Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1884 — “Colds.” [ARTICLE]

“Colds.”

The London Lancet, a scientific medical authority of the highest grade, says: “A person in good health, with fair play, easily resists cold. But when the health flag 3 a little, and liberties are taken with the stomach or the nervous system, a chill is easily taken, and, according to the weak spot of the individual, assumes the form of a cold, or pneumonia, or, it may be, jaundice. Of all oauses of ‘cold,’ probably fatigue is one of the most efficient. A jaded man coming home at night from a long day’s work, a growing youth losing two hours’ sleep over evening parties two or three times a week, or a young ladv heavily ‘doing the season,’ young children at this festive Beason overfed and with a short allowance .of sleep, are common instances of the victims of ‘cold.’ Luxury is favorable to chilltaking; very hot rooms, soft chairs, feather beds, create a sensitivenethat loads to catarrhs. It is not, after aIJ, the ‘cold’ that is so much to 4>e feared as the antecedent conditions that give the attack a chance of doing harm. Some .of the worst ‘colds’ happen to those who do not leave their house or

even their bed, and those who are most invulnerable are often those who are most exposed to changes of temperature, and who by good sleep, cold bathing, and regular habits, preserve the tone of their nervous system and circulation. Probably many chills are contracted at night or at the fag end of the day, when tired people get the equilibrium of their circulation disturbed by either overheated sitting-rooms or underheated bedrooms and beds. This is especially the case with elderly people. In such cases the mischief is not always done instantaneously, or in a single night It often takes place insidiously, extending over days or even weeks. It thus appears that ‘taking cold’ is not by any means a simple result of a lower temperature, but depends largely on personal conditions and habits, affecting especially the nervous and muscular energy of the body."