The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-12-02
Theory of Catching Cold.

There is a timeIiness in a recent dis
cussion by DR.. c. M. Richter, of San
Francisco. of the causes of grip and
pneumonia. He associates these dis
eases with "anticyclonic'' weather,
when the barometer rises and the tenn
perature falls. He is disposed to be-
lieve, however, that the effects OBJ
served at such times are due to the
mechanical influence of increased air
pressure, and perhaps to an improved
opportunity for some solar activity to
manifest itself as consequence of the
heightened purity of the atmosphere.
DR.. Richter does not consider the cold
responsible.
OF course, it is for his professional
brethren to pass judgment on this
opinion, but it is fair to suggest the
possibility that DR.. Richter may have
overlooked one factor in the case. The
ally dry. The usual method of meas
uring humidity is to place two Their
mometers side by side, the bulb of one
being kept moist. When the atmos-
phere is pretty well charged with
vapor the readings of the two intru-
ments may not differ more than two
or three degrees. On very dry days
the wet bulb thermometer will read
twelve or fifteen degrees lower than
its companion, because evaporation
then takes place rapidly, and evapor-
alton cools. When a person is in a
perspiration the condition of the skin
more nearly resembles the wet bulb
therm ometer than the dry bulb instru-
ment, and there is special susceptible
ity to the chilling influence of a dry
atmosphere.
Not infrequently at this season and
during the winter months the ordinary
thermometer will show that in a
period of "a hours there has been a
fall of twenty degrees or more in the
temperature. Yet the risk which the
change involves is not fully indicated
r,cy &c. T-Y1-. b hos
also been conspicuous reduction in
humidity. Properly to estimate any
influence, which the weather may
then exert, eight or ten degrees should
be subtracted from the dry bulb read
ing. May not cold, aggravated by dry
ness, be the chief agency in inducing
grip, pneumonia, and allied disorders
after all?--New York Tribune.
--LATEST Man" Is INDICATED.
Death Thursday endeed the career
of Richard Simmer, long known as
the LATEST man in Millvil1e, N. j., but
with his death comes the announce
ment from physicians who attended
him that the unfortunate man had
been grossly misrepresented. Simmer
could not be induced to work. He
said he felt too tired. Efforts to have
him do something for the support of
his wife and five small children were
unavailing. His little ones went out
to beg and the authorities caused his
arrest. 1t was no use. He simply
could not be induced to reform, and
he was sent to jail. That accom-
plished nothing, for when the man
emerged the situation was not i'm
proved. Once not long ago chart
tabIy inclined residents who wanted
to do something for the suffering fam
lily sent Simmer a load of wood. He
refused to accept it because it was
not cut.
Nobody had a good word for the
man, but when the doctors were called
to attend him in his last illness they
found that he had been suffering for
a long time with an organic disease
which Slapped all his vitality and left
him weak and practically helpless.
They said he had never merited his
unpleasant notoriety for laziness.-
Philadelphia Record.