WHY WASH?

Shannon News, 29 November 1929, Page 3

WHY WASH?

IS IT EFFEMINATE? ROME’S EXAMPLE. (Sun Special.) LONDON, Saturday. Do we wash too much? After Dr. Winifred Cullis had warned the Parents’ Association that it was useless to tell children that they would develop all sorts of diseases if they did not keep clean, Sir llennell Rodd, the famous diplomat and author, remarked that he had been in all parts of the world, and had not found that, perpetual washing was a necessary accompaniment to strong physique. He told the special representative of “The Sun’’ that he regarded with anxiety the way young people stewed in hot baths. To have hot baths, sometimes twice daily, tended to induce effeminacy, he said, and reminded him of the enormous luxurious baths of the declining Roman Empire. The Romans did not conquer the world because they were fond of baths. They indulged in excessive bathing after they had conquered the world. Swimming was excellent, and cold baths good, but. nature warned against too much bathing in winter. Baths in .houses were a comparatively recent innovation in England. When he was a boy his father always carried a portable bath when he was travelling, because there were no baths in hotels.

Theories about dirt clogging the pores of the skin, Sir Rennell said, were nonsense. It was not natural for children to lie too clean.