The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-03
Medical Notes.


easy and needs no directions There is
an old conundrum: Which travels fast
er, sheat or cold? Which is answered heat;
you can catch cold! But it is a strange
fact that one cat ches cold by getting too
hot, and suddenly cooling Off AS the
lrishman said who fell from a staging, 1t
wasn't falling that hurt him. it was stop
ping so suddenly. The man who throws
his oyercoat oft when overheated and sits
in draught to cool off is inviting a
visit from that bette noir of the north,
cold. The belle of the ball, in her v
corsage all of aglow, standing by the
open window, is signaling for a cold,
and pneumonia, the forerunner of death,
will speedily obey the summons. The
man who hugs the register and then
goes out into the biting air is throwing
a thousand doors open for cold, for the
pores are relaxed and cannot resist the
entrance of the chilling air. The man
who thinks to keep healthy by bundling
UP and Transforming himself into polar
bear as far as wool and fur is concerned
is taking a through ticket for a cold.
Too much clothing is worse than too
little, because the system cannot resist
heat as well as it can endure cold Heat
is enervating; it saps the vigor, but cold
is invigorating; it stimulates the vital
forces
But suppose you have caught cold,
goodness knows how, how will you treat
it?. Certainly not with whisky, it IS 10
be- hoped; for if that is your plan, you
may have a cold all the time, thinking
the remedy contrary to the rule. better
than the disease. You may be like the
old deacon who was ordered a hot teddy
by his ply stefan. 70 allay suspicion IN
the hotel where he was stopping ne OF
defed hot shaving water to mix with IT,
The old man caught on, SO to speak, AMI
icaa oil
con was in a bad state of mind, in fact.
that he was crazy, all, forsocth, because
he rang for shaving water every fifteen
minutes.
Pat had the horrors. The doctor told
his wife he should have to treat him
some time before he could bring him
around and his wife, in anlazement, as
she ran the doctor out of the door with
a broom exclaimed: "Trate i'm, is it?
Sure, he don't made any more. He's had
too much trating already! 1t ism a
good plan to ''trate" a cold in that way.
Try some other-do!
Having caught your cold, ninety-nine
out of a hundred will say at once, "Oh,
let it alone 1t will get well of itself!'
and the majority will emphasize their
precept by their example. Some doctors,
too. will foolishly join in the popular
cry, Its only cold, and look upon
1t as a trivial matter, neglect that which
may terminate seriously, if not fatally.
Such advice is homicide, and such prac-
tice suicidal, for an ordinary cold is a
simple form of fever, an external mani
festation of internal congestion and in
f1ammation, the only difference between
Slight cold and a high fever being one
of degree, for as smoldering spark may
break into devouring flame, so slight
cold may develop into a consuming fever.
A simple cold is often the starting point
of long and wasting disease, never to
be cured. and ending only with life. 1t
is. so to speak the entering wedge OF
Death. Once the thin wedge is entered
the House of Life is easily broken.
Oliver Wendell Holmes has said of colds
in general and coughs in particular: "A
cough is an ungrateful thing. You find
one in the cold, you take it up and nurse
1t. make everything of it, dress it up
warm, give it all sorts of balsams and
other foods it likes and carry it around
in your Bosom as if it were miniature
Zap dog And by and by its little bark
grows sharp and savage, and-ccnfound
the tl1fng@you~ find it is VOLTS whelp
that you have got there, and he is gnaw-
Ing in the breast where he has been
n9stling so long
But who hasn't had a cold? If there
be any such fortunate one he is sure
to catch a cold this season, and he will
know how it is He also. ought to know
beforehand that, having caught a cold,
it is essential. to take precautionary
measures at once, to avoid increasing the
cold, and to make a vigorous and earnest
attempt to shorten the attack and lessen
the severity. TO do so in a rational man
ner We ought to know what a cold is, ard
what are its symptoms.
"A person who has become suddenly
chilled prevents a blanched appearance
due to an unequal distribution of the
blood. Internal organs are oYersuppiied
with blood, while the blood vessels of
the skin are contracted and comparative
~ empty. The reason is plain. Cold con-
tracts the arteries and these being dl-
minished in size less blood flows through
them. Consequently, the internal organs,
the lungs especially, or the brain, often
times, become gorged with blood; they
are in state of active congestion, and
If the normal equilibrium of the circula-
ton is not quickly restored, this will be-
come focus of disease, the active con-
gestion will become passive and infiam-
nation will ensue. The blood debarred
from its natural course becomes laden
with impurities and poiSonS the SyS-
tenn instead of relieving it Of waste prod
acts and nourishing it. The skin refuses
TO perform it's functions of health, and
the process of radiation, by the aid of
which nature keeps the body temperature
y,
of the blood rises and fever results. AS
soon as the skin resumes it's normal func-
tons, and the nervous system regains
control of the blood system, the heat
falls, the fever subsidies. Such in brief
is the natural history of a cold
A cold may be divided into three
Stages each being marked by a charac-
teTistic set of symptoms.
First-There is the cold stage, that of
invasion, marked by ehilliness and often
by shivering
Second-There comes the hot stage.
that of fever or congestion, marked by
a hot skin, dry mouth, intense thirst,
headache and lassitude
Third-There is the stage of perspira
ton, of resolution, the breaking UP of
the cold, through the resumption by the
body and it's organs of their natural
functions.
Taking. our cue from nature we found
our treatment on her dictation, endeav-
oring to induce:
First-Free elimination of foreign ma
terial from the blood
Second-A reduction of the abnormal
The first purpose may be brought about
most efficaciously through the kidneys.
The second is accomplished through the
Skim A means to the end in both cases is
an abundant supply of fluid
Natures first and imperative call is for
fuld, and every fever patient instinetive-
" Graves this, By the tenets of the old
school patients were refused water, and
died in all the agonies of a martyr burn
ing by inches at the stake of science.
victim to the dogma of error At the
present day We think it undoubtedly ben
eicial to give a patient iced wSter. little
and often; lemonade hot or cold: acid
phosphate. grape juice or champagne, to
allay the thirst and burning dryness of a