The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-01-29
SAYS THAT COLD
IS INFECTIOUS.
A Writer Claims That It is a Con-
tageous Disease.
THE BASIS OF HIS THEORY
7, Isolated Countries Where People
Do Not Come in Contact win rae"
Other They DO Not Catch Cold
Though Subjected to Exposure

Sn' -, g,eu i'm this world there are
,,t,c.s where il is impossiDie 10 'n'O.,
20 ,,,,lv because there are no coicS
'.ch There are facts. however, winch
soa,,, ia prove this. For eNample' N"n9'
and his men during the three years VIM VIM.
they spent IN the Arctc IesiD"' -
'.,,,,,tt "a cold. Yet they were eXposed 10
cold. fatigue, AMI wet To degree 49,.
600 al home can hardly realize. ESP
siarl,. one remembers how Nansen and MS
o1,,,,r,de .Iohansen. during their won
aerfr,l expedition on foot over tho pol"i
ice went ON. day after day clad IN ci".hc'
,vhi,n were so saturated with peIal"" ~
tion that they froze by day mo ",'o
solid mass of ice and even cut hi'' ~
aesh. how every night, when they tuch'"
themselves ND in their sleeping DAYS ''0
first hour was spent In thawlns' no" W.
iav shivering their frozen SOCKS Ply"
across their chests. untu NhelI
gradually became wet and sotl' an" y ~
fuaily comfortable and warm. IL w.
irdeed n damn bed 10 sleep In. Yet they
49,. o.,,,bt "a cold. and. mark this for
IL is very important. with the exception
of Nanseu's brief attack OF lumbago, ther
health did not suffer iu any way from
tho exnosure IL may be said they We're
All strong men, marveiousiy hardy tney
were able 10 Withstand the cola. bul
what was the fact2 Directly they reach-
Ell civilization they al caught cold. Nam
sens own statement 10 the writer was.
...-here is of course, no doubt that colo
Is An infectious disease. We had none
during our journey, and we all GOT u
VERY badly. tool at the very moment we
reached Norway" And this seems 10 De
the universal experience or Arctic eA-
plorers. The members of the Jackson
at
three years in Franz josef Land, never
orco suffered from colds. Yet they, too.
urderwent al times great exposure. Inc
Arctic summer was exceedingly damp
cold. mist-laden east winds prevailing.
Wet feet were the rue, "a chronic eApe-
,ience % ION one occasion six or US were
e,-,osed 70 a yale in a boat for three oay
and nights. wien We were all ufehcheu
81 .ta skfn with rain and spray; ana
,.ben We arrived on land, being unao'e
on account of the inclement weather anu
v,ont of drift OF other wood 70 llshI
FIRE we had 10 remain In our wet cly'hes,
and practically TO let them dry upon "ul
bodies. VET none Of us took cold ~ -
noteworthy that the Only iii eno0'' -
~ vrere slight twinges OF rheumatism.
a.,.,rionced nv two or three only, and
quito Of a fceting nature. Indeed. thelr
fortor declares that none OF these men
v-ars the worse for thir long soJourh III
,boee Northern regions, while some 1T
ioast were the better for II. Yet they aiso
with only two exceptions, suffered rom
se,,ere colds directly they reached civil
lzation. ..,-,..sr.
Worry interesting. too, is Sir Martin Con-
WAYS account OF his experiences. for
two months. when exploring spitzoeIseil,
he and his four comrades were eApo9oN
IN considerable privauons, were ANUS
constantly wet through, and ItePuen.is
b.d +, sleep I'm their wet clothes YET
~. boaith never suffered In any way
from this. But az the end OF that uile
,,c,, vent down to Andree's settlement
nm fbe coast. where some forty men were
iivinr and where, moreover. thetV
as almost constant intercourse
18th che mainland Within TWO
DAYS Of their arrival conway
81 HE companions all developed violent
odds Still more striking were his ex-
nar1ences i'm the Himalayas WINE
among the mountains. he and MS men,
notwithstanding great exposure, hete-
caught a cold. They even visited ha.No
Villages without doing so. But once lhey
came down 20 a village wheie lhoiV va
d. small European settlement having COM
white man had come W three days pre-
viouslv. There Conway and his men
OH without exception took bad coids'
which developed, he thinks, In about
counIe OF days. The present writer mas
beord too 6ut has been unable 10 Neriiy
the fact. that the men at the observatory
ON the top of Ben Nevis, often living i'll
the midst of cloud and rain ana snow
never suffer from colds: but that wneh-
ever they descend 10 Inhabited regions
they invariably catch severe ones.
Then there is the classical instance Oh
the st. Kilda cola On that rocky lone
" island lying some forty miles beyond
the Western HCbrides there are hsh
upon "a hundred inhabitants, who keep
few sheep and cows, cultivate some forty
acres and collect the eggs. feathers, ana
young OF the numerous sea-fowL Iher
coast Is so precipitous, and the'f seas
are so stormy, that for eight months out
Of the twelve they are practically mac
cessible Formerly they We're visited only
once q year by ship from the mann
land. Now several call there during the
summer. including excursion steamers
from Liverpool and Glasgow. The Gu
rlous point is that whenever a ship
reaches the island all the Inhabitants
including the very infants at the breast,
are seized with q cold. This fact has
been known for nearly two hundred
wears. and greatly interested Or. John-
son when lie and Boswell were making
their famous tour of the Hebrides. lie
was very sceptical about II, saying that
tho evidence was not adequate 10 the
imnrobabllity OF the thing. But he
praised the Rev. Mr.. Macaulay for put
ting IL in his book. declaring that u
was courageous Of him TO tell TACT,
however strange. If ne himself believed
n lie said that II a physician, rather
disposed 70 be incredulous. should go 10
81 Kilda and report the fact he would
begin 10 look about him. When told that
4, was annually proved by Macleod
steward. on whose arrival all the IN
habitants caught cold. he 1ocularly re-
marked. 1.-The steward comes 10 demand
something OF them. and so they fall a
coughing
PROVED TO BE a PUZZLE.
The problem Of this st. Kilda cold Ions
puzzled learned men, who seem never 10
have suspected the simple explanation
az the mystery. one solution suggested
was that the steward always brought
whiskev with him. and that II was the
intemperauce end iollity which took place
on the occasion which caused the cpl
demic. Another explanation was th@l .
ship could only reach the Island rom
the mainland when the wind was i'oiii
the northeast. The wind. not the
strangers. caused the cold" This cold Is
still characteristic OF the island. and Is
called by the inhabitants the strangers
cold" On the arri, al Of the first steamer
Col