The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1875-03-10
r,.u,,ns she ornate.

Ii sixty deg. occur 10 twenty -four J
hours. saws the New York Tribune !
a cold wave. a sudden south WIND !
tba work Of old deaths seythe l
e~frectually than any pestilen-
tial a ent. from November TO March !
II Is no exaggeration to say that one J
third of the population is lighting !
death hand-to-hand. We hardly I
think that the change Of climate pro- {
duced by the clearing away oil the
vast forests Of the Northwest Is
enough Of itself to account for the
increased mortality which has follow
ed these charges. Native-born men
and women of from sixty to eighty
years Of age who have always llved
N farms aud villages, are to-day bet
ter able TO bear the sudden rise and
fall Of temperature than their grand
children In the cities. The London
journals. too, have contained during
the last month anxious and unsatis-
factory examinations into the cause
why the English people are no longer
able TO bear the winters which they
used to welcome in song and story
with such hearty gusto. Instead OF
rejoicing in the Christmas snow
storms with carols and holly ana
yuie logs, they betake themselves to
Nice or Mentone, or sit ~shivering 10
dansD Roman palaces, their feet upon
scaldnf. With us, much CT our ~
creased susceptibility TO lung and
throat diseases may, Of course, be
ascribed 70 the use OF hot-air furnaces
and our sedentsry lives. Hercules
himself, il he had been born in a
SOON with a register pouring out dry
poison, and spent his days Owe an
Office desk graphing a pen 10 lieu Of
a club, Wonld have found his bronchi-
al tubes more troublesome than the
HYDRA aBrmTN6m5Ch and TFcr
harder to Keep in order than the
Augean stables. Our grandiathcrs,
hoWeFer well-built their houses,
found the open fires insufficient 10
warm .hem; no matter how the logs
or bitumineus coal roared ard blaZ-
ed, there was always n gust OF cold
o~xygenated air waiting to rush in
through door or window. The tem-
perature. however uncomfortable,
was %measurably e%qualized, indoors
and out; while we, every time that
we open u own hall-door, make an
instantaneous change Of from thirty
deg. 10 sixty deg. None Of the nat
aral changes Of the climate against
which we inveigh can be SO frequent
or fatal as this; the proof Of which
lies in the fact that in cases Of tuber-
cular consumption life has been
heightened for years by the expert
ment Of tent-life for the patient from
MAY until October in Minnesota,
dhe euro being wrought by the sim
ole absence of the impure air Of a
house and the changes consequent
npon living under a root.
We question, however, whether
even furnace-beated houses will ex-
plain the problem, as the population
Of our smaller towns, and We may
add. Of England, are vet unblessed
with their fatal comfort. We sus-
9eet that the reason why we are not
able 10 bear the winters cold as our
Gathers did, is simply tina; we are not
aLle. Eight American men out Of
ten are victims Of some nervous az
lection, latent or discovered (there is
no need Of making percentage Of the
women they 60 m maSSe). Every
disease Of the nervous system inter-
fefes with the chemical action Of the
body, and consequently lowers its
temperature. The American OF to-
dav who works with bis brain in
stead Of bis body, goes out into nip
ping cold with sallow face, torpid
digestive organs and clogged lungs,
and cannot meet it because Of the
Jack of inward heat bis grandfather
tyith his AK or gun, bis red blood and
ostrich stomach, kept a comfortable
FIRE burning perpetually in his body.
What is to be done about il? Are
we to take up an AK again instead of
the pen, TO go back to fires instead
al furnaces, to let our brains Tor our
childreG's brains) lie fallow while we
look after the long neglected bodies?
Or are we to keep up this yearly
fgbt with the hydra headed death
studying "0ld Probabilities" each
morning to find what hour it will be
upon us, until the whole population
Join the large class that now Gy from
it, migrating from Santa Barbara to
St. Augustine, TO Aiken 10 the spring,
and so home only to perch and Nv
again? There is no one key word
90 solve the riddle for the whole
eOgntry. Neither allopath, or by
dropatb, nor ~homeopatb, can ward
on this growing danger by any of
Sheir secrets. There must be a prac-
deal everyday efor; to lessen each
Of its causes by each man for him
self, first Of which should be the
avoidance Of the dry furnace heat for
our children at least. Let the next
generation have a chance if we have
none. There is nc help for the rapid
increase of neural diseases other
than a tightening OF the worry and
strain, social and domestic, under
which our lives are now dragged /;
iightehs2g any man may attain to-
morrow, bat which will come to
US as a people. only through our
growth in culture and common sense.
The climate temperature in July
Of 100 deg. falling to six deg. below
zero in December-still remains TO
combat with, bat here science in our
houseIsuilding and personal care as
20 bathing, nourishing diet, and ex-
cUeise, a do much for us, as fashion
has already done in dragging Us TO
sea-bescb and mountain ia summer.
aud clothing even our delicate women
IN homespun and seal, and thick
shoes during these February frosts
and thawS.
Pure Expressions.