The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-10-30
CHAPTER LXXXIX.

CHAPTER LXXXiX.
ARTIFICIAL WARMTH.
The story Of the child lamenting the fate Of
the poor frog that jun ped in the creek and went
under is often recalled by the commiserations
wasted on the comfortlcss state Of our early an
cestors Their lack of shoes, OF tea and to-
bacco of gunpowder and speCtaclcs, all provoke
expressions of compassionate sympathy, but
the most pathetic pity of retrospective philan-
thropists is excited by the thought that there
was time when our forcfathers had to brave
he rigors of the Winter season without the aid
fire. On
Nevertheless, It might be questioned If saw
ages and hardy rustics do not oil the whole,
survive the season of frost more comfortably
than the fire. worshpers of civilization. A
combination of smoke guards and fan ventila-
tors can make q stove-heated room extremely
comfortable, but there are circumstances that
mako the use of our natural warmth decidedly
the preferable PLAN. In bedrooms, for instance,
the warmth of combustion, whether by stoves
or by open fre-places, can hardly be said to
rival the advantages of the primitive warm
bed-cOv method. The matter was practically
tested in large lumberman's camp on tho Red
River in northeastern Texas, where the Winters
get often AS severe as in northern Maryland.
For nearly year tho men had boarded and
sleptin the cabOose cars of construction train.
and so many OF them were on the sick list every
Winter that medical friend of mine at last
advised them to try the plan OF n neghboriDg
camp where he had rarely to attend any worse
complaints than bruised fingers or the after
effects OF an occasional pay day spree. The
method OF the hill-Camp consisted in building
weather sheds " as they moved from place to
place, large shanties constructed of light logs,
but well rooted, aud furnished with hunks aud
an abundance Of good WOODEN blankets. There
was fire. place used for culinary purposes, but
at p. IN. they let The fire 20 out and trusted to
their roof aud warm beds to pass the night in
comfort From the very day the railroad camp
ers adopted that plan their sick list shrunk from
- to seven per cent. Some GROWERS bewailed
the absence of the wonted red-hot wood stove,
but rheumatism, colds, coughs, and sick head
aches were aba,ed so Enthusiastically that u ma
iOrity voted for the permanerce of the beneficial
change
(" DO not rely too exclusively on stove heat"
would be- a good advice to many modern iuva-
lds. with the apparent exception. perhaps, of
patients who have kept themselves penned up
la oyerheated sick rooms so long that their
organism seems to have lost its power OF pro-
ducing the requisite amount of natural caloric.
They complain that they find IL impossible to
get along without an all.night fire. even in
Summer II the weather happens 10 turn little
damp or chilly. | remember the case OF an old
Virginia hotel owner who managed his business
altogether by clerks aud kept himself boxed
BY tho heat of an eyer. glowing aud often smok-
ing old coal-stovc. A little negro boy had to
report for duty at daybreak, os;ensibly in the
character Of a messenger. but really as the pa
TENTS only available companion, since nobody
else could be induced 20 endure the thermal
misery of that back room for more than min
ute or so. The little Ethiopian had apparently
got used to the climate, but witha needed ire
| qucnt assistance in resisting the temptation to
| escape. "Dick, now, don't stay all day at the
| post. office; Dick, mind, be sure and come back
! after supper" etc. Dicks master, on the other
! hand, could always be found at home He
never stirred from his easy-chair if he could
! help IL. and was averse TO open windows that
| the ventilation OF his den could be effected only
by strategem during his occasional brief visits
10 Il sunlit porch. AS a natural result his orig
| inal complaint trheumatism) had become COM
pIicated by digestive troubles aud continual
SORE dry cough.
Cant they open his windows when he is
| asleep?" | asked one of his neigbbors. Yes,
| they tried that" said he. but it wakes him
| up right away. He complains of chilliness,
and believe it is the hanest truth that he is
unable to keep warm IN any bed unless the air
! about him is kept up 10 blood heat tempera-
ture. His own blood must have become mop
eratve for that parpose by continual indoor
| life"
The case seemed really hopeless. but when
|
| a vital Importance, i prevailed OH my patient
to try the plan of getting an extra.szed bed
stead, with mattress and blankets to match,
| aud surrounding his body from the hips down
| with mufiled warming pans that could be guar
| anteed to retain their temperature during the
| longest night in the year. That solved the
difficulty. For the first time in many years
| the invalid could enjoy the luxury of a good
nights rest and reluctantly confessed that
| in spite OF cool weather and wide-open bed
room windows he had never slept warmer
in his life. People who experience yearly
| recurrent attack of sick headaches in Mid
winter should at once suspect that stove
| fumes and excess of heat have something to do
| with their troubles and try DR.. Schrodts plan OF
| writing or working in a more airy room, even
| IL the deficit of warmth should have To DO made
up by an extra supply of clothing. Cold feet
can be- relieved by means of double socks the
outside pair bag shaped and filled with heated
cotton. and the whole inclosed in "A pair of wide
felt shoes. That foundation of comfort will
answer It's purpose almost as long as 1t can be
| kept dry, and certainly beyond the period oil
an average days work. The busy hands Of d
mechanic rarely feel cold and literary workers
may invest couple of dollars in "a calorifiC
writing desk-a box shaped continuance lined
with tin and filed with bushel of dry, hot
sand. Five hours after replenishng the box
the temperature of the contents will still make
!
ing paper. The warmth thus obtained is, NJ
doubt. artificial. quite as much AS that radiateC
from red hot stove, but the difference is thu
method of its application and the circumstance
that pure, cool air is more grateful TO the hu
man lungs than warm, stuify air.
That. nevertheless, the difference between
natural and artificial heat may assert itsel
in its physiological effects is proved by the
experience of nurses who have found il
difficult to keep weak children alive in any
way except by the warmth generated in the lab
oratory of the living organism. sickly baby
apparently just about TO surrender its feeble
spark of like in spite of stoves and warming
pans, will recover in its mothers arms in a bee
really less warm than the temperature of thu
sick room in the immediate neighborhood o
the stove. Poultry fanciers have frequently
recorded similar experience. Chickens may
be Matched by the artificial heat of paton
incubator, but once out of the she'll they do no
thrive perfectly unless intrusted to the care o.
foster mother. Their food may have been
selected by a committee of experts, their safety