A Treatise of Cleanness in Meats and Drinks, of the Preparation of Food,: the Excellency of Good Airs, and the Benefits of Clean Sweet Beds. Also of the Generation of Bugs, and Their Cure. To Which Is Added, a Short Discourse of the Pain in the Teeth, Shewing What Cause It Does Chiefly Proceed, and Also How to Prevent It

In Short

This seventeenth-century treatise offers a sweeping domestic guide to preserving human health through rigorous cleanliness and natural simplicity. Thomas Tryon argues that physical decay, foul breath, rotting teeth, and even the generation of household bugs arise directly from trapped vapors, poorly prepared foods, and stagnant indoor air. By discarding heavy feather beds, abandoning over-spiced delicacies, and embracing cold river water and fresh breezes, humanity can ward off disease and restore its native vigor. Its enduring value lies in its passionate, early holistic vision linking domestic hygiene directly to bodily well-being.

The Story

The work opens with an exhaustive examination of food preparation and the foundational elements of a healthy diet. Bread, herbs, fruits, and milk take precedence as the most natural and friendly sustenance for human complexions. When flesh is consumed, it must be carefully timed, salted, and boiled in open vessels using river or spring water, allowing air to circulate freely so the pure spirits within are neither suffocated nor turned sour. Improperly prepared or repeatedly heated foods generate gross humors and bad blood, directly fostering widespread ailments like the scurvy. This vulnerability peaks in the late autumn months when the sun declines, grass grows phlegmatic, and beasts are burdened by poor conditions.

From the kitchen, the text shifts to the chamber, targeting the hidden dangers of domestic architecture and sleeping arrangements. Beds tucked into dark room corners accumulate decades of human sweat, leprous vapors, and foul exhalations, especially soft feather beds that overheat the body and trap noxious fumes. Tryon contends that these very stinking, putrified vapors are the true, unacknowledged origin of household bugs, which breed exclusively in close spaces through the union of human waste and stagnant, sulphurous air, rather than springing from wood or lime-mixed plaster. To break this cycle, he champions hard beds made of straw, chaff, or wool flocks, paired with open windows and uncurtained frames that welcome the cleansing breezes of the outside elements.

Expanding outward from the bedroom, the argument indicts domestic management, placing heavy responsibility on the shoulders of mothers and nurses. Because men spend their days laboring for a livelihood, women control the preparation of food and the regulation of the household. Unfortunately, through indulgence, intemperance, and the heavy use of exotic spices, sugar, and strong drinks, women often foster gluttony and physical tenderness in their children from infancy. Swathing infants tightly and keeping rooms stiflingly hot weakens their natural constitution, inviting chronic illnesses and early distress. Tryon urges a return to simple, unadorned nourishment like warm milk and water, shielding the young from the artificial excesses dictated by fashion and custom.

The treatise concludes with a focused discourse on the persistent agony of toothache. Dismissing common attributions to external cold or the scurvy alone, the author traces dental decay to two primary sources: the foul, phlegmatic vapors breathed upward from a disordered stomach, and the microscopic food particles left lodged between teeth after heavy meals. Physicians offer expensive, sharp chemical washes that corrode the enamel further, proving themselves less knowledgeable of nature than humble shepherds and husbandmen. The ultimate preventative requires no apothecary's art, but rather the simple, disciplined habit of rinsing the mouth with cold spring or river water multiple times each day.

How It Unfolds

• The purity of sustenance

The treatise begins by establishing the supreme importance of wholesome radicles like bread, herbs, and milk, detailing how proper boiling methods in open river water preserve the vital spirits within food. It warns against the severe dangers of over-cooked dishes, twice-heated meals, and heavy meats consumed during vulnerable seasonal declines when nature itself grows phlegmatic.

• The chamber of vapors

The focus shifts to the domestic bedroom, exposing how neglected feather beds accumulate decades of human sweat, disease, and noxious exhalations in dark room corners. This section meticulously traces the true putrid origins of household bugs to closed, unventilated spaces where human waste unites with stagnant, sulphurous air, refuting popular myths about wood or plaster.

