The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-12-26 00:00:00

GUARD AGAINST THE COLD.

In noticing the considerable excess of mortality in ',into.,
as shown in the Returns of the Registrar-General, conse-
quent upon the suet and cold weather. The 7. foes takes the
opportunity to make the following observations
" The -question which mart interests the public has
reference to the manner in which they may best pro-
tect themselves against the subtle adversary with
whom they are called upon to contend. There is, per-
haps, no country in which the question is so difficult
to answer as in England, Pince there is mine in which
the advent of cold is so uncertain, or so sudden when it
occurs. The period during which precautions are re.
quired is short ; and hence our houses are seldom con-
structed with sufficient reference to the needs of the
winter season. It would, indeed, be difficult to name
any season with reference to which modern houses, as
a rule, are constructed, builders appearing to think,
if they think at all, that an edifice which will re-
sist neither cold n, r heat is, on the whole, best
suited for an ordinarily temperate climate: Not-
withstanding the price of coal, moreover, and the
teaching of those who predict its speedy exhaustion,
we still suffer the heat of our fires to go up our
chimneys rather than into our rooms; on that to be
scorched in front and frozen in the rear forms quite
• usual part of a middle-class householder's daily
experience. -There can be no doubt that these evils
might be rectified, and that the annually increasing
number of people who seek suburban or country
residences might, by steady persistence in reasonable
demands, obtain doors and window-frames of seasoned
wood, constructed to shut closely, as well as shafts for
the admission of air which should be carried around the
fire-places, so that the entering current would be warmed
on its way. A well-known professional man, now de-
eeased, had his house in one of the Squares fitted
up in this fashion, with the addition that the doors
and windows closed hermetically, and that the
entering air was filtered through a succession of
woollen strainers, by which excessive moisture and
smoke particles were removed. He inhabited, in
London, an atmosphere as warm and as pure as that
of the most favonred health resort. To many persons,
if course, the cost of such an arrangement as this would
be prohibitory; but every one may do something to
make his houae warm within, by stopping accidental
chinks, and by providing that the necessary openings
for the admission of air are put in the right places, and
protected by wire gauze coverings, so that the cold
stream may lie broken up and dispersed. Ventilation
is admirable, but a rush of draughts through untie.
signed crevices should receive some other appel-
lation. The struggle of the human body against
cold, it must be remembered, is a mere matter
of weight, measure, and account. Let it be sup-
posed that a given person, taking his ordinary
diet, can produce an amount of heat which may be
expressed as 100. By taking an excess of food he
nuty, perhaps, produce more, say 120; but his range
of power in this direction is limited by his capacity of
digestion. If he is put to live in a cold house, and is
imperfectly protected by clothing, the surrounding air
carries his heat away as fast as it is formed, and he
has consumed, say, 60 of his 120 before midday in
keeping up his temperature to its natural level. In
the afternoon he has to go out of doors into an air
still colder, and he has only 60 of heat producing
power with which to resist the external weather. If
he had previously been in a warm in-door atmosphere,
he would have had his whole 100, or 120, still avail-
able. A person who is unnecessarily cold within
doors is like a spendthrift who wastes his capital
in his youth and has no income left for his old
age. To keep warm, to retain heat within the
body instead of spending it, is just as judicious
as to husband money with proper economy; and
every one who wishes to be able to face cold with
impunity should regard the avoidable expenditure and
loss of heat as foot* extravaeance. To attempt to
' harden ' people, aid especially children, against cold
is all nonsense. CoLl can only be resisted by vital
combustion within he body, and the body can only
burn what is sumllied to it, and that only in the
measure of the capacity of the furnace. Every one
who is exposed to cold draws upon his heat-producing
power for his means of resistance, and-has so much
less remaining with which to meet the next demand.
Persons who live in warm houses and who wear warm
clotting may go out into any degree of cold with
impunity; while those who suffer themselves to be
half-chilled at home must expect to be half-frozen
when they are abroad. Modern science teaches this
with no doubtful voice ; and even if she did not do so,
the experience or the instincts of those who dwell in
cold countries would be conclusive upon the point.

"With regard to the way in which cold produces
its deleterious effects, there is not much to be said.
When people die of starvation they die, really, of
cold, the fire having burnt out for lack of replenishing.
But the bronchitis, now so prevalent and so deadly,
is a quicker road to the fatal issue, a quenching of the
fire instead of its gradual extinction. We all know
the effect of cold upon flu+ skin—how it arrests the
circulation, and how the blue Wood seems to stagnate
in the veins. The lungs are almost as much exposed
to the atmosphere as the skin, being permeatJa by
innumerable fine channels into which the inspired air
enters freely—and on which bloodvessels ramify, in
order thit their contents may be renewed in qu§lity
by the oxygen. When this air comes in cold, it chills'
and stagnates the circulation, and the distended veins
relieve themselves by pouring out a moist exudation
into the air channels. This is the secretion of
bronchitis ; and tys, when it fills the finest tubes,
impedes altogether the entrance of air, and produces
suffocation, from which, generally speaking, death
alone can give release.
• •• •

"Tics moral of all this may be expressed in the few
words that in cold weather all people, and especially
weakly ones, should husband their resources. They
should keep their houses as warm as possible and
should wear warm clothing. It is worth knowing,
too, that the beat clothing for this purpose is under-
clothing. and that an additional flannel waistcoat, or a
second shirt, retains the warmth of the body more
than any external garment, which would not only lie
more costly, but also more cumbrous. The weight of
cloaks and overcoats is a great disadvantage to those
who wish to take exercise in them ; but un-
derclothing is never in the way and impedes
nobody. In cold weather, as in cold countries, oil
and fat are more relished than at other times and in
other places, and they form the best fuel which the
system can receive. Adults would do well systemati-
&le to eat more fat than usual in winter; and
children may often be induced to do so if it is concealed
by any of the familiar artifices of cookery. The thick
gravy of an Irish stew, for example, may be made to
carry much fat that would otherwise be wasted; and,
if the matter cannot thus be managed, it will be
found that nearly all delicate children will readily
take cod liver oil during the colder months.
While household warmth and clothing and food
are thus provided for, we must not forget to provide
also for the requirements of night. The vital re-
sistance is at its lowest during sleep; and we publish
elsewhere a letter from ' lil.D.' • who rightly says
that night is the time of the greatest danger. We
need not follow his criticism of our accepted beds,
further than to say flat they would be simply intoler-
able where severe cold had tube regularly encountered.
We would draw attention, however, to his remarks
upon a way in which charity may be effectively exer-
cised at the present season. It is impossible to
protect ourselves against the risks we have de-
scribed without remembering how many there are to
whom the power of doing likewise is denied; and there
can be no snore acceptable Christmas bounty than to
surround the suffering with the safety and the com-
fort of warmth."