Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-11-15
Heat is Life-COld is Death.
Scientific American.


There is no greater fallacy than the
opinion of many, particularly the young
and strong and vigorous, that winter
especially a sharp, frosty one, with
plenty OF snow-is the most healthy
season of the year. Very few persons
seem to realize the fact that cold is the
condition of death, and that in both
warm and cold climates it is our uncon-
scious effort to maintain heat at tenn
perature of ninety-eight degrees, that
wears us out. 70 this temperature,
called 'blood-heat,' every cubic inch of
oxygen that serves to vitalize our blood
must be raised by our own bodily heat,
or life ceases Since in cold weather the
maintenance of sufficiently elevated
bodily temperature becomes very often
difficulty too great for our strength,
the advent of severe winter is really
more to be dreaded than a visitation of
a pestilence. The saying, Heat is
life-cold is death, has striking illus
tration and confirmation in the reports
now regularly submitted by DR.. Russell
to the Glasgow Sanitary Committee.
The death rate rises and falls with the
regularity of the thermometer. So
many degrees less heat, so many more
deaths, and vice versa. In one of his
fortnightly reports, DR.. Russell says:
The death rate in the first week of the
fortnight was twenty-one, and in the
second week twenty-five The mean
temperature in the former week was
40.S degrees Fahrenheit, in the latter
39.5 degrees" He attributes the low
rate of the first week to the high mean
temperature Of the preceding fortnight,
which was 4703 degrees, and adds:
This law is good illustration of law
which we frequently observe in these
reports of temperature and death rates
that a week of low temperature pro-
duces rise in mortality the week fol-
lowing" In our climate it would prob
ably be difficult to find more fire.
quent cause of serious ailments
than taking cold. Whatever weak
place we have, whatever constitutional
disorder we be subject to, cold will
surely discover. We take colds be-
cause our vitality is too low to ward off
the effects of the reduced temperature
around us. AS a matter of first import
ance, then, to resist cold and the var
ious arrangements of the system conse-
quent, it is necessary by proper nutri-
tion to maintain our animal heat; sec
ond, to retain this heat by sufficient
quantity of clothing; third to regulate
with care the temperature of the air we
breathe. Contrary to the opinion cur
rent among lovers of cold weather,
fire in bedroom in the winter is
cheaper and better than doctors bill;
for, owing to our inactive condition dur
ing sleep, the circulation of the vital
izing blood is both slow and imperfect,
and hence the danger of taking cold by
breathing cold air is greatly increased.
A cold is the beginning of everything
that is bad. If any one, concious of
having caught one, feels cold chills
creeping up the back, let him apply a
mustard plaster to the bottom of the
spine and the lower part of the back at
once, and by so doing he may avert
dangerous illness before it is too late
and medical advice can be procured. 1t
should never be forgotten that cheat is
life-cold is death