The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-01-21
HEALTH HINTS
For Old and Young.
BY FELIX L. OSWALD. N. D.
CHAPTER CXXX.
WINTER rfIATAKEs.

ardent spirits, etcL has apparently often
led TO equally serious mistakes. Alcohol. we
are grayely told. even by such otherwise first
class authorities rs tho chemist Liebig, is a
concentrated food and heat-producer, rather
super1uOus in the tropics, but in the higher
ATTITUDES occasionally useful substitute for
ordinary nuurishment. The instructive tenn
perance OF southern nations. and the stmulant
thirst Of most northlanders were explained in
that way; and yet the indubitable truth is
that distilled liquors, generators OF animal
warmth, have no value whatever. We can
burn alcohol in n spirit-lamp, but in aid Of the
heat-produciug organs of our own body We
might as well swallow tuTpentiDo or inhale n
few cubic feet of lamp-gas
The plan of drinking cup after cup Of seald-
ing hot coffee is not very much wiser, from a
physiological point Of view. For a few mo-
ments the supcrheated beverage does produce
n feeling of warmth, but its effect for that
purpose is only transient one, not to mention
the fact that the habitual use Of boiling hot
drinks is sure TO injure the delicate tissue Of
the stomach, aud is so contrary to the prompt
ings Of instinct that famished wolf las proved
by an actual experiment. will refuse to touch
a potful of steaming-hot milk.
The alleged instructive alcohol thirst Of
northern nations, as stated Ia a former chap
ter, can DO explained by tho fact that frost Is
an antidote, and that In the latitude Of Halifax
the evil effects Of intemperance are not apt to
be as Immediately visible as in Havana. Sooner
or later those effects will, however, manifest
themselves in any climate; and on a cold
Winter morning, piece Of bread and butter,
chewed thoroughly enough to DO quickly as
simulated, will prove n far better heat producer
than drink of the finest French high wines.
The amount Of artificial warmth needed in
frigid ATTITUDES depends largely upon indivd-
nal habits. On the frosty southwest coast Of
Chloe the naturalist Darwin was shivering
over n fire Of beech logs, the natives-even
women with children at their bTeasts-were
standing about with no apparent sign of dis
comfort, exposing their half-naked bodies to
the blasts Of a raging snOWstorm. IL might
even be questioned IL the habit making arti-
fetal cover a necessity is, on the whole,
hygienic advantage; but It is certain that less
mischief is done by an excess OF clothing than
by the injudieous methods Of its use. Our
beds are our night clothes aud a few minutes
experiment would suffice TO convince q wOr-
shipper Of fashion that in cold weather he could
improve his comfort by reserying the larger
half Of his bedclOthes for his feet legs and body
up 10 the shoulders, leaving his neck and head
unprotected. The attempt 10 reverse that ar
rangement would promptly wake him from the
soundest sleep; yet the behests Of fashion en-
force that very folly. and on the snow.coverod
streets Of our Northern cities one may see hun
shoes, thinner stockings, and no gloves at all,
but wearing heavy fur caps and neck shawls in
addition TO oyeTcOat with a heavy-lined
hood.
Such shawls are often intended to prevent
the wearer from catching " cold" Their direct
effect, however, is to stimulate perspiTatiOn,
and thus to increase the risk Of the very evil
they were supposed TO Obyiate. After the mis-
chief has been DONE. G., after a catarrh has
fastened upon the respiratory organs it is like
wise bad plan 10 load the patients bed with
extra pillows and quilts. BY that mistake the
lungs seem 10 be turned into hOtbed fayOring
the development Of disease germs-a microbe
hatchery apt 10 aggrayste an Ordintry cold into
q much more serious disorder.
Family beds. where half dozen youngsters
have 10 pass the night the best way they can,
have by no means gone quite out Of fashion,
but even in Well-ordered households it is not a
rare thing to make children sleep pair-wise in
cold weather, especially 10 times Of contagious
cAtarrhs, when the risk Of taking cold has TO
be specially guarded against. In one sense Of
the word the expedient certainly answers its
purpose. A mutual beneht aggregation Of ami
NAL warmth is the readiest frost cure, and was
probably the chief hope of survival Of the
nations who first exchanged the Eden Of
the Tropics for the wilderness Of the higher
ATTITUDES. But in another sense, the rem
edy 10 more apt 10 increase than TO pre-
vent the risk Of the evil. A human being
absolutely free from the faint Of pulmonary
diseases can nowadays rarely be found outside
Of a cradle Prof Leo Karsen. Of Frankfort,
who made a speciality of infantile disorders,
managed 10 dissect lin parish hospitals, etc.
the bodies of nearly 300 children under Is
years Of age. or that number 100 showed
more or less unequiyOeal signs Of incipient
tuberculosis some So had lungs with traces Of
severe disorders other than consumption, in
about 40 the respiratory organs were slightly
congested and only sO-mostly infants-had
apparently healthy lungs In our land Of for
ests and airy tablelsnds things are not quite so
bad yet; but the atmosphere of our cities Is
saturated with the germs Of lung diseases, and
the danger Of eontagiOn is doubled by an ar
rangement obliging one person 70 inhale the
breath Of another.
Only few weeks ago ] received q letter
from friend who had crossed the Continent
In MidwinteT, aud had taken every possible
precaution against damaging his lungs in the
stufiy atmosphere Of the through trains By
brides aud otherwise he cOntriyed to get seat
all by himself in some corner where a window
could be partly opened, unObserved, or in a
bagRage-car, where he had a cagefull Of birds
that gave him preteXt for frequent visits. If
the car got Overerowded and direct ventilation
seemed hopeless, he often stepped out upon the
platform and refreshed his lungs with dose
OF lceu oxygen. lie took every advantage OF
his sleeping-car ticket, and thus cOntriyed 10
weather all perils 10 point within half days
ride from his destination. But fate may defeat
all precautions, and at the point named my
friend was obliged 10 use a transfer omnibus TO
another depot. Just as the driver was ready TO
start he was hailed by another batch Of custom
ers, and a woman with swarm Of coughing and
sneezinR children was crowded in at tho risk Of
overtaxing even the standing room Of the old
ramshackle wagon. For some reason or other
possibly in the hope of picking up an addi-
tiOnal passenger-the Jehu drove prcvOkingly
slow, and when my correspondent finally clam
bered out Of the lung poison box he felt that
his doom was settled. One Of his coughing
fellow passengers had stood directly in front of
him, face almost touching face, and the germs
thus transmitted developed a catarrh that
NEARLY turned his lungs inside out" as he
expresses ii.
In sharing through n long Winter night the
bed OF person whose lungs have already
caught the cOntagion, that result is all but In
eyitable. Nor is the risk Of infection confined
10 lung diseases. All sorts Of physical. not to
mention certain moral, disorders may be COM
municated in the same way, and from a sani-
tary point Of view pallet on the floor with q
bolster pillow and couple Of old quilts is de-
cidedly preferable 10 u temporary partnership
bed.
Rather Large Stones.
Popular Science M0nhIyl
Accepting reported measurements, the largest