or the houses of a city may be fairly ventilated, but a chemical manufactory,
an abbatoir, or some other nuisance may taint and render the air dangerous. In such cases, where ignorant
or stubborn persons will not remedy the evil, the local health authorities or the State ought to step in and
compel them. Or, the ventilation of a coal-mine may be defective ; in which case local authorities or the
State should enforce an improvement. Or a community may be in danger of the introduction of an
infectious disease from some distant place with which it holds intercourse : in which case local
governments wisely interfere to enforce a judicious quarantine. Or the health, comfort, and efficiency of
Armies and Navies may suffer from errors in dieting, clothing, air supply, and so forth : in which case
governments usually superintend and make satisfactory sanitary re-arrangements. Or, short-sighted,
ignorant workmen may themselves neglect sanitary rights, quietly endure wrongs, and object to have their
special trade made sanitary, and indulge in the luxury of disobedience, to their own detriment ; lest
improved health might cause an influx of new operatives, reduced wages, difficulty in procuring work, and
an interference with their more immediate comfort. Here the only remedy consists in vigorous sanitary
inspection and strict health laws. In carrying these out prejudices have often to be over- come and
inactivity quickened. While sound judgment has often to be exercised as to the extent to which
considerations of public welfare ought to interfere with the absolute rights of private owners of property
and even with the personal liberties of individuals. At the same time it must be remembered that to
maintain health, private and public hygiene must go hand in hand. Local sanitation will not prevent disease
if private hygiene is neglected. So also careful and popularly followed private hygiene will not prevent
disease if public sanitation is neglected. For the maintenance of general health every one of the laws of
hygiene, both public and private, must be carefully and completely followed out. This branch of sanitary
science, which studies the health and physical condition of the masses ; as with private hygiene ; is based
on the belief that much of the disease which prevails among mankind is preventive. The same hygienic
influences which act on the individual for good or for evil also operate on the public. So that in studying
the latter the food, clothing, air, &c, which so much affect .the one, have likewise to be studied. Public
hygiene is as valuable and as necessary for the health of communities and nations, as private sanitation is
for that of individuals. It is a matter of comfort or misery, sickness or health, life or death, to thousands,
nay, millions, in every community and country.
4 DIVINE HYGIENE Personal hygiene involves the health, happiness, and life of the individual. Whereas
public hygiene embraces, directly or indirectly, those not only of our own nation or quarter of the globe,
but also of the 1,456 millions who now people the habitable globe ; as well as their descendants to all
generations. Private and national prosperity, so intimately connected, are, moreover, closely allied with
public health. How to maintain the latter is thus, for several reasons, a problem of general as well as
private importance. It is as wise of nations as of individuals to study health preservation. State legislation
therein i.> a matter of first importance. And in nothing can the shrewd- ness of any government be better
shewn than by judicious sanitary legislation. While experience proves that, as with individuals so with
nations, those who are the most healthy, vigorous, and longest lived are those who understand and obey
the laws of health, and have the most carefully regulated hygiene. But the great value of public hygiene is
best shewn indirectly by the consequences which ensue when its laws are neglected. When for any reason,
ignorance, indifference, carelessness, antagonism, self-interest, malice, and so forth, either on the part of
private individuals, public officials, sanitary boards, governments, or other authorities, the sanitary laws
necessary for the community at large are ignored, neglected, or imperfectly carried out ; dire results are apt
to ensue in the shape of a lowered standard of health, an increased predisposition to disease, and a high
sick and death-rate. Thousands, nay millions, are daily losing strength, health, and even life from this
cause ; especially in semi-civilized and barbarous countries. This makes it a matter of universal interest
and concern. And, therefore, all should unite to make and enforce thorough and prompt sanitary
legislation, and prevent public uncleanness, dirty streets, houses, people, clothing, overcrowding of the
poor and the working classes, a deficient water supply for baths, and other potent antagonists of health.
Unquestionably, even at the present day, we often pay the penalty in the loss of much health and life,
because we fail in our public hygienic duty. And the non-avoidance of preventible disease among all, but
especially the poor and the working classes that suffer most and have least power to succour themselves,
involves in most countries a tale of culpable neglect, nay, crime, towards the thousands of their fellow
creatures who annually suffer and perish from this cause : and of sin towards the Great Sanitarian, who
says " thou shalt not kill," but " love thy neighbour as thy self," on the part of employers, public officials,
governments, and even parents. Nor, unfortunately, does the evil stop here: for disease and physical
degradation go hand in hand. So that, while the race thus becomes decimated and degenerated, morals and
civilization also deteriorate in a similar ratio.
DIVINE HYGIENE 5 The effects of a defective public hygiene, even in one particular, are varied. For
instance, the health and strength of a whole community, army, navy, or even an entire nation, has declined
by defective and improper food, or lax morality. The inhabitants of an entire village, town, or city may be
slowly but surely poisoned, and become sallow, emaciated, weak, and on the borderland of disease, by
defective drainage, badly ventilated dwellings, and so forth. And some of the most frequent widespread,
great visitations and deadly diseases of the infectious and contagious kind, that have even decimated
nations, have been propagated, if not originated by these, especially by impure air, water, faulty drainage,
and a defective quarantine. To those and such like causes we may mainly ascribe the terrible epidemic,
plagues, and pestilences of the 1st Century, B.C. ; the 2nd and 3rd Century, A.D. ; which dis- appeared
with the latter century ; the Bubonic or Inguinal Plague, which began in the 6th Century A.D., and
continued with numerous outbursts of varying intensity till 1844, when it apparently became extinct, only
to re-appear in china and India within the past few years : the active recrudesence of epidemic small-pox,
measles, and scarlatina, that have not yet departed : the Gangrenous Pestilence or Pellagra of the 10th, nth,
and 1 2th Centuries (Middle Ages), fortunately long extinct: the Black Death of the 14th Century, which
re-appeared as an epidemic five times in 72 years, in one year (1665) carrying off nearly 70,000 persons,
and in five years 160,000 people; no order, age, or sex being spared in London ; the sweating sick- ness of
the 15 th and 16th Centuries, which disappeared, after five visitations, about 1551 : epidemic syphilis of
the 15th Century : during the 1 8th Century Asiatic cholera, cholera infantum, yellow fever, diphtheria, and
cerebro-spinal fever. Instances might be multiplied were it necessary. The indirect effect of lax private
hygiene on public health will also be apparent. Thus, by persistent want of cleanliness of the person,
clothing, household, &c, the seeds of some of the loathsome infectious diseases, for example, small-pox,
scarlet fever, typhus, &c, which are always floating about in- visibly, may find a suitable soil in which to
be developed. And, once begun, they may spread indefinitely till the entire neighbourhood, and even the
nation, may suffer. Hygiene inter- penetrates every phase of social life ; does this at all times ; and under
certain conditions unusual hygienic care is necessary, both personal and public. Otherwise we are likely to
have an increased amount of sickness and an increased death-rate.
6 DIVINE HYGIENE These circumstances are, whenever there is greater crowding of individuals, a
condition which lessens the facility for proper attention to hygiene, especially as regards cleanliness,
ventila- tion, water supply, drainage, and light. This happens in tenement houses, alms-houses, hospitals,
charitable homes and schools, prisons, ships, villages, towns and cities, more than in rural districts. Of all
the trades and professions clergymen, barristers, farmers, agricultural labourers, game-keepers, stand best
in healthiness. On the other hand, the highest mortality is found among printers, bookbinders, clerks,
commercial travellers, glass manufacturers, dock labourers, fishmongers, coachmen, draymen, grooms,
dealers in alcohol. This forms the basis of a special department of study, namely, the hygiene of trades and
pro- fessions : also of naval and military hygiene. There is also in addition to this a hygiene of the sexes,
male and female ; also of the ages, the infant, adolescent, adult, and aged. Also of the temperaments, the
sanguineous, nervous, phlegmatic, bilious. Also of races, the white, black, and yellow. As with
individuals, so with public bodies and communities. Statistics shew that where disease and death are most
pre- valent, it is not among the well-fed, cleanly, and temperate ; or among such as live, work, and sleep in
well ventilated rooms : but rather in crowded, badly aired schools, dirty tenement houses, overcrowded
and insanitary barracks, workshops, prisons, workhouses, and so forth. So also facts and figures may
easily be cited to shew that it is the villages, towns, and cities which have narrow, dirty, badly-drained
streets, or a deficient water supply, small, ill-ventilated houses, and a generally inferior hygiene, which are
most sickly and most readily decimated by epidemics. It is the seaports where the quarantine is most
defective, that the nation has most to fear regarding the admission of some deadly foreign disease. And it is
the soldiers of armies and the sailors of navies which are underfed or imperfectly dieted, clothed, housed,
tented, water-supplied, and camped, which are most sickly, least active, useful, and martial, and most
easily beaten. The village, town, city, state, nation, country, or continent, in which sanitary measures,
both personal and public, are most attended to, are invariably those which shew the least amount of
sickness and the smallest mortality. And the reverse is equally true. Those which shew the highest death-
rate and morbidity are those in which sanitary matters are neglected. The following table, which shews the
death-rate per 1,000 in most of the chief States of Europe will prove this: —

