Yep! The Golden Rule is common to a number of "sacred" texts, and though it is often stated in diverse ways, it essentially means the same thing!
Remember a while back when you wrote that present day Moslems are now at a stage of evolution not unlike that of
Europeans in the Dark and Middle Ages (700-1500 AD)? I tend to agree with you.
But what is amazing is that very many so-called "whites" or "whities" are ignorant (or pretend to be ignorant) of the fact that they are descended from folks who, at some periods in history, were living in "darkness" and in unhygienic and unsanitary conditions which brought on plagues, diseases and famines. They now gloat, or so it seems, at the hapless Nigerian Moslems who apparently are now at a stage of evolution not unlike that of Christian Europeans during the Dark and Middle Ages.
BTW, at one time in Christian Europe, it was generally considered wrong to kill ---- not even fleas. A flea was thought not to have a soul and therefore not to have an afterlife. So, kindly fanatic Christian Europeans refrained from getting rid of fleas to spare them since they were not going to have an afterlife. Personal hygiene was very poor as folks seldom bathed and there was practically no sanitation. Shit and urine were indiscriminately dumped in the streets, fields and rivers, and the air everywhere had the stench of shit! And some folks even refrained from blowing their nose as they thought the stuff that came out was precious brain matter!!! Such was the ignorance of the folks then.
Conditions were rife for pestilences. Result: the scourge of the Black Death and the Bubonic Plague which decimated the population Europe!
Many modern folks will do well to realize that, but for the grace of God, they would have been born as Moslems and all that that circumstance would imply for them today.
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A Brief History Of Cleaning
cleaninglink.com
Today, we know that sanitation makes a tremendous contribution to preventing disease and
keeping people healthy.
But is wasn't always that way. Throughout most of our history, sanitation practices were practically nonexistent. Yet the history of sanitation dates back at least 7.000 years, to the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.
7,000 YEARS AGO
The Babylonians discovered that contaminated water could cause disease. They brought in
fresh water every day.
2,000 YEARS AGO
The physician Hippocrates discovered that cleansing could prevent infection.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Made great progress in the area of sanitation.
Built aqueducts to bring in fresh water, and built sewer systems and public baths.
However, with the fall of the Roman Empire, much of the knowledge the Romans developed
was lost, and was not passed on.
MEDIEVAL TIMES
Were truly the Dark Ages as far as sanitation was concerned.
Towns were dirty and crowded, and disease and epidemics spread unchecked because of the lack of sanitation.
Water was contaminated, and personal hygiene was virtually unknown.
Tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria, smallpox, yellow fever, all were rampant.
As many children died as lived, and the average life span was under 30 years.
The worst epidemic during this period was the Black Death, from 1438-1441, which spread to such proportions that 60 million people died, which at the time was one-fourth the population of the world.
19TH. CENTURY
In New York City, living conditions were as nearly as filthy as in the middle ages, and yearly
epidemics swept through populations, killing many.
The average life span was less than age 40.
But during the mid 1800’s, it was discovered between germs and disease was proven.
Soaps, disinfectants, and pharmaceuticals began to be developed, and it was first recognized that disease could be controlled.
This began the Sanitation Revolution, and public health practices such as garbage collection,
water treatment, public health departments and regulations, as well as personal bathing, became part of the culture.
The death rate in children dropped, and the average life span increased over the years, to age 74.
Water Quality in the River Thames
Hygiene in England from acient times to ca. mid-19th Century
At first, each house had its own midden, but as population increased less land was available. During Medieval times, the waste (both domestic and manure from animals) consequently over-flowed or was dumped in the streets and began to run down the unpaved and uncleaned streets. Some half-wild pigs roaming free scavenged the household middens, but they became such a nuisance that stray swine were killed. However, they were replaced by scavenging ravens and kites. The refuse could not be burned because of the fire risk in a medieval town.
By the 13th century, rules to control waste dumping were devised and eventually waste collection was implemented. However, although cesspools existed, they often overflowed because they were not emptied regularly. In addition, illegal dumping in rivers continued. The Great Fire of London in 1666 temporarily cleansed the streets. The net result was the deterioration of watercourses. The main problems included the over-flow of latrines, especially during storm events, and the siltation of watercourses. New channels were also constructed to transfer water supplies by the end of the 16th century. The impermeable surface of the paved streets increased runoff. It was not until the 18th century that a sewerage system was devised. By the end of the 18th century, polluted rivers were covered to form part of the sewerage system due to health reasons. These are now called the 'lost' rivers of London. Despite continued pollution, the Thames still supported fish at this time.
Early in the 19th century (1800-1850), the Industrial Revolution provided industrial wastes, especially from chemical and gas industries. Phenols and ammonia, in particular, are very toxic to aquatic life and have high oxygen demands. There was also dramatic population expansion, and rural depopulation. The development of the railways increased the influx of people into urban centres. At this time there was the introduction of the WC. Human waste collected in cess-pools beneath privies, discharging into sewers by law, but lots of surface sewers remained. However, by the 1850s the river smell was notorious. The churning up of paddle boats of sewage deposited on the river-bed was particularly vile. 1858 was the year of 'The Great Stink'. One outcome were cholera epidemics (1831, 1848, 1853 and 1865) caused mainly by the extraction of water from wells polluted by sewage. In 1849, 18,000 deaths occurred in London, and in 1854 therev were another 20,000 deaths.
Excerped from smuc.ac.uk
encarta.msn.com
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