National Republican., 1875-07-09
rHr HEATED TERN.

Hints to Persons Anxious to be Sunstruck.
70 the Edftor of the NATIONAL RsDtblfedn:
SIR: We have had our hottest days. The ther-
moueter repenting Of its laziness during the
spring and early summer, suddenly leaped up to
90 degrees Just to show what It could do.
Itis very rarely that We have more than one
thermometrical debauch Of this sort during a sim
gle summer. At least two or three successive
days of e5 or more in the shade can always be
counted upon; but after we have had them. and
the Thermometer has shown how unpleasant 1t
can make things If It tries, we are trested with
more consideration and the heat Is kept within tho
bounds Of the eighties
That we had so few sunstrokes on Thursday and
Friday is not matter TO be wondered at. Sun
stroke is never the result of few hours OF unex-
pected heat. The name misleads people. They
fancy that the sunlight strikes men down Just as
does the lightning, and that II they keep out Of
the sunshine they are in no danger.
Now, sunstroke Is nothing more than an ex-
is rendered abnormal. One day Of sudden heat
rarely exhausts man so that the disease appears.
a Il s 8ouS
mendous harvest Of sunstroke, for the reason that
It would be more exhausting TO the system.
day, and SO overheats himself, may be smtten
with sunstroke, while another man who walks
quietly In the sunshine will experience no bad
This Ignorance of the nature of sunstroke leads
to the irrational conduct Of most people In their
Their usual practice is to drink vast quantities
Of ice-wster, or of soda-water with sirup. They
fancy that by these means they counteract the
heating tendency Of the weather. On the con-
trary, they take the surest means to induce sun
stroke.
to the head. Now, when this occurs there must
be less blood in other parts Of the body. What
ever drives the blood away from any part of the
body below the head increases the pressure oil
blood on the brain.
ice water, Of course contracts the veins of the
stomach, and thus drives the oiood away rom
that organ. The man who fears sunstroke, or in
other words, fears that there will be too much
blood in his VEINS and who, therefore. drinks Ice
head. The latter would probably be the less
dangerous course Of the two.
Soda-water with syrup is even worse than plain
ice-water. It has sll the evil effects which ice
water produces, and It moreover heats the system
by means Of the sugar which the syrup contains.
To put sugar into the stomach In hot weather Is
like pouring petroleum on fre in order to put It
out. The result is never quite satisfactory.
Still worse are all those so-caled cooling drinks
They heat the blood and Increase the rapldity
with which the heart beats. thereby pumping
more blood into the brain.
Not content with trying to produce sunstroke
by these means, men frequently achieve 1t by per-
sistent fretting.
The exhaustion of the nerves is one OF the pre-.
nothing which exhausts the nerves so surely as
fretting. ...
An e4ceptlOnbily aDte pnyslcian mas salu tnat
mental labor never alone produces disease Of the
brain, bat that worry" is the chief source Of
softening Of the brain and that paralysis which is
distinct from apoplexy.
Now, If you believe all Of this exceptionally
able paper on sunstroke, its origin and nature,
you viii comprehend why we have sometimes q
hundred cases In day in New York, while
in Italy, where the heat lasts steadily for four
months in the year the disease is nearly unknown.
The reason Is that most Americans, when the
hot weather begins, go into training for SUM-
stroke, snd ignorantly do everything which can
produce 1t.
What we ought to do in hot water is evident
First. we should keep our minds easy and con-
tented by reading THE REPUBLICAN,.
Secondly, we should drink nothing but mode
rately cool water, and very little of that. Ice
water is the bane Of America, and probably kills
nearly as many people as alcohol.
Thirdly, we should avoid, so far as is possible,
all work which overhests and exhausts us-such
as reading the editorials In the Chronicle, or dis
cussing political questions, or shovelng coal into
steamboat furnace.
q. of course, not many of your readers are addict
ed to shoveling coal. Still, such an amusement
is far more wholesome than the drinking Of soda.
water, and when Intelligent human beings with
immortal souls indulge In such an unpardenable
folly they may be presumed to be quite capable Of
going on board a Potomac steamer and asking ss
favor to be allowed to shovel coal in order to
cool themselves of. HEALTH.