In 1954, under the authorization of Sidney Herbert, the Secretary of War, Florence
Nightingale brought a team of 38 volunteer nurses to care for the British soldiers fighting
in the Crimean War, which was intended to limit Russian expansion into Europe.
Nightingale and her nurses arrived at the military hospital in Scutari and found soldiers
wounded and dying amid horrifying sanitary conditions. Ten times more soldiers were
dying of diseases such as typhus, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery than from battle
wounds.
The soldiers were poorly cared for, medicines and other essentials were in short supply,
hygiene was neglected, and infections were rampant. Nightingale found there was no
clean linen; the clothes of the soldiers were swarming with bugs, lice, and fleas; the
floors, walls, and ceilings were filthy; and rats were hiding under the beds.1 There were
no towels, basins, or soap, and only 14 baths for approximately 2000 soldiers. The death
count was the highest of all hospitals in the region. One of Nightingale's first purchases
was of 200 Turkish towels; she later provided an enormous supply of clean shirts, plenty
of soap, and such necessities as plates, knives, and forks, cups and glasses. Nightingale
believed the main problems were diet, dirt, and drains—she brought food from England,
cleaned up the kitchens, and set her nurses to cleaning up the hospital wards. A Sanitary
Commission, sent by the British government, arrived to flush out the sewers and improve
ventilation.
Nightingale's accomplishments during the disastrous years the British army experienced
in the Crimea were largely the result of her concern with sanitation and its relation to
mortality, as well as her ability to lead, to organize, and to get things done.2 She fought
with those military officers that she considered incompetent; they, in turn, considered her
unfeminine and a nuisance. She worked endlessly to care for the soldiers themselves,
making her rounds during the night after the medical officers had retired. She thus gained
the name of “the Lady with the Lamp,” and the London Times referred to her as a
“ministering angel.”5 Her popularity and reputation in Britain grew enormously and even
the Queen was impressed.

