The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1935-03-01

breathe. And II
something breaks
down the proper
functioning of this heating and humid
flying property, then, presto, we have a
cold. This is how it works
Beneath the moist membrane lining
of the nose are highly specialized
thread-like masses of blood channels.
The volume of blood flowing through
these is constantly changing according
to the needs of the nose.
Now when healthy person leaves
the warmth of the house on cold win
ter day, this vascular network of capil-
laries In the nose instantaneously con-
tracts to prevent too much warm blood
getting too close to the skin surface.
If you notice, the membrane Of the
nose looks pale at this moment.
But the body needs to have the cold
air warmed before it reaches the lungs,
and obviously this can't happen If the
decrease in the amount of blood near
the surface continues.
So there is an almost immediate re-
action, and within a few seconds the
volume Of blood flowing through the
capillary network increases, the tenn
perature goes up for few seconds,
and then quickly becomes normal
again.
This warns the incoming cold air.
and while the warming is going on, the
glands of the nose, or the humidifying
machinery, also get into instant action.
They secrete watery mucous to
molsten the air properly before 1t
reaches the lungs. And for the first
half hour that we are outdoors, until
the nose has worked out the proper
adjustment between cold air and warm
blood and moisture, the glands usually
secrete too much mucous. That is why
we have to blow our noses to get rid
of the excess.
But the point is that in the healthy
person the nose does work out the
adjustment. There Is at first the mo-
mentary drop in temperature indicated
by the blanching of the nose, then in
about half a minute the upturn to
higher than normal, and then quick
return to normal The adjusting Of the
secretory glands takes longer.
This drop in temperature and return
to normal is not guess work. In the
medical laboratory of the University of
Illinois where much research has been
done on colds, we have used three
methods to determine these facts, and
we have checked the methods against
each other. First, we had a special
microscope that showed the capillaries
changing in size; second, we made ex-
aminations of the blood flowing through
the capillary beds Of the nose in ami
mails; and, third, we had special type
of thermometer that recorded both the
temperature of the lining of the nose
and of the skin of the face at the
same time. This last was the most use
full method.
Now when a person has history of
several colds each winter, we found
that while the temperature of the lin
ing cells of his nose decreased on COM
ing in contact with cold air, it did not
rise again Immediately as it does in the
healthy person. The nose stayed
blanched, and consequently the blood
in the nose could not warm the air he
breathed to the degree that it should
be warmed before it passed on to his
lungs. Indeed these chronic cold peo-
pie seem to have lost the power of
co-Ordinating their noses with the rest
of their bodies. They can be hkened
to the loss of control of volume in a
radio, combined with plenty of static.
So far we do not know of any medi-
cine or vaccine that will help these
chronic cold sufferers. The only way
they can be helped is for them to train
their nose machinery together with
their whole outer skin machinery so
that its reaction will be the same as in
a healthy person. And the way to do
this is by hardening process of hot
and cold baths.
The patient should take good long
hot bath first thing in the morning, and
this should be followed by cold show
err or a plunge in a tub of cool water.
The patient, however, should lead up
to the cold shower gradually. He
should begin by dipping his hands and
face in cold water. When he reacts
favorably to this, he should dip his feet
in cold water. then sprinkle cold water
over his chest and back. In month he
will think the world isn't right, of a
morning, unless he has this hot and
cold therapy.
Then after breakfast he should walk
ten to twenty minutes in the open air.
He should do this again at noon and
at night. He should be out at least an
hour a day no matter what the
weather.
The whole purpose Is to train the
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