The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-12-23
Your Health By WILLIAM BRADY, M. D.
DEFINITE, EHe

A great word, deunnVe. Ln every day chit-chat N impresSes your listener so much more if you say definitely instead of yes, don't you thinke Of course you do if you are fond of the word. In medicalese, the funny bombastic lingo of the doctor writing or speaking on Q medical subject, the world impresses colleagues so much more than Sim- pie language does, the doctor who uses 1t must think, else he wouldn't use the word at all.
 For exmaple Q doctor writing on c subject that is as indefinite as a medical subject can be-"the com- mon cold"-at least nobody has yet defined 1t In terms a doctor can understand, utters this familiar hanality:
 "Colds are most easily trans
 mitted in their early stages.
 Influence of weather on colds
 has been difficult to determine
 accurately. But there is appar-
 ently e distinct and definite
 relationship between the occur
 renee of colds and tenn
 perature."
 Mind, the medical author respon- sible for that was careful NOT to say just what he was talking about -that is, he switched from "the common cold" to colds without Q word of explanation of the mean ing of either term, knowing that few If any medical readers will boggle at such trifies.
 This same medical author says no cure has been found and that "all a person can do is keep his resistance up" etcetera.
 The author does not define ''re- sistance" either. Neither does any other physician or health author ity. With these eminent dispens- CTS of double-talk resistance" is whatever the simple layman pleases to think it is, So why should an eminent medical authority tell what he is talking about? Keeking up your resistance" folks, is easy as keeping up your leucocytosis or your nitrogenous metaboliSn. Whatl You confess you don't know how-why, any old almanic or current radio announcer will tell you it is merely e matter of eating pure, nourishing, easily digestible food, breathing pure. fresh but not too cold air, getting plenty of rest, drinking some water and, of course. taking care you don't get your feet wet. All of these dispensers of doubde-talk about resistance" will assent to that And it will be all right with them if you wish to include wear ing whatever you or your Aunt Sa- mantha may consider adequate armor against drafts, dampness or sudden change of weather.
 Lest new readers be confused, may I stipulate that although "re- siStance" is wholly speculative or hypothetical, immunity is @ fact that no medical authority or health authority can handle irresponsible l ity. we not only know that im- munity is but by actual tests in specific cases we can determine whether the individual has immun- ity or not-for example, whether a child has immunity or not-for ex- ample, whether a child has immun- ity enough to protect against dip- htheria. But always keep in mind this important difference-immun- | ity is specific-that is, immunity to typhoid protects only against ty- phoid fever and immunity to dip- htheria only against diphtheria and immunity to whooping cough only against whooping cough only against whooping cough, so far as we know: whereas this hocus-pocus about "re- sistance" applies to anything or everything for it means whatever you like.