Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-07-31
Communication 20 the N. X. Graphic
Ice Water and Sun-stroke.

We have had our hottest days. The
thermometer, repenting of its laziness
during the spring and early summer,
suddenly leapt up to SO degrees just to
show what it could do.
1t is very rare that we have more
than one thermometrical debauch of
this sort during single summer. At
least two or three successive Gays of
50 or more Ia HE shade can always be
counted on, bat alter we have had
them and the thermometer has shown
how unpleasant it eau make things if
it tries. we are treated with more
consideration and the heat is kept
within the bounds of the eighties.
That We had so few suDstrokes on
Thursday aud Friday is not a matter
to be wondered at. Sunstroke is never
lhe result Of few. hours Of unexpect-
ed heat. fhe nanle nlsleaas people.
They fancy that the sun light strikes
men down just as does the lightning, aud
that If they keep out of the sunshine
they are in no danger.
Now sanstroke is nothing more than
an exhaustion of the system by which
the circulation is readered abnormal.
Que day of sudden heat rarely -ex-
hausts a man so that the disease APP
pears. A week Of weather fifteen de-
grees cooler than that of Thursday last
would produce tremendous harvest
of sunstroke. for the reason that it
would be more exhaustiBg to the sys-
tenn.
A man who works hard in the shade
on hot day andso overheats himself
may be smitten with suustroke, while
another man who walks quietly in the
sunshine will experience no bad effects
from it.
This ignorance of the nature of sun
stroke leads TO the irrational conduct
O. NEST people i'll their efforts to keep
cool. r4e "a .vvage
Their usual practice IS to drink vast
quantities of ice-water, or of soda wa
ter with strip. They fancy that by
these means they counteract the heat
ing tendency of the weather. On the
contrary, they take the surest means to
induce sunstroke.
In this disease there is always a
rush of blood to the head. Now when
this occurs there must be less blood in
other parts of the body. Whatever
drives the blood away from any par,
| of the body below the head increases
the pressure of blood On the brain. g
Ice water, Of course, contracts the
veins of the stomach. and thus drives
the blood away from that organ. The
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words fears that there will be toe
much blood in his veins, and who
therefore. drinks ice-water, might Just
as we'll go and stand on his head. The
latter would probably be the less
dangerous course of the two.
Soda-water with sirupis even worse
than plain ice-water. 1t has all the
evil effects which ice-water produces
and it moreover heats the system by
means of the sugar which the siruI
contains.
To put sugar into the stomach in hot
weather is like pouring petroleum OF
a fire in order to put it out The re
suit is never quite satisfactory.
Still worse are all those so-called
cooling drinks Of which wine or spirit,
form component part. They hea
the blood and increase the rapidly
with which the heart beats, thereby
pumping more blood into the brain.
Not content with trying to produce
un- troke by these means, men fire.
quently achieve it by persistent fret
ting.
The exhaustion OF the nerves is one
of the precedent conditions OF the dis
ease, and thereis nothing that exhaust,
the nerves so surely as fretting.
An exceptionally able physician has
SAID that mental labor never aiun,
produces diseases of the brain, but
that worry" is the chief source o.
,oftening ofthe brain, and that paraly
sis which is distinct from apolexy.
Now if you believe all Of this ex-
reptionably able paper on sunstroke
IS origin and nature, you will compre-
bend why We have sometimes hundred
cases in a day in this city. while in
Italy, where the heat lasts steadily
our months in the year, the disease i,
nearly unknown. er
Z The reason is that most Americans
when the hot weather begins, go into
training tor sunstroke, aud iguOrantly
do everything which can produce it.
What We ought to do in hot weather
is evident First, we should keep oul
minds easy and contented. Secondly
we should drink nothing but moder-
ately cool water, and very little of that
Ice water is the bane Of America, and
probably kills nearly as many PEOPLE
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