The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-02-27
COLDS AND FRESH AIR.

When pressed on the point doctors con-
fess that they find it difficult 10 define in
precise language what cold is. Every
body knows what cold is in actual suf-
fering. when it takes the shape of cough,
or a congested condition of the head and
air passages. or an inflamm atory state of
the throat, inducing profuse secretion.
But the changes that occur in the mucuS
surfaces are mysterious and the causes are
obscure. There are, perhaps, as many ex-
plantations as so-called cures. The doctors
have an infnity of remedies. and people
who are very susceptible to colds run
through the gamut OF alternatives and pre-
ventiyes and are still liable to the aft ic-
ton. While certain martyrs are pretty
constantly nursing an old cold and guard
ing against new one fortunate individuals
are not scarce who very rarely are seized
and yet do little in the way of pTecautioD.
Those who are out of doors much are sup
posed TO be less liable to seizure, and in sup
port of this may be instanc ed the case OF
sailors, who. il will be admitted, are ex-
posed to all kinds of severe weather, and
especially to violent draughts.
The general superstition is that draughts
are responsible for vast proportion OF
colds. 1t shows how empire is the state
of our knowledge on the subject when a
German physician comes forward with
years Of experimental proof that draugh s
have nothing to do with inducing Gods,
but, on the contrary, drive them away by
the thoroughness OF the ventilation they
cause. People who have cold are gener-
ally able to satisfy themselves that they
have been caught in 4 draught, but this
doctor maintains that their reasoning is
the fallacious one OF post hoe. propter hoe.
His theory Of the affection is that ii is in
fictitious, and takes about ten days to 0e-
velOp. While il is incubatng and the
feeling of chill is in the system the patient
is apt TO conclude that draught IS the
cause of his trouble, for that Is
the only palpable cause he can assign.
But there really may be no con-
nection. In a hospital on large scale
which he has established near Frankfort,
where many forms of disease are treated,
this physician proceeds upon the plan of
having all the windows wide open day
and night, and patients. when able to move
about, go out In all weathers, and are ex-
posed to all the usual conditions under
which colds are caught, according 10
tradition. Instead of avoiding draughts
his patients court them. Provided they
are warm they cannot have too much pure
air coming in fresh from the outside, and
not in aGy way artificialy heated. Dur
ing meals the windows OF the dining-room
are open on all sides, and the atmosphere
has never that yitiated, sickening door so
common in stuffy apartments. Naturally
one would expect that id such an establish
ment everybody would suffer from colds
and that there never would be day or
week of the year without members CON-
planning of their cough or their voice
gone, or the air passages choked with
phlegm. But in reality colds are unknown
in The hospital. People who have scarcely
been free from colds are free from them
here. The conclusion drawn from this
immunity is that the thorough ventilation
OF rooms by draughts and corstant sup
ply OF fresh air gets rid OF the causes of in
lection aud prevents colds. a writer on
this subject has put this matter to test
for himself, and with com petely successful
results.
Against this free contact with pure air
we have the experience Of the millions who
90 on 10 the ld-fashioned way Of 5ottIing
themselves up in their bedrooms. without
a window open, lest they should be en-
daBgered by the night air. They forget
the wholesome truth that they can breathe
nothing else but night air, and it is sim ply
a question of getting it pure or foul, of
breathing the normal oxygen of the at
mosphere, or the carbonic acid gas loaded
with germs and other impurities. These
are the people who generally have colds,
and it is very difficult to get them to try
fresh air. That colds are infectious has
long been assumed by many. When one
of the family has cold in the influenza
way it often runs through the whole
household. But if the origin is observed,
the remedy is at hand for every body if il
only consist in a frequent bath and haling
fresh air.