Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1875 — Economizing the Heat of the Body. [ARTICLE]

Economizing the Heat of the Body.

The correspondents of the London Times have been discussing several matters connected with the weather, one of whom makes the following very sensible remarks in regard to economizing the heat of the body: He warns persons against allowing themselves to be unnecessarily cold within doors, comparing it to the act of a spendthrift who wastes his capital in his youth and has no income left for his old age. To keep warm, to retain heat within the body instead of spending it, is just as judicious as to husband money with proper economy,- and every one who wishes to be able to face cold with impunity should regard the avoidable expenditure and loss of heat as foolish extravagance. To attempt to “ harden” people, and especially against cold is all nonsense. Cold can only be resisted by vital combustion within the body, and the body can only burn what is supplied to it, and that only in the measure of the capacity of the furnace. Every one who is exposed to cold draws upon his heat-producing power for hii means of resistance, and has so much less remaining with which to meet the next demand. Persons who live in warm houses, and who wear warm clothing, may go out into any degree of cold with impunity, while those who suffer themselves to be half-chilled at home must expect to be half-frozen when they are abroad. In regard to food