• The remedy of the elements

The argument introduces hard beds of straw, chaff, or flocks and demands the constant circulation of fresh air through open windows and uncurtained frames. It contrasts the natural vigor of cool, exposed living with the profound physical enfeeblement caused by stagnant indoor heat and heavy textile coverings.

• The maternal management

The narrative examines the heavy responsibility placed upon women who govern household health, food preparation, and the rearing of children. It criticizes the dangerous over-spicing of infant meals, strong drinks, and tight swaddling practices that breed lifelong physical tenderness, chronic obstructions, and internal disease.

• The preservation of the mouth

The work concludes by addressing the sharp agonies of dental pain, dismissing expensive, sharp chemical remedies sold by ignorant physicians who profit from human misery. It demonstrates through practical observation that daily rinsing with cold spring or river water is the ultimate defense against stomach-born phlegm and tooth decay.

The People

• Thomas Tryon serves as the guiding intellect and central observer, desiring a wholesale return to natural simplicity, temperance, and environmental hygiene. He finds his path blocked by widespread public ignorance, entrenched domestic customs, and the deceptive greed of learned professionals. He emerges not as a detached scholar, but as an impassioned reformer advocating for universal physical redemption.
• Mothers and nurses hold absolute sway over the domestic sphere, tasked with nurturing the rising generation. Many want to comfort their charges, yet they mistakenly rely on heavy spices, rich foods, tight swaddling, and stifling indoor heat, ultimately leaving children physically tender, prone to disease, and crippled by poor digestion. Through gentle instruction, the author hopes they will transform into agents of health.
• Physicians and apothecaries represent the established medical class, seeking financial interest, status, and prestige through obscure terminology and ineffective, corrosive remedies. They stand opposed to true natural wisdom, preferring to baffle the unlearned rather than offer genuine cures. Ultimately, they remain trapped in their own pretension while humble laborers understand nature better.
• Shepherds and husbandmen embody practical wisdom, possessing a truer grasp of natural laws and animal care than university-trained doctors. They want healthy flocks and successful harvests, achieving this by working in harmony with the simple elements of earth, water, and air. They stand vindicated as nature's true stewards.

In Its Own Voice

• Context: Warning against the hidden health hazards lurking in stagnant, unventilated sleeping quarters, the author describes the shocking reality of neglected bedding.

> For, it is certain, that most or all Beds do perfectly stink, not only those in Inns and Houses of Entertainment, but others...

• Context: Arguing for the supreme restorative power of nature's simplest element against dental decay and internal impurities, the author champions cold water over expensive medicines.

> For there is no sort of Liquor in the World so pure and clean as Water; and nothing doth cleanse and free the Teeth and Gums from that foul Matter...

• Context: Highlighting the profound domestic influence of women over daily life, food, and family well-being, the author notes the cultural reach of maternal habits.

> The whole Preservation of Mens Health and Strength does chiefly reside in the Wisdom and Temperance of Women.

What It's Really About

The book explores the profound moral and physical consequences of civilization's departure from nature's simple laws. At its core, the argument posits that human suffering, disease, vermin, and decay are not inevitable decrees of fate, but the direct results of human uncleanliness, intemperance, and trapped air. It questions why society places immense value on surface cleanliness while ignoring the rotting foundations of feather beds and the toxic composition of over-refined diets. Ultimately, it asks whether humanity can recover its lost vigor by surrendering artificial luxuries and embracing the humble, cleansing power of water, air, and moderation.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers who appreciate historical domestic arts, early environmental philosophy, and quirky seventeenth-century prose will find a fascinating companion in this treatise. Reading it feels like stepping directly into a seventeenth-century chamber, complete with earnest lectures on domestic reform and fervent rejections of medical quackery. What stays with you is the striking conviction that the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the beds we sleep upon are active participants in our physical destiny.

Admittedly, contemporary audiences must navigate the book's period difficulties, including archaic seventeenth-century medical assumptions, occasionally repetitive prose, and rigid expectations placed upon women as domestic managers. Yet beneath these historical barriers lies a remarkably prescient meditation on hygiene, holistic wellness, and the dangers of indoor stagnation. It challenges us to rethink our comfort-driven habits and look with renewed appreciation at the simplest elements of the natural world.