The Florence tribune., 1897-05-15
THE CAUSE OF COLDS.
Bacteriology Now Divulge5 the
 Source of the Affection.
Doctors Determine That Microbes Make the Mischief by Disturb- ing the Circulation of
 the Blood.

Bacteriology has at last diyulged the cause of the greatest of all medical mysteries-the ordinary cold. It has been attributed to all causes-air, mois- ture, too much cold air, overheating and, recently, to the stomach and over eating. The laboratory where the microbes are caught, cultivated and tanned like little beasts for several years has been trying to identify the germs of ''colds," as colds seemed 10 lead to many diseases that have well-known germs. The first discovery was that in colds there are several varieties of l that produce the same results.
 Germs look altogether different un- der the microscope end in the culture tubes, where the microbes are bred. after they have been identified and sep arated from others by being enarcd tfrom the common feeding ground of all sorts of bacterial with a platinum needle. Then to make certain that the real microbe in given disease is found the germs must be injected into a rab- bit or guinea pig Cor some dispensary 1 Patient) to see if the same disease will appear. Microbes which cause colds are always in the body or in the air. There are 20 different forms of bac- teria constantly present in the nose, in- cluding nine or ten which are danger GUS under certain circumstances. There are 90 forms of germs in the mouth, 40 of which may cause serious disease.
 Everyone knows that colds are usu- ally caught by getting oneself oyerheat- cd and cooling off suddenly. When the surface of the body is overheated all the microbes in the air seem { 0 be at tracted to the body, especially if the air around is chilly or damp; microbes can not be killed by cold or damp, but they do not like it and are always on the watch to find resting place in 0 man, especially In one who is ovcrheate1 and whose skin is covered with perspira- ton. If the nose is always in condi- ton of 'catarrh' it is easy to see how a l fresh cold or acute attack of catarrh is caused by exposure to a chill. But Low about the various symptoms in other and distant parts of the body which generally follow cold9
 When the body is overloaded and then chilled the immediate effect of the cold on the surface of the body is to ex- cite contraction of the blood vessels near the surface. Thus the blood is | driven from the surface to the inner or gans, carrying along with it any mi crobes that may have been lodged near the surface. This excites infamma- ton in some organ far away from the first point affected. The way it seems to act is as follows:
 All processes going on in the body are governed by the central nervous sys- tenn. If, as a result of exposure to cold, l the regular routine of nutrition and of circulation is checked in one part of the body, the nervous force sent out from the central nervous system if shut 1 off in ore place will be increased in an- other. Such increase is really infa1n- nation. If any organ is liable to chron- ic inflammation this will be the place picked out for the acute trouble as re- suit of having caught cold All the un- employed microbes will collect there and unemployed microbes in slight ly inhamed organ are certain to make trouble. There is, however, one safe guard which saves the body from de- 1 struction every time cold is caught. | There is in the body set of valu- l able street-sweepers who do in the blood vessels and tissues exactly the work of the street-cleaning depart ment. These are the white blood cor | puscles, or leucocytes. They differ l from Col. Waring's white brigade in that they eat up the debris, the mi crobes and such things wherever they find them. The more germs and bac- teria collected together in one organ the more the white corpuscles swarm in just like the regular street-sweepers in the dirty downtown districts.
 If these white blood corpuscles are caught while at their work their round bodies may be found filled up with the bacteria they have eaten. III case of sudden emergencies 1ike pneumonia ali immense swarm of white corpuscles will suddenly appear.
 There are all sorts of ways of treat ing an inflammation in an organ. Many are as familiar to the public as to the doctors. The old-fashioned porous or mustard plaster is simply means to collectquickly largernumber of white blood cells in the places where they are needed. The same is true of all hot ap- plications, blisters, painting with iodine or red flannel rags.
 The new idea of cold, then, is that it is nervous disease, which, to do any serious harm, has to work through the microbes, which are always present in the body or in the outer passages wait ing for chance to make trouble. The best way to prevent colds is to keep all parts of the body properly clad and free from any undue exposure, for it is the disturbance of the balance of cir culation and the nervous control of the blood vessels that really causes the ] trouble.