The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-11-08
How DO We Take COldl

by sudden changes OF temperature,
surely" is the answer ready upon the
tongue OF ninety-nine out of every hun
dred persons who may read or hear the
question that heads this article. But
how do sudden changes of temperature
give us cold? Too sudden contraction
OF the pores of the skin sudden check
ing of the sensible or insensible per-
splration, sudden change of circulation
by which the blood is thrown, from the
surface inward, upon the vilals, causing
congestion, etc. All these are phenom-
ena which may, some or all OF them, be
connected with too sudden or too great
changes of temperature, but they fall
short, even when tax n all together, of
accounting for that very ordinary, very
amazing, and too often seriously in
furious infection, bad cold.
Few OF us but can account scores of
instances in which we have been exposed
to very sudden and very great changes
OF temperature, from warm to cold,
without other inconvenience than an
uncomfortable chill, while we can also
count many instances in which we have
taken very severe colds without being
able to tell how or where we came by
them. The slight and almost imper-
ceptible, frequently unobseryed, causes
OF cold have not, perhaps, been so close
ly 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 off of
an accustomed garment, even when the
lack Is not uncomtortably felt, the ex
! posture of the feet to wet or chill, few
minutes with head uncovered in the
cool outdoor air, but above all exposure
TO draft OF air, especially, as is gener
ally believed, on the back of the head
or neck, are all familiar examples, of
which most of us have had melancholy
experience. OF the last-the draft upon
the back OF the head or neck-the dan.
ger is proverbial. Witness the proverb,
Spanish we believe it is originally "lf
the cold wind reaches you through a
hole, 60 make your will and mend your
soul" Or the Persian malediction :
" May cold wind blow in the back Of
your neck"
Indeed there seems to be, especially
to peculiarly sensitive constitutions, al
most certainty of cold in such currents
OF air. There may be no chill, not even
uncomfortable GOODNESS, and yet the
sympstoms of cold manifest them.
selves almost as suddenly and fully rs
decidedly as sneezing follows the intro.
duction of some irritating substance,
snuff for instance, into the nostrils. BY
Immediately needing the warning 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 danger is that
the cause, being so slight and coupled
with SO little present annoyance, is APT
to pass unnoticed or disregarded until
too late.
We have all at some time experienced
in ourselves exceptionally sensitive con
dltions under which it seemed i'm posi-
bic for Us TO avoid, as is said, sometimes
taking one cold on the top Of another ;
what 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, is sort o
a sweating cold, one of the most dis
agreeable, if not the most dangerous
class OF these intlict ons. In this con
dition, the slightest draft sets one t
sneezing, and it seems impossible t
E avoid constant accessions TO the malady
But why? The sudden change of tenn
perature theory will certainly not ex
plain those cases where it is hardly DOS
slble to preserve temperature sufti
GENTLY even to prevent taking cold, anc
those cases where cold is taken uncon
sciously. No hypothesis but that of &
direct irritant acting upon the mucui
surfaces of the lungs and air passages
seem to suffice for the phenomena of {
certain class Of colds. That there il
, such an irritant in the air, in quantities
, varying according to the meteorological
, conditions, is well known, but all it:
properties and effects are not yet per
haps fully understood.
That ozone is such an irritant is vel
understood fact; but to what exten
colds, in the head, throat and lungs, arr
due to its agency Is an open question:
, Scientific american.