Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-02-19
TAKING COLD.
A DOCTORS VIEWS UPON AN
IMPORTANT MATTER.
The Three Factors of Taking Cold.
Disease Caused by Evaporation
and Precipitation. How
to Escape a Cold.

Taking Cold" would hardly be con-
sidered subject on which man, how
ever learned and accomplished he might
be, could make himself interesting in an
hours talk. The idea was dissipated,
however, in a lecture delivered recently
at Cincinnati, Dy DR., J. T. Whitaker.
No affection, he said, was so common
to mankind and yet nothing so calami-
tous. A man might escape politics. mat
Iimony, and nearly everything else, but
he couldn't escape taking cold. He
might not get religion, but he was sure to
get a cold. Some people were always
taking cold. Nearly every disease in
the catalogue had been attributed to tax
ing cold The ancient practice among
physicians was to define the nature of a
disease and what its future would be.
The modern doctors went further and in
vestigated the cause of disease. The doc
tor said he proposed TO show that taking
cold did not cause all the diseases, and
"taking coldn was a good deal of bug
bear. More harm was caused by scare
and by trying to keep from taking cold
than in the thing itself.
In the colder countries people did not
take cold at all. What he meant by this
was that the fact of feeling cold did not
make a man take cold. The three fac
tors of taking cold are: Airy motion,
moisture, and reduction of temperature,
but neither of these three factors alone
would cause it. A man would not take
;cold from being in hurricane, by tax
ng cold bath, or by change in eli
mate. The old-time doctrine was that
the arrest of the secretion of the skin
caused a cold. This was fallacious A
man could take cold from having his hair
cut, from laying off a collar, wearing
thinner stockings, or anything of that
kind.
Cold, he maintained, was caused by
evaporation and perspiration. There was
another theory that had been handsomely
demonstrated. That is, that it was
caused by the blood vessels. All know
that in a hot room the blood circulates
freely and the face and body become
flushed. Going into extreme cold there
is an opposite effect, though the contrac-
ton is not immediate. Colds never
caused lasting disease unless the organs
left affected were already diseased.
A mother often says that her daughter
contracted disease from coming out of
theatre, getting her feet wet, coming
from a ball, or something of that kind.
This was entirely false. Consumption is
not caused by wet air, cold air, etc. 1t
was caused by poisoned air and hot air.
The Indians never had case Of consump-
ton.
1t invaded localities of dense popula-
ton. People who work in shops and
factories and have not much outdoor
exercise have consumption. 1t is in
herited, and to certain extent can be
communicated from germ. Sailors
who are wet half the time and exposed
in all kinds of weather have not one
case of consumption in seventy. In city
where a large class of men were engaged
in unloading cargoes from ships and
standing in water half the time there
was not a case of consumption in 700. It
was claimed that pneumonia was caused
by cold. This was equally wrong
Pleurisy and rheumatism were neither
caused by cold. People would say that
bronchitis surely was caused by cold By
no means Rather by floating organisms
that take Judgment. He would not deny
that cold might be the exciting cause
and arouse a disease that had been dor
mant. The best and healthiest place is
cut of doors. Here wind swept away the
germs of disease in the air These germs
are housed within four walls, where peo-
pie breathe them. He would not say that
colds did not cause some diseases, for in
stance, muscular rheumatism, infantilc
paralysis and certain order of Bright's
disease
How to get rid of or escape a cold
would be a question asked. If aman stood
on the street and allowed himself to get
chilled through he would take cold. If
he walked and kept the blood in circula-
ton he would not Rubbing was a good
preventive; the ''mas age treatment, :"
for instance, being good thing. One
Of the cures for a cold is a hot bath, but
if INDUCED in at the wrong time and in
the wrong way it is liable to aggravate
the cold person already has.
A moral to be gained from the doctors
most interesting address was that plenty
ofgood outdoor exercise was the best pos
sible thing for the health.