Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-02-14
Warm sleeping Room.

| prejudice against warm sleeping rooms
Is very sensibly shown by correspond
ent OF the Q,loen. Says the writer: III
surely requires very little common
sense 10 see that IL must be thoroughly
bad for nine people out Of ten 10 spend
their evenings In warm, comfortable
rooms, with the thermometer at 10 de-
grees, and then to take their departure
Tor chilly bedrooms, along cold passages,
and TO undress in 4 temperature oil 80 or
IS degrees. Even the strongest consti
tuition must suffer more or less by such
an insane proceeding As well might
one expect 10 escape injury TO health by
standing for half an hour In the street
with no extra clothing than what We
have Just been wearing IN the heated
room. Any man or woman deserving
10 be credited with common sense would
before doing anything 30 rash as to ex'
pose themselves to the cold Of the street
take the prccaution Of putting on hat
and cloak. In proceeding, however, to
chilly bedrooms, with the thermometer
20 degrees lower than that Of the room
we have Just emerged from, We actually
stand about for ten to twenty minutes,
leisurely diyesting ourselves even oil the
garments that were deemed necessary
as q covering in our warm sitting room.
What is the consequence Obviously
the immediate effect is that the heat OF
the body flies of and leaves US with 50
much less vitality. Ii is true We are ex
pected 10 Jump into bed with chatter.
ing teeth, and get warm between the
cold sheets. but this is u mOckery, and
only one more evidence Of the utterly
unscientifc way in which We arrange
everything IN our households. II Is but
another instance ui the absurd force OF
habit and custom. What may be very
good thing in summer, when the cool
contact Of clean linen shevs helps 10
cool the heated body, is reverse Of
pleasant or sensible in wiri ~, for linen
being better conductor OF heat than
wooden coverings, Of course rapidly ab.
stracts more heat from the already half
chilled body, aud leaves the poor victim
Of custom actually colder than before.
Now, the immediate effect Of going to
bed in mldwinier in bedrooms which are
not warmed is in the highest degree
dangerous 10 the weakly and the old.
and even 10 the strong. for
abstraction OF vital power or warmth,
which this rapid lowering Of the whole
temperature OF the body must cause,
cannot be- endured without helping,
however slightly, 10 impair the cOnsti
tuition Our hardest soldiers sucCumb
to diseases which find their way iaio
their systenIs through such chills Us are
caught IN exposure Oi this kind, and
even in our houses, safe and comfortable
~ We may Imagine ourselves, il If quite
possible nay, II is quite ccriain-thai
many children, delicate women aud old
people ART, actually killed through the
ignorance aud thoughtlessncss q those
who have charge Oi them. eAhOuld
be- maSim with all who value
their health that they can never lose
bodily WarI.,h without at the same time
losing vitality Whenever they feel
that they haPc lost heat, their first duty
should be b. restore warmth 10 the
body. This brings us 10 an illustration
which. perhaps, more than anything
else, will cOIiyinCc the housewife ol the
truth Of the foregoing remarks. When.
ever child or other inmate ui u house
is suffering from cold the first indul.
yenCe the patient is allowed il u fire in
his or her bedroom. The fact that this in
looked upon Is the first essential to
cure by the medical man sufficiently
proves that warmth is essential to \
cure, aud surely, II warmth in u good
hing rs cure, 1t would he much wiser !
10 use 1t as n preventive, If there be- |
my truth ia the old saying that pre-
rcntlUn - better than cure The Ia. |
,orllc argument against warm bedrooms !
Is that 1t in weakening. But, like all I.
Ithcr half truths, 1t is only true IN cX- /
lrcmcS. Sleeping in badly vcnti- |
atcd hot rooms may be weaken !
ny. but sleeping IN u temper.
urc Of fifty degrees, or even sixty de- /
.rcrs, cannot possibly be- 50. II it were, |
hen healthy sleep in the summer would /
~ Impossible. The usual prejudice /
assumes that warm air cannot be fresh .
would think it 1t hardly worth while
o rebut. Ii ~, Of course, essential that /
lac heating apparatus it u stove, n |
ire place, hot water pipes, hot air ducts .
" gas stoves should not consume the |
oxygen from the room without at the
anne time provision being made Tor the
admission OF fresh air from without
This fresh air from without need not, |
however, come into the room in "a cold
tate II may be- first warmed by pass
ug near to the fire or heating apparatus.
Providing the above precautions be
aiken, there il no fear OF warm rooms
icing injurious to health, while there
= not the least doubt that cold rooms
nj cold passages, into which delicate
women and children are constantly
PASSING out ol warm rooms, are fatal 10
lcalth aud are everywhere causing
Iradly havoc in our midst.