The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-07-03
CATCHING A COLO
DELUS|ON SAYS
PHYSICIAN
Sunlight and Fresh Air the
Best Preventive Ac-
cording to Brady.

The war over colds and their causes
has broken cut anew i'm the Medical
Journal. DR.. William Brady. Of III
mira. \. y, attacks With vi"lenc"
what he calls the 'bogy of catching
colds"
There are some five different kinds
of bacilli and cocci which bring on
coryza, or a cold, says Dr. Brady.
Each variety has a large name and a
meaning to the medical profession.
Also. according To Or. Brady. there
are four p~redisposinS factors in ac-
quirins CoryZa; ~overhcatcd apart
ments. unhysienic dress. insufficient
ventilation and overeating. The mcdi-
UNI of infection he thinks is usually
dust. but direct Infection undouhtcd-
ly occurs in children Intimately assoc
ciated with coryza carriers. III" adds
that the ideal place To catch coryza is
the average schoolroom. whore medi-
cal inspection is conSpicuously want
ing. The article goes on:
CoryZaz never develops primarily in
the open air. Exposure to rain, hail,
wind and snow is onic so long as it is
comfortahle-physically comfortable.
Wet feet are of no consequence UNI
less they become uncomfortahly cold;
and cold fee, are not n cause hut a
sign of defective circulation. plung-
ing the feet into cold water does good,
not harm, provided the reaction is oh
tanned. Cold bathing likewise, Wheth-
er in health or in illness. is wholly a
matter of ~vasonaotor reaction.
ANY child from year up who
does no know enough to come in out
of the cold when the cold is uncom-
Portable is mentally defective. The
natural instinct Of self preservation di-
reefs us safely in this: no advic" from
house bred sanitarians is needed. So
long AS a child is comfortable. though
he stands in a puddle all day. the eff
feet is tonic; so soon as the recation
fails and the circulation loses its
equilibrium the child becomes too un-
comfortable to enjoy himself, and if
he is not an imbecile he goes in to get
warm.
Identical principles are involved in
the exposure of the body. clothed or
unclothed. to cold air. If the invalid
suffers actual physical discomfort
therefrom it is doing harm: on the
other hand. if he enjoys an airing
rain. hail or shines ninetv-nine in a
hundred do. it is better than any tonic
In the p~harmacopeia for him. When
harm is done by such exposure the
equilibrium Of the circulation fails.
and 1t is debatable though by no
means proved that Infection with
pathogenic bacteria might more readi-
ly occur.
DR.. Brady finds fault with the medi-
cal profession in general because its
ember o seem to realize the
necessity of guarding against coryza
infection. Not n physician in a
thousand, says he, instructs coryZa pa
tients to disinfect the nasa! discharge.
although it may be swarming with
he thinks the trouble Is Simple"
coryza and only a cold DR.. Brady
adds:
The universal indoor pla gue-sim-
pie coryza-is a disabling. frequently
mutinlating sometimes fatal, infec-
tious disease. prevailing epidemically.
The treatment is hygienic. medicinal,
dietetic. biological and surgical. The
prognosis is recovery. chronicity, per-
manent deafness, operation or death.
1t is most commonly observed in In
diViduals least exposed to cold air and
rough weather.; and it is never ohserv-
ed In the Arctic zone.
n medical profession aids and
abets the propagation and spread Of
First. by passively encouraging the
catching old phobia; and, secondly.
by failing to ISOLATE simple coryza ad
d1sinfect the nasal discharge. The
economic waste chargeable to this
fault is beyond computation. the ire
med1able Deafness. the u~nnecessary
operations on accessory sinues, mas
toids and middle ear. the ~preventable
deaths from cerebral LESSONS directly
. due to simple coryza. are appalling.
All because a few superannuated sani-
tary engineers and family doctors of
authentic vintage insist that there is
such a thing as catching cold.'
Yet there are still isolated instances
IN which a woman takes cold after
childbirth. by and with the consent of
her medical attendant. and has "a bad
run of fever" TIC this crimewe. as
a profession. are accessory before the
1act. since we cling to the catching
cold delusion. We aid and abet the
obstetrician with the dirty hands. We
lend encouragement to the surgeon
with the dirty Instruments. q
Draughts are inevitable as the ris-