Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-17
A TALK ON HEALTH
Is It Well to Feed a Cold and
StarVe a Fever?
ANCIENT ADVICE BAD
HOW TO APPLY HEAT BY BATH
OR WET PACKS.
A Chapter on the Old and the New
Ways to Help
Nature.
ANCIENT ADVICE BAD

Written for The Evening Star by Eustace Miles.
Long ago Sydenham said that disease vas
an effort of nature to restore health. But
We do not treat a cold if it were of this
character; we regard it usually as thing
to be stopped rather than to be helped
along gently in its own direction. That is
a wrong policy altogether.
There is an old proverb, Feed a cold and
starve a fever" This has led many people
to take heavy meal when a cold is on
them. and such heavy meal may have so
stimulating an effect upon the system that
the system will be put into working order
for short time, and then may be able to
go by itself. But the original proverb
was not a command. The first part of 1t
was a condition. If you feed a cold you
will have to starve a fever later on. That
was the real sense and the real advice
conveyed by it as'''starve a cold"
This gives us the best, or at least the
most economical means of prevention and
| cure. When We have cold the balance OF
nature has somehow been upset. The cold
generally starts from the stomach. Give
the stomach a rest-fast for a day or two,
or for several meals-and probably the cold
itself Will disappear. Ii is doubtful wheth-
er the mischief has ever come merely from
uIdusHl merely IRON weakness. 1t Is
probable that there always must be some
clogging of the system well. AS rule,
some shock some chill. throws back the
poisons upon the system. instead of letting
them work themselves out through the
pores of the skin, which are so many
mouths for the purpose of breathing out.
The primitive animal breathed out and
breathed in all over him. and SO do we. For
We should look upon our whole surface as
covered with mouths Paint a dog all over
with some air tight mixture, and he Will
soon die, not from the poison of the mix
ture. but from the poisons from his own
| would cure cold. to remove the clogging
cause or to let nature remove 1T, and
meanwhile to open the pores of the skin.
Heat in Curing a Cold
So We come to the second cure. namely,
heat or warmth. This can be produced by
exercise, by massage, by Turkish or Rus
sian baths, by warm baths, by congresses,
by wrappings in blankets or wet packs:
only let such helps be followed by cool or
cold water and friction. to close the pores
of the skin again, and to harden them
against fresh cold. The water should al
ways be soft: distilled water will take ND
more impurities than hard water. If this
can not be obtained, then let some bath
salt or else some bath oatmeal be added
Not one person in a thousand knows the
value OF soft water contrasted with
ndru Lei the DOuy be soaked in the warm
water, and let it be rubbed Afterward q
must repeaD let a cool or cold application
together with the friction of exercise re-
store the circulation and invigorate the
nerves.
This. one would say, was surface work,
whereas the trouble is in the stomach We
should not add a weight of food to over
| tax the nervous system, which is already
heavily handicapped 10y having to get rid
of the excess. We should do what we can
to wash out the stomach with water not
taken together with food. but perhaps taken
with lemon Juice or Juice boiled from fruits
or vegetables.
There are some who. after drinking two
glasses of hot water, will apply the stom-
ach tube to remove the contents of the
stomach. This is not to be confused with
the stomach pump, far more unpleasant
mechanism. The stomach tube is flexible
and small 1t goes down the throat il
skillfully manipulated. without difficulty
and without discomfort. Then one closes
the mouth, breathes deeply, and the con-
tents of the stomach come up naturally
without the violent strain of nausea
Those who object to this can flush the
organs from below with the enema; the
| quantity of water. which should be warm
and mixed with oil and the purest SOAP
can be gradually increased.
Prevention Better Than Cure.
This, again, is remedial How much bet
ter it would be not to let the causes enter
the system at all. 1t is so weak and mega
tive to have to shun draughts, or even
fresh air. He is better off who recognizes
the draught as something refreshing And
there is no doubt that careful attention to
diet will put nearly, if not quite. every one
| in this positive and masterful position.
OF drink We shall say nothing, except
that stimulants should be avoided. OF food
we shall say little; the problem is so i'm
menSe. But acid and fermenting foods
should be avoided. because of their tendency
to produce fever or feverish condition.
The flesh foods are acid. They contain
uric acid and other chemicals which under
certain conditions are deadly poisonous
Uric acid is one of the results of the wear
ing out of the tissues by the animal during
its movements and during its life. Animals
cannot live without destroying themselves
the cause of fermentation. You may