About

This blog will be about excerpts from the book by Robert Lyster  M.D. in 1923 on "A first course in hygiene" which was previously entitled "First Stage in Hygiene". I found this book in our atic at home in Mauritius among a number of books my dad had collected as a small treasure of knowledge. I think this book has gone past copyright and therefore available to copy freely (as evidenced by a copy on archive.org).

I'll be commenting but mainly replicating some parts of the book I find  the most interesting. I believe medicine has advanced quite significantly since 1923 but many of the ideas proposed in the book remind us of the basics of hygiene, which, I think, have been forgotten in recent years as we become auto-piloted by informercials, adverts for health products, kitchen detergents, and miracle diets etc... that are driven by profit maximisation rather than well-being improvement for one and all...

Lyster wrote this book at a time when there was a growing belief that hygiene and public health were  to be taken seriously if we were to eradicate diseases and prosper as a modern society (UK in this case).  The articles vary widely from discussions on foods to discussions on water supply and impurities in water. I will not be following the same logical sequence Lyster used in the book. Rather, I'll offer the excerpts that I think are most relevant and useful and ignore the basics that are now taught at secondary school level.

 Let's see how far we get and whether we think these articles are sorely outdated or really still make a lot of sense!