Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-11-07
Hew Do We Take Cold?

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.
ored 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.
splratlon, sudden change of circulation
by which the blood is thrown, from the
surface inward, upon the vitals, 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 taken all together, of
accounting for that very ordinary, very
amazing, and too often seriously in.
furious infiiction, a 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 co
without other inconvenience than an
uncomfortable chill, while we can also
| count many instances in which we have
| taken very severe colds without being
abe to tell how or where we came by
them. The slight and almost imper-
ceptlole, frequently unobserved, causes
OF colo have not, perhaps, been SO close
~ traced as they should and NAV 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 uncomfortably felt, the ex.
posure OF the feet to wet or chill, few
minutes with head uncovered in the
COOL outdoor air, but above all exposure
70 graft OF air, especially, as is gener
ally believed, on the back of the head
or neck, are all familiar examples. of
winch most of US have had melancholy
experience. Of the last-the draft upon
the pack OF the head or neck-the dan.
ger Is proyerbial. Witness the proverb.
! spanish we believe it is originally: of
the cold wind reaches you through a
mole, go 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
70 peculiarly sensitive constitutions. al
most certainty of cold in such currents
OF ar. There may be no chill, not even
uncomfortable GOODNESS, and vet the
sympstoms of cold manifest then.
serves almost as suddenly and fullv az
decldedly as sneezing follows the intro.
ductIon of some irritating substance
snuff for instance, into the nostr;ls Ry
Immediately needing the WARNING of tbe
hrst 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 ant
to pass unnoticed or disregarded until
too late.
we have all at some time experienced
IN ourselves exceptionally sensitive CON
dltlons under which it seemed imDossi.
bic for US to avoid, as is said. sometimes
taking one cold on the top Of another y
what gentleman not long since in the
presence of the writer called ss,1mrer
colo: IN which one seems to take the
more cold the warmer he is. is sort of
sweating cold, one of the most dis
agreeable, if not the most dangerous.
class of these infict ons. In this con,
dition, the slightest draft sets one to
sneezing, and it seems impossible to
avoid constant accessions to the maladv
But why? The sudden change of tenn
perature theory will certainly not ex.
plain those cases where it is hardly Dos.
siole to preserve temperature sufi-
Gently even to prevent taking cold, and
those cases where cold is taken uncon-
s,c:iously. No hypothesis but that of a
direct lrritant acting upon the mucus
surfaces of the lungs and air passages
seem to suffice for the phenomena Of a
certain class of colds. That there is
such an irritant in the air, in quantities
varying according to the meteorological
conditions, is we'll known, but all its
properties and effects are not vet per.
haps fully understood.
That ozone is such an irritant is a well
understood fact; but to what extent
colds, in the head, throat and lungs, are
due to its agency is an open question:
| Scientific american.