The Penn's Grove record., 1882-03-04
A Solid Editorial on the
Season.
A city's Bill Of Mortality.

III the cold las come to stay, or only
to last a few days, it has come so sud-
denly upon systems relaxed with the
open dampness of the season hereto
fore that people need to take extraor-
binary are of themselves. We have
not yet, in this country, invented
lungs 10 match the "cnmate" -or
rather the climate will not stand still
long enough to be matched. The
Greeplander knows his season, and 80
does the Cuban, and the Englishman
makes up his mind to breathe cold fog
from November through till April.
But the pattern of American longs is
not suited to either fog or frost except
by long sojourD in either. Arctic ex-
plorers get frost-bitten limbs and
snow-blindness, or suffer from meat
diet or from too nearly nodietata all but
they do not get pneumonia Aor inhu-
enza. The only way to bear such
sudden changes as come now along
the whole coast country of the United
States Is to be extra weather wise.
| lie hChIcDcSS vi CAlhDHO "hAS ~
marked in California that muslin
dresses and sealskin jackets are worn
the same day by the same people Is a
part of our general coast climate now.
1t is still relied on that you can get
steady weather in the interior End
among the mountains. The winter
thermometer is said to stand at one
level In Minnesota, and upon own
| Alleghanies but nearer the sea we
get every " sample of the thermome-
ter. The theory that u winters
grow steadily milder seems to be dis
proved by last winters experiences,
and it takes a long run of averages to
prove anything about it. But what
no averages do show, and what are
highly important in selecting winter
climates for lnvsu lids, are the jumps OF
the thermometer. A land where you
can sit by the open window in the
morning, and must shiver over a
blazing fire by night-fau may have its
yearly mean temperature all right,
but let those who have suffered with
the damp chillness of the South Caro-
lima coast at night, or st. Augustine,
set about a new sort of taele-making
for weather reports.
But the few people who need a trav.
eler's guide to climate are insignif-
cant to the hundreds of thousands OF
stay-at-homes, who must live In Phila-
delphia and take what comes along. 1t
is more important that doctors should
devote themselves to helping people
how to live here than to making the
best selections In ordering them away.
While everybody is watching the
small pox list, look at the eonsump'
tives! Look at the lung iniamma-
lions! There is not a " lung scare,
and vet how fatal was the chilly
dampness of the fortnight. Seventy
seven deaths from consumption. sta
from congestion of the lungs, fifty -four
from Inflammation of the lungs, thir'
teen Inflammation of the brenchi, one
hundred and fifty in all, or exactly
one-thlrd of the deaths from all causes
set down to these alopel This week
we have the clear, bleak cold, with
the searching winds; we have the dirt
of the street frozen stiff and safe
only so long as it Ia not ground up tt
dust under the wheels of vehicles
We have the weather that must make
cid persons careful and delicate people
whereas the mortality of last weeks
reports was more heavily marked
among people of between twenty AND
thirty years (54 deaths) and between
thirty and forty years (4o deaths
than for other times of life. Younger
folks were caught by the damp straw
of the horse-cars, the wet feet ane
soaked garments of the pedestrian
These are the sufferers 80 far thii
week from the stiffening of the cold
Except little children and old age, thu
brisk cold weather helps most folks u
get their blood in more active motion
and so defend themselves. But fol
old folks this Is the time for care. A
chill on the surface, going out froir
warm homes or steam-heated work
rooms or office, sends the blood to'
suddenly back upon the heart ant
this is the reason that sudden deaths
are noted at this time. A little car
in going out well protected may aver
hundrtd DIS of congested lungs. Colt
feet pecessitate that the blood is some
where else; cold wrists that the grea
internal steam.pipes are getting sud
denly chilled. Warm arctics ant
warm wristlets, warm underwear o
neither garments especially are impor
tant. Then the nose may grow red
but neither fingers nor soles VIII b
chilled to danger. A strip of fur abou
the ankles and wrists may save man.
a dollar in DOCTORS bills, PARTICULAR,
az both are likely to be thrown off Oh
entering the house and only put on b
!, 90 into the cold again. The man o
woman who desires to live in perfec
balance with this weather Must b
I sure to keep warm hands and feet. L
this Is secure it is more impertan
than to muffie up the throat and face
Coming out of places of amusemen
In this weather, it is well 10 take tn
latter precautiop. After breathing al
atmosphere hot and moist from
crowded room, the sudden chsnge u
the cold streets without falls directly
on the delicate tissues of throate sn'
lungs. 1t is best for woman to tie NJ
heads and faces in extra wrap, veil
lace or wooden, and for men to turn