The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-23


 brisk rub with coarse towel must fol- low the bath, not the half-hearted wipe of the ordinary bather, but vigorous, thorough-going rubbing that will bring a fine glow. A linen bath towel is worth ten cotton ones for the purpose, yet few persons use linen bath towels. They are more expensive of course, but they will outwear the cotton ones and are luxury with definite excuse
 An air bath is another thing the body needs and seldom gets, save dur ing the course of water bath l know it will make people shudder to tell them to gradually accustom themselves to barring their bodies for few minutes every morning in a room with the Wln- dow open, but the practice would De worth money to them. I don't mean that one must jump out of bed, fling off clothes and stand by an open win dow for ten minutes on January day; but one may get up, slip on warm bed shoes and take few calisthenics, all the while simply and sufficiently clad in native worth. Do it with closed window at first. In course of time you can reach the point where you may throw the window wide open even in winter weather. The brisk calesthenics will keep the blood circulating we'll and produce a glow that will offset the cold air.
 There's no sense in one's body be- ing So distressingly susceptible to chill. You remember the story of the Indian whose clothes were more decorative than effectual A white man meeting him on a cold day asked him if he didn't suffer from cold, with so much of his body bare.
 "'Ugh.' grunted the Indian. Your face cold?'
 " 'No,' said the white man.
 "'Well, Injun body all face ex- plained the red man.
 Now I wish our bodies were little more face. I could find it in my heart to forgive Eve for the moral sin she be- queathed us, but find it very hard to feel charitable toward Adam and her, when I realize the amount of physical disease and discomfort they handed down along with clothes.
 "The pores of the body must breathe Give them plenty of water to keep IHeI1 free anu SlNS lHclli dp ihuSh oii op the proprieties will allow. I wish I could make bonfire of every rag of meshed, skin-ftting underwear in the world Underwear ought to be loose enough to allow some air to circulate over the body. &t
 Going back to that open window, the lungs need a bath as well as the body. They will get it while the body gets its bath; but, as a cold preven- tive, I'd strongly recommend little special lung bath. Get out of bed and before you try your calisthenics, put on a warm woolen robe, lean out of the open window and for five minutes in- hale deep long breaths of the cold air, filling every small cell of your lungs. By the way, don't forget that habit of deep thorough breathing, not only during the morning five minutes, but all the time will do as much toward en- abling one to resist cold as any one thing If one feels chilled when in the open air, few minutes of extra deep breathing will usually expand the lungs, increase the heart action and send the blood tingling and the chill flying
 'It is particularly important that the feet be kept warm and dry. Thin shoes, tight shoes, wet shoes, are re- sponsible for more of the colds among women than anything else I know of unless perhaps it is the coat worn open in front so as not to crush the frilly white things women wear. There's no use in heaping furs on the body if one doesn't wear comfortable, warm, dry footgear There isn't any use In re- commenting woolen stockings; no one will wear them, but at least the shoe question might be considered rationally
 That open- front coat business is maddening to a doctor, though it booms his business. Some of my women pa tients tell me there won't be so much of it this winter; that the swell coats fasten snugly. If that is true pneumo- mia stocks will go down.
 Water taken internally, as we'll as externally, is a good cold preventive. We don't dring enough water. Every one should drink several glasses of wa ter between breakfast and luncheon, several more between luncheon and dinner and at least two glasses at night. The water shouldn't be iced. If, in spite of precautions, one feels that one has taken cold, 1t is very wise thing to stay in for day and drink tremendous quantity of water. It car ries off the poison, clears the system A laxative is excellent in choking off cold, but one mustn't upset oneself with a big cathartic. The water and a lib- eral indulgence in fruit, particularly apples and figs, will usually accomplish the result without disturbing the diges- tive apparatus as most cathartlcs do.
 "A Turkish bath, followed by an al- cohol rub, will sometimes break up an incipient cold. Personally, l believe that two or three oxygen treatments will do wonders with even stubborn cold. I don't give them, but there are plenty of reliable places where can send my patients for oxygen treat ments.
 "To sum it all up. Don't take cold, Live rationally and take sane precau- tions against cold. If you do catch cold take it at the start Don't let 1t run on a day: nip it in the bud. Try all the natural cures, water, fruit, alcohol bath, spray, oxygen, anything but med icine. If you have to come to medicine go to a good doctor and don't fool with