Florence Nightingale, 1820–1910

Florence Nightingale dedicated much of her life to the reform of the British military health care
system. Her practices brought tremendous respect to the field of nursing, and she made great
strides in the reform of hospital sanitation. Intensely charismatic and inspirational, Florence
Nightingale was an internationally influential figure.

Background

Florence Nightingale was born into a prominent English family and received excellent training
in mathematics from both her father and James Sylvester, an important English
mathematician and contributor to matrix and number theory. Nightingale would go on to
frequently use statistics in her work.

In 1854, following a one-year, unpaid tenure as superintendent of the Invalid Gentlewomen’s

Institution in London, Nightingale was recruited by Secretary of War Sidney Herbert for
nursing service in Scutari (located in present-day Istanbul) during the Crimean War.

The Crimean War was fought from 1853 to 1856 between Imperial Russia and an alliance of
France, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire. The service of
Nightingale and her trained staff of 38 volunteer nurses to wounded soldiers in this war made
her famous in Britain. Death rates among soldiers due to hospital infection had been very
high, and the experience eventually led her to the conviction that the lack of sanitary practices
was the cause. This conviction inspired her passionate work in hospital sanitary reform.

Nightingale is also known for her work addressing and improving sanitary conditions in British
colonial India. Her ideas and writings about the necessity of irrigation canals for the reduction
of famine played a significant role in Indian health reforms.

Hospital Sanitation and Reform

Nightingale’s work was based in pre-germ-theory ideas about health and disease, and her
concepts of illness reflected traditional humoral ideas about bodily balance and imbalance.
However, in the 19th century, theories about zymotic, miasmatic, and other environmentally
based sources of infection were predominant, and Nightingale took it as self-evident that filth,
putrefaction, and decay—and the miasmic emanations they sent through the air—were the
causes of individual diseases and epidemics. For the most part, she did not believe that
diseases had specific identities, but, instead, believed that they could change from one disease
to another. She also resisted the idea that disease could be contagious from person to person.
To her, diseases and epidemics were caused entirely by environmental influences; this
conviction was central in her evangelical devotion to hygiene and sanitation in hospitals.
Nightingale advocated strongly for regular linen changing, adequate ventilation, the frequent
emptying of chamber pots, and the regular scrubbing of floors and walls.

When the germ theory was developed after about 1870, Nightingale was skeptical of its
importance, and remained convinced that hygienic practices were more valuable for health
than knowledge of bacteriology.