Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1915-12-24
WINTER AND ITS DANGERS.
Indifference to Hygienic Laws Works
Much Harm-Fallacy of Scheme of
Hardening Body.

cival. When disrcgarded they often de-
mand penalty which involves lives
near and precious to u.s. This is espec-
ially so in winter and lone who
knows finds the task Of impressing
on his near and dear friends the ne
cessitv of "ordinary care' difficult
one. most all consider the caution ad
vised as extraordinary, extreme and
unnecessary. They almost all neglect
some one or more things like the feet,
throat and lungs, or are careless as to
proper clothing, protection against sud
den changes in the temperature, the
heating and ventilating of their rooms.
Negligence is to be thought of those
whose laziness and carelessness brings
illness upon the young children under
their control. These cannot think or
reason for themselves They know no
way to prepare or Judge what they
need in dress, temperature and pro
lection against winter and its dangers.
Every day is the same to them. With
uncovered throats and breasts and half
clad they innocently and helpless 90
forth and dare the winter s chill. With
half clad limbs they passively accept
the winter blasts and no indignant pro
tests blast the parents ears. The evil
continues every year, children die like
plants in a bitter frost, the terrible
list of infant mortality grows and the
solemn statistical warning brings
about at the best a slow change.
PEOPLE cannot seem to understand
how that slight chill, living i'll close
hot rooms, absence of sunlight, severe
exercise or exertion while fasting,
warm or cold baths before breakfast,
and q hundred other wrong and injuri-
Gus things, can work so much harm.
So far as the proper care of the body
is concerned, we seem to be living and
rearing our children with what seems
TO amount to an almost criminal indif
ference to all hygienic laws and as the
cold weather approaches the dangers
increase accordingly
In the summer we are safer take less
chances, live closer to Nature, windows
are open, baths are more frequent,
fresh vegetables and fruits are eaten,
we spend more time out of door and in
the sunlight and perspire and eliminate
and our system is purified in spite of
ourselves.
With winter comes the banked up
house, double doors and windows, coal
gas furnace. Pure oxygen becomes an
enemy and sunlight rare. For long
hours we sit in artificially lighted
rooms breathing in either coal gas or
vitiated steam. The air in the rooms
is unchanged and we breath both our
own breaths and that of everybody
else; we leave and enter without a
thought Of protection against sudden
change of temperature. Draughts we
ignore, also warning coughs, aches and
pains and dozen, yes hundred ways
we put ourselves in the deadly grasp
of winter.
If one freezes to death, it is because
the blood at the surface, or the skin
! becomes cooler than the rate, of pro-
duction of heat in the interior of the
| body. This is an increasing depression
of vitality. First there is pain in ex-
posed parts, then the skin loses feeling
| the muscles energy, the breathing is
less, the mind sluggish, sleep overcomes
and the person dies. The true facts in
the case was that the person did not
become colder and colder but that he
really lost bodily heat until none re
manned to support life. In short he los
it faster than he could make it. If he
could have by the means of proper
clothing, etc. retained the heat he had
he would not have frozen.
The process of the whole scheme Of
heating the human body may be com
pared to q house that is heated b,
hot water in pipes. The pipes near thu
outer walls are necessarily somewhat
cooler than at the center. They Loss
more heat but when the water in then
circulates and returns to the boiler OF
source of heat this water retains the
heat which it has lost. The skin is sup
piled with countless blood vessels, small
in size. the calibrc being controlled
by nerves (vaso-motor) whose duty il
to keep them at certain size. They dc
this by stimulation, which causes then
to contract and prevent undue dilata
ton.
When one is exposed to cold, it act'
upon the nerves in such manner thai
they overstimulate, which contract!
these small blood vessels to an abnor
NAL degree. This drives out the blood
prevents the ingress of fresh blood 81
that the larger arteries are SUBJECTED
to high pressure and though the in
ternal heat of the body is economical
the heart and blood vessels are exposed
to serious danger from the high blooC
pressure. If the heart is weak this may
paralyze it. This danger applies to thu
aged whose blood vessels are apt to b,
weak and brittle; this is why when colo
weather comes on so abruptly many ole
people die. The cause being apoplexy
or congestion of the lungs.
Another result of sudden cold Oh
chill is the checking of the perspira
ton; this results in pneumonia. pleuri
sy, bronchitis, rheumatism or kidney
trouble, with their attendant dangerous
and often mortal after effects; this il
why we should dress correctly in win
ter. Clothing is devised to prevent {
loss of heat viz, to keep the body warm
1t does not create heat, it preserves it
Its proper value is to maintain the
proper equilibrium between the inneI
and the outer temperature of the body
hence it is important that we pay the
most careful attention to what W.
wear in winter.
The fallacy and foolishness of Tho
scheme of hardening our body to lnur'
cold is one that everybody should b'
warned against. Nothing is more
dangerous. Cold prevents development
| Jca1on1ors or,