Chapter 41
41. SLAVERY. Slavery is of a prehistoric origin, but was commercialized by the Romans, some of whom had as many as 10,000 slaves. In 1834, the British colonies emancipated nearly 800,000 slaves and the Civil War wiped slavery out of the United States. It does not now exist in any civilized nation. 42. SOAP. Many of the soaps upon the market are impure and even dangerous, and never should be used. Most of the standard white soaps, however, are pure and may be used
freely. Cheap laundry soaps are not only impure, but injure the hands, and many of the highly perfumed soaps are highly better than laundry soaps. Thoroughly good soap can be purchased at retail for not exceeding 10 cents a cake, and for this price one can obtain really all there is in soap. Medicated soaps, except the antiseptic soaps recommended by physicians, have little or no value. The reader should purchase only the standard grade of soaps and should never pay
more than 25 cents a cake for any soap, because any price in excess of 25 cents is for perfume or represents exorbitant profit. Every physician is familiar with soap quality and will gladly give you a list of reliable soaps without charge. There is no such thing as a complexion soap, except that all good soaps aid the complexion. There is no soap safe to use that removes pimples, or keeps pimples or other skin troubles from coming. Soap has only one value, and that is,
its ability to assist water in cleansing the skin, except the antiseptic soaps, which may prevent contagion and which should be used by all who enter the sick room. 99% of the expensive soaps are no better, save for the perfume, than soap sold at 5 or 10 cents a cake. Solar system. The solar system, of which the Earth is apart, consists of eight planets and the Sun, so far as has been discovered. Astronomers have located 465 asteroids, which are small bodies
floating in space and with apparently established orbits. From time to time, astronomers claim to have discovered a new planet, but its existence is not as yet accepted. The following table gives interesting information. Sun. Mean diameter. 866,400 miles. Mercury. Mean distance of Earth from Sun. 36,000,000 miles. Sidereal period. 87,969 days. Orbit velocity. 23 to 35 miles per second. Mean diameter. 3,030 miles. Venus. Mean distance of Earth from Sun. 67,200,000 miles. Sidereal period.
234.701 days. Orbit velocity. 21.9 miles per second. Mean diameter. 7,700 miles. Earth. Mean distance of Earth from Sun. 92.8 millions of miles. Sidereal period. 365.256 days. Orbit velocity. 18.5 miles per second. Mean diameter. 7,918 miles. Mars. Mean distance of Earth from Sun. 141.5 millions of miles. Sidereal period. 686.95 days. Orbit velocity. 15 miles per second. Mean diameter. 4,230 miles. Jupiter. Mean distance of Earth from Sun. 483.3 millions of miles.
Sidereal period. 4,332.58 days. Orbit velocity. 8.1 miles per second. Mean diameter. 86,500 miles. Saturn. Mean distance of Earth from Sun. 886 millions of miles. Sidereal period. 10,759.22 days. Orbit velocity. 6 miles per second. Mean diameter. 71,000 miles. Uranus. Mean distance of Earth from Sun. 1781.9 millions of miles. Sidereal period. 30,686.82 days. Orbit velocity. 4.2 miles per second. Mean diameter. 31,900 miles. Neptune. Mean distance of Earth from Sun.
2,791.6 millions of miles. Sidereal period. 60,181.11 days. Orbit velocity. 3.4 miles per second. Mean diameter. 34,800 miles. End of section 41.
