The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-12-09

Why SO MANY OLD PEOPLE DRoP OFF II
COLD WEATHER-lt Is always a matter OF
great moment to obtain an equitable TEN.
peratnre iii the teI room. \ tod room the
air Of which j. subject ~ great aud frequent
and rapid change, OF tc oera.u.cl y always a
trap for danger. l. person, whp are Ia the
prime of lite, aud who are il robust health.
tins DANGER ls le-- pronounced, but t. the
young and the feeble ii i a most serious
danger II j. e>pc .la.y dangerous t. aged
people to sleep IN 4 room that i easily low
cred in warmth. When the g-eat waves ofcold
come IL the winter season, J!4 people begin
70 drop of with a rapIdty that i perfectly
startling. We take up the list OF death,
during these seasons. aud the most marked
OF facts j the number Of deceased aged peO.
sons. Il i like ~ epidemic Vi death ~ old
age. Tn fatal event come, about some
what in this way. The room IL which the
enteebled persons has been sitting before
retiring 10 rest Is quite warm,
ani then the bed room i, entered.
The bedroom perchance has 40 fire
in i, or ii FIRE i lighted, provision is not
made 10 keep il alight for more than az hour
or two. The result i that in the early part
Of Tie morning, from three - four O'Clock,
when tie temperature of the air Id all parts
Is lowest, the glow from tile fire on stove
which should warm the room i, cold to an
extreme degree. La country house, the
water will often be found frozen in the hand
basins or ewer- under these conditions.
Meanwhile. the sleeper lies UNCONSCIOUS
Of the great chance which i taking place in
tie air an ln1 HIM Slowly ana surely
there Is a decline of temperature to the
extent, it may be Of thirty Or forty degrees,
On the Fahrenheit scale and though he
may be fairly covered with bed clothes, he
IS receiving into his lungs this cold air, by
which the circulation through the lungs i
materially modified.
The condition Of the body Itself j. at this
time unfavorable for meeting any emergency.
In the period between midnight and six IN
the morning the animal vital processes are
ri their lowest ebb. Ii Is IN these times
that those who are entcebled from any
cause most frequently die. Physicians often
consider these hours as critical, and fore
warn anxious friends in respect To them.
From time immemorial those who been accus
accustomed To wait aud tend on the sick have
noted these hours most ~anXiousiy, 80 that
they have been called by one Of our old
writers the hours Of fate la this space
of time the influence of the ite-giviug sun
has been longest withdrawn from man. and
the hearts that are even the strongest beat
then with subiued tones. Sleep IS heaviest,
and death i nearest to Us all, in the hours of
fate"
The safest method IS to have the air ofthe
room a short time before it is occupied,
brought up to a uniform temperature Of sixty
five degrees Fahrenheit. 1t should never
fall FIVE degrees AMI never rise above sixty
tive degrees unler ordinary circumstances
In cases where the occupant Of the room is
extremely enteeblel it may be necessary to
raise the temperature to a higher point.
\ mistake is sometimes made IN the TEN
p~erature. The THERMOMETER Is taken per
haps IN the warmeS part that is to say,
over the fire place. The temperature should
properly, be taken at the beds head, about
two feet above the pillow, and that is the
best position in which to keep the thermom
eter with which every bed room ought to
to be flrnished.-Upfpcr.