American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-10-26
How Do We Take Cold!

BY sudden changes of temperature
| surely" is the answer ready upon the
| tongue of ninety-nine out of every hun
| drcu persons who may read or hear the
question that heads this article. But how
| do sudden changes of temperature give lis
cold? Too sudden contraction of the
pores of the skin /; sudden checking of the
sensible or insensible perspiration, sud
den change of circulation by which tie
blood is thrown, from the surface inward.
upon the vitals, causing congestion, etc.
All these are phenomena which may.
some or all of them, be connected with too
great changes of temperature. but they
fall short, even when taken all together,
of accounting for that very ordinary, very
| amazing, and too often seriously injurious
infection, a bad cold.
Few of us but can count scores of in
stances in which we have been exposed to
very sudden and very great changes of
temperature, from warm to cold. without
other Inconvenience than an uncomforta-
BILE chill, while we can also count many
instances in which we have taken very Sc
we're colds without being able to tell how
or where we came by them. The slight
and almost imperceptible, frequently I'M
observed, causes of cold have not, per-
haps, been as closely traced as they should
and may be. 1t seems not so much the
change as the kind of change which gives
rise to the unpleasant result. The leaving
Oft of an accustomed garment, even when
the lack is not uncOmtOrtably felt. the eX-
posture of the feet to wet or chill, a few
minutes with the head uncovered in the
cool outdoor air, but above all exposure
to a draft of air, especially. as is generally
believed, on the back OF the head or neck.
are all familiar examples, of which most
of lis have had melancholy experience.
OF the last-Ihe draft upon the back OF the
head or neck-the danger is proverbial.
Witness the prOverb, Spanish we believe
it is originally: 6! Ii the cold wind reach
you through hole, go make your will
and mend your soul" Or the Persian
malediction: MAY cold wind Llow in
the back of your neck"
Indeed there seems to be, especially to
peculiarly sensitive constitutions. almost
II certainty of cold in such currents of air.
There may be no chill, not even uncOm-
Portable GOODNESS, and yet the symptoms
of a cold manifest themselves almost as
suddenly and fully as decidedly as sneeZ-
ing follows the Introduction of some irri-
tating substance. snuff, for instance, into
the nOStrils. BY Immediately needing
the warming of the first premOnitOry
sneeZe, and at once changing the position
of things so as to avoid the cause, the cold
may be and often is averted. But the dam
ger is that the cause, being so slight and
coupled with SO little present annoyance,
is apt to pass unnoticed or disregarded I'M
til too late.
We have all at some time experienced
in ourselves exceptionally sensitive con-
ditiOns under which it seemed impossible
for us to avoid, as is said, sometimes
stalking one cold on the top of another -
what a gentleman not long since in the
presence of the writer called ''summer
cold" in which one seems to take the more
cold the warmer he is; it is a sort of
sweating cold, one of the most disagreeable
if not the most dangerous class of these
infections. In this condition, the slightest
draft sets one to sneeZing, and it seems
impossible to avoid constant accessiOns to
the malady. But why? The sudden
change of temperature theory will GER
tainly not explain those cases where it is
hardly possible to preserve temperature
sufficiently even to prevent taking cold,
and those cases where cold is taken I'M
No hypothesis but that of
direct irritant acting upon the mucous sur
faces of the lungs and air passages seems
to suffice for the phenomena of certain
class of colds. That there is such an ir-
ritant in the air, in quantities varying ac-
cOrding to the meteorological conditions.
is well known. but all its properties and
effects are not yet perhaps fully under
american.