The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-10-11
HOW TO AVOID CATCHING COLD.

dOW TO AVOlD CATCHlNG COLD.
A famous English doctor once
wrote in the Lancet, "a chilly man is
sick man. If that is true the per-
centage of invalids in the American
public is somewhat appalling. A
New York doctor, when asked about
his English confrere's statement,
laughed, but gave his Endorsement.
"Of course, that doesn't mean that
every man who feels cold is seriously
ILL.," he said, 'but, as a matter of
fact, only very exceptional exposure
is sufficient excuse for we'll mans
suffering from cold in any climate to
which he is accustomed. If ordinary
exposure in this climate can make
person uncomfortably cold, there is
something wrong with that persons
physical condition or clothing.
Taking cold isn't a matter of
temperature. 1t is aquestion of ply
sical condition. Fatigue causes more
colds than all the draughts that blow.
A draught isn't going to harm man
whose nerves and circulation are in
perfect tone. A man goes home,
tagged and jagged at the end of the
day. He goes to an evening func-
tion in dress clothes, takes liberties
with his stomach or nerves. He is
chilly, takes cold, and swears it was
eli a matter of temperature or draught.
If his blood was pure, his nerves
steady and digestion good, the tenn
perature wouldn't have affected him.
"Quite aside from the problem of
what we call colds, the ordinary SEN
sations of cold seldom have an exter-
nal cause. Their cause is internal.
The men and women who go shiver-
ing along Our streets in winter wealth
er ought not to be cold, unless they
have some disease that explains their
chilliness. They think they can
remedy matters by piling on heavy
clothing. 1t can't be done that way.
Naturally, warm clothing will help
to Offset low temperature, but it
will not make a man warm if there
is, as is usually the case, some inter-
nal reason why he is cold.
"I believe that fully three-fourths
of our people wear too many heavy
clothes in cold weather. They feel
cold and the only thing they think of
doing is to put on another thickness
of flannel. Warm clothing is all
right, but heavy clothing isn't, and
the close fitting hannels that are so
universally worn are an abomination.
They keep the skin from breathing
and the moment the skin gets out of
breath the owner of the skin will be
cold, even if he wears flannel and fur
foot thick.
"It seems queer to me that people
will never learn and put in practice
the simple rules that will insure them
comfort in cold weather. Putting
aside invalids, we'll take the man
who considers himself perfectly we'll,
but who gets blue and shivers on
cold day. His circulation is out of
gear. He must find the cause and
remove it if possible. If not, he must
Offset it, as far as he can, by simple
and rational means.
Imperfect digestion may have i'm
poverished his blood. Then he must
forswear gastronomic indulgence and
eat plain food that will make blood.
The first plunge into wintry air out
of warm house will always make
the pores gasp, and drive the blood
from the surface to the inner fortresses
in the big veins and arteries and
around the vital parts of the body
but if the circulation is good the re-
action will follow almost Immediately,
and the blood will flow back to the
surface with rush, producing fine
tingling glow.
"In order to bring about this happy
condition man must take care of his
body and encourage his circulation.
Pure air, wholesome food, plenty of
exercise, frequent bathing and venti-
lation of the skin and avoidance of
sweltering clothes, will put the aver
age man where he can defy any win
ter weather this climate can furnish.
If his nose and fingers do get cold
temporarily in extreme cases, they
will warm up quickly and general
prolonged chilliness will be unknown
to him.
"Our houses and officers are too
hot. We all know that. So far as
possible we should remedy it; but
unfortunately it ism t always possible,
especially in an apartment house or
Office building. When one can't keep
the temperature down to some point
between 90 and 70 degrees-prefera-
BILE nearer 60 degrees than 10 degrees
one must grin and bear it and do
what one can to counteract the in
jury. At least, let the air be pure.
Foul air is worse than a draught.
Indeed, if man is in prime condi-
ton draught ought not to harm
him. One great physician of this
generation used to turn cold draughts
of air on small sections of patients S
body until he got the patient into a
condition where he could endure the
cold current on his whole body.