The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-02-25
Taking Cold,

This vague household word indi-
Gates one or more of long varied trair
OF unpleasant affections, nearly always
traceable to one or the other of only two
causes sudden change of temperature
and unequal distribution of temperature.
No extremes of heat or cold can alone
effect this result; persons frozen to
death do not stake cold" during the
process. But if a part Of the body be
rapidly cooled, as by evaporation from a
wet article of clothing, or by sitting in a
draught of air, the rest of the body re-
naming at an ordinary temperature or
if the temperature of the whole be sud-
denly changed by going out into the
cold, or especially by coming into
warm room, there is much liability of
trouble. There is an old saying "when
the air comes through hole, say your
prayers to save your soul , and I should
think almost any one could get "cold
with spoonful of water, or the wrist
held to a key-hole. Singular as it may
seem, sudden warming when cold is
more dangerous than the reverse every
one has noticed how soon the handker-
chief is required on entering a heated
room on cold day. Frost bite is an
extreme illustration of this. AS the
Irishman said, on picking himself up, it
was not the fall, but stopping so quickly
that hurt him. It is not the lowering of
the temperature to the freezing point,
but its subsequent elevation, that devital-
ICES the tissue. This is why rubbing with
snow, or bathing in cold water, is re-
quired to restore safely frozen part /;
the arrested circulation must be very
gradually re-established, contamination
perhaps modification, ensues. General
precautions against taking cold are al
most self-evident in this light. There
is ordinarily little, if any, danger to be
apprehended from wet clothes, so long
as exercise in kept up, for the "glow"
about compensates for the extra cooling
by evaporation. Nor is a complete
drenching more likely to be injurious
than wetting of one part. But never sit
still wet, and In changing, rub the body
dry. There is a general tendency,
springing from fatigue, Incidence or in
difference, to neglect damp feet; that is
to say, to dry them by the fire but this
process is tedious and uncertain. I
would say especially, off with the
muddy boots and sodden socks
at once-dry stockings and slip
pers, after hunt, may make
Just the difference of your being able to
go out again or never. Take care never
to check perspiration; during this proc
ess the body is in somewhat critical
condition, and sudden arrest of the
function may result disastrously-even
fatally. One part of the business Of
perspiration is to equalize bodily tenn
perature, and it must not be interfered
with. The secret of much that is to be
said about bathing, when heated, lies
here. A person overheated, painting it
may be, with throbbing temples and a
dry skin, is in danger, partly because
the natural cooling by evaporation from
the skin is denied, and this condition is
sometimes not far from q sunstroke."
Under these circumstances, person of
fairly good constitution may plunge into
the water with IMMUNITY even with
benefit. But if the body be already
cooling by sweating, rapid abstraction
of heat from the surface may cause in
ternal congestion, never unattended with
danger. Drinking ice-water offers a
somewhat-parallel case even on stoop-
ing to drink at brook, when flushed
with heat, it is well to battle the face
and hands first, and to taste the water
before a full draught. DR.. Coates'
Field Or7aithotogy.