The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-12-13
ILLNESS USUALLY. CAUSED BY
OvERHEATED ROOMS AND
HEAVY CLOTHING.
Remedies Should Be Applied With
knowledge Of Results to Be
Attained.

THE trouble is,' said a doctor after
he had declared that he himself was
worn out answering the calls of peo-
pie suffering from the prevailing colds
that the average citizen seems to
have no idea of how to avoid a cold
in the first place, and when he gets
it he promptly does everything but the
right thing.
Nearly everyone knows what a
cold is; that it is the result of the
rapid cooling of the surface of the
body, by which the superficial circu-
lation is arrested and internal con-
gestion follows. The mucuous MEM
branes of the throat and nose feel the
effects first and the general disorder
with which we are all familiar fol-
lows.
But while nearly everyone could
explain the causes, it occurs to few to
apply the principles involved to them
selves Half of the trouble comes
from living in rooms that are over
heated, and then going into the cold.
The superheated surfaces are dry and
sensitive The cold strikes them and
the chilling process begins.
THE same results can be accom-
plished by wearing too heavy clothing.
When one bundles himself up in the
heaviest clothing and underwear that
he can find, sits around for time in
the house and then goes out, the chill
ing process, of course, begins at once.
The skin is enfeebled by continued
perspiration and there is no resistance
to the cold.
Then too, after a man has had one
cold ne begins to coddle himself. He
is afraid of every breath of air and
generally manages to keep himself
half sick for the rest of the winter.
mere Is OIlIy Ouc way " III SNCHl
colds and that is to accustom the body
to cold. 1 do not mean by that that a
man should begin a reckless course of
cold bathing every morning, whether
his constitution can stand it or not,
that the room in which he spends his
time is not overheated, and that his
clothing is warm enough to keep him
comfortable, but no more. The cases
of tonsilitis are not found among the
working men who go about with their
threats barred, and the same prin-
ciple of resistance applied in a de-
gree to the body generally.
But the principal trouble begins
after the cold has once taken posses
sion of it's victim. Then the sufferer
begins to hurry around trying first
one remedy and then another expect
ing each to act at once, and ready to
change to something else if it doesn't
1T doesn't occur to such an indi-
vidual that what might have been
good for his neighbor who was
threatened with pleurisy may not be
good for him when he is on the high
road to pneumonia.
Then there are the good old RENE
dies of mustard poultices, camphorat-
ed oil and hot baths. They are all
good when they are properly used
but the effect Of all is to open the
pores of the body and they should be
used with that fact in mind. After q
hot bath and a rubbing with cam
phorated oil the person who does
anything but get into warm bed is
tempting Providence.
Care in Using Poultices.
Poultices in the case of threatened
pneumonia should be used only wher
nurse is giving her whole atten.
ton to managing them. If hot poul.
tice begins to coool, it aggravates in
stead of helps the disease
Babies are the most difficult sub
| jects to manage. When one take!
cold the mother is more likely thar
not to give it a sleeping potion. I'm.
der the influence of the opiate thu
symptoms that should give warning
|
til often it is too late to give relief.
IF a baby develops a tendency t.
colds the best thing to do is to follow
the daily bath with a thorough rub