Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-12-07
SEASONABLE HINTS ABOUT
Personal COMFORT.

--- A'Aobo ~ lhC Nlliu anu cOlu air from
outside, and prevents the rapid escape of tho
warm air from beneath it. Every one knows
that the heat of the body is carried off much
more rapidly in high wind than in a calm
The wind blows away the heat evolved from
the body but in a perfectly still air this
neat remains, and constitutes an atmospher-
lc envelope so nearly of the same tempera-
ture with the body itself. that the latter is
not so quickly robbed of its natural heat.
There are some interesting facts about the
body in Its power to make and contain heat
! which are familiar to all, when told, but
which are seldom thought of in daily expe-
rlencc. For example, the body will hold a
great deal more heat than it gets from its
own furnaces. The stomach is furnace,
and our food IS the fuel 1t keeps up a uni
/ form temperatu, in the blood equal to about
9S degrees OF Fahrenheit's thermometer IF
the stomach could consume food fast enough
! to maintain that heat, the body could not
be frozen by any extreme of cold. But in
proportion u the severity Of cold to which
the body is exposed, is the rapidity with
which il loses heat. Some substances taken
into the stomach make hot blaze much
sooner than others, as brandy. To put
brandy in the stomach is like putting pitch
under u steam boiler. 1t soon burns out,
and the greater heat INJURIES the furnace.
We say that the body will hold more heat
than it gets from its own furnaces. Heat is
measured by degrees. On going out from
warm room, the body will Immediately begin
to lose its heat, ana it must part with a GER
ain number Of degrees before it can
to begin to feel cold The direction
has sometimes been given - " Don't
hug the stove, if you are going to set out on
a cold journey" Bat experience says do
hug it. Get in as many degrees Of heat as
you can carry, if it is 500. Then wrap your
self up well, and you can economic these
500 degrees through long ride. But if you
had taken only 100 degrees at the start,
they would have been exhausted midway Of
the journey, and then you would have be-
gun to feel cold Nevertheless, it is an un-
healthy habit to accustom ones self on or
dinary occasions to more heat than is actually
needed. This is a very common fault and
bearson the pocket as well as on the
health. One may easily get the habit Of
requiring two or three more blankets on a
bed than are necessary. Some families viii
burn twice the fuel that others do, and en-
joy less comfort.
The extremIties of the body get cold first,
often to a painful degree, while the trunk is
warm. But SO long as the trunk keeps warm.
in person Of common vigorous health, there
IS little fear Of catching cold by aching
toes or fingers. in rail car riding. it is much
safer for the health to let the toes ache, than
to allow the lungs to feed on the foul air
around the stove.
When YOU set out on winter journey, if
YOU are liable 20 suffer from cold toes, which
many people do in spite Of ''rubbers, fold
a piece of newspaper over your stocking,
which YOU can rapidly do, l. your boots or
shoes are not irrationally tight. This is better
than rubber, which are. in fact, very cold
comiorters in extreme. while they make the
feet sweat in moderate weather. The main
use of India rubber oyershoes is to keep ont
water, and for that they are second only to
stout water proof, frst-rate calf skin boot.
There is not a more yiIlainously unwhole-
some article of wear made than the high
topped rubber boot 1t makes the foot tend
er, especially in children, it gives ugly
gait, and when left on m any weather, the
wearer is liable t0"catch cold. - Saint Crisp
in is the best friend of the human foot, when
bis leather and stitches are honest
Although the body can take in a greater
number of degrees of heat that 1t gets from
its own furnace. the stomach, yet Its capacI-
ty is limited in this respect. For example.
when the hand is warm, You cannot hold 1t
in the air ola hot oven tor a second; but
when it is cold, and especially damp also,
You may hold it here for some time without
feeling the heat very sensibly, and for long
time without being obliged to withdraw it.
And 50 Of the whole body. 1t appears then
that the body may carry less as well as more
heat, than Ehe quantity supplied by its owh
furnace Its extremities and Its surface
often become painfully cold.
In winter, a traveller occasionally finds in
q hotel a deficiency Of bed covering or IN
the sensitiyeness Of disease, lac may require
more than in health. The newspaper for
which he paid two cents on the cars spread
under the upper cover will be equal to an
additional blanket.
\ piece of silk oil-cloth, stitched in the
folds OF a shawl is more flexible than the pa
per, and will last a whole winter. 1t has the
advantage of securing inward warmth with
out the additional weight Of a thicker gar
ment.
The constitutional yivacity and temper OF
a person has much to do with his endurance
of cold. For this yivacity is a sort OF nerv-
Gus fire that lessons the sensibility to out
ward impressions. An Indifferent, milk-and'
water person, without energy and force OF
will, Is at the mercy of every cold blast that
sweeps round the corner. He, and especial
ly she, has no defence but TO wear a dozen
shawls during the day, and sleep under
bale Of blankets at night. One without
any mental purpose, Unfortunately there
are such,) though in vigorous health, is
much more liable to catch cold than a spir-
ited delicate body bent on some positive pur-
suit.
In this world of changeable climates,
there are not few people who get in the
habit of being annoyed by any weather that
is in the slightest degree adverse to their
present caprice. In winter, they don't like
| winter in summer, they prefer autumn
and in autumn, spring is the most delightful
season Of the year. \ snow storm in August
would be charming, but in its proper season
| it is perfect nuisance. For such people,
we are incapable of writing any useful hints.
We hope they viii succeed in doing what
/ they have set out to do, until they are pun
ished into acquiescence with all the seasons.
Of the yeay-that is, in making themselves
comfortable, no matter what wind blows, or
what sun nshines.-CentJgy.