South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-05-25
Put Ban on SniffIerS to Prevent Colds
ldment in Health DecaIOgue Applies to Every
tccts Us from Dangers.
BY WOODS HUTC HINSON, a. NJ, vi. ID.

Most of the new commandments OF
the health decalogue are positive and
social, but a few of the most lfe-saV
ing ones are negative and exclusive
in form at least. First and foremost
among these comes the precept, thou
shalt have no dealings with him that
sniffleth" But it is also command
ment with a promise, and emphatic
ally entitled to be followed by the re-
frain:
THAT thy days may he long in the
land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee"
And the earlier in life we learn to
practice this precept, the lOnSer viii
our DAYS be.
This is not to condemn or Judge
harshly the sniffler poor fellOw-he
may be more SMILED against than
smiling. Indeed. the chief thing that
makes him dangeroUs-in the uplift
language of the day, anti-sOcial-is
his utter unseldshness, his generosity,
his willingness TO divide his last sniff
with every one he meets. Like Fal-
staff, he can say truthfully:
Il am not only sniffy in myself, but
1 am
The cause of the shifts that are in
other men,"
This is why we are unkind enough
to attempt TO add the insult of isOla-
ton TO the injury of a cold in the
head. Unto him that hath Ca cold
shall be given-Other colds: his mis-
cry loves company and usually gets
it,
But why should we make such a
fuss about a mere cold i'm the head?
Up TO a decade or SO ago its very
name was a synonym for the most
trivial and negligible of ailments. The
story is preserved OF a famous phys
ician who was once asked by an
anxious young mother. doctor, what
IS the best way TO treat a cold in the
head?"
with contempt, madam, with con-
Tempt doomed the great man.
We have got bravely over hat atti-
tude. because the microscope and the
culture tube have shown us that colds
are cOntagiOds-tTue infectiOns-and
that an Infection is like a fire, easy 20
start but no telling where III viii stop.
A blaze that a smOuldering match
had started may defy the whole fire
department before il is put out; and
while % colds out OF 100 are trifles
the consequences of the TOOTH may
be- and are. rheumatism. Bright's
disease and neuritis-half the So
called diseases of civilization
The germs of influenza. the streptO-
cocci of sore throat. the bacill al
tonsilitis seem TO be little more than
harmless house cats-merc time kit
tens that play about in the corners OF
nose and throat; but il Ts-ust never be
forgotten that they are of the true
tiger breed. and can grow 10 man.
eating size with painful rapidity un-
der proper announcement.
Indeed, the recent brilliant expert
ments Of Rosenow strongly suggest
that our tonsils. our gums and OuI
noses are simply hatching place,
where. in little abscesS incubatOrs
/ streptocOcci. or ordinary pus germs
are aCclimated and trained until they
/ have adapted themselves 10 lodge anC
grow in the appendix, the joints, tbs
I lungs or the stomach. So that ;
/ chronic sore throat. or catarrh ol
/ liberated gums, may be the birth
! place of appendicitis. rheumatism
] pneum onia and ulcers of the stomach
! A clean mouth lis as important in tn
/ health religion OF the future as
/ clean heart was in that OF the past
AT least two-thirds Of our serious in
/ ternal infammations and OF our grav
chronic diseases are now traceable @
the direct effects OF common infec
tions. often OF very mild ones
But what is the use OF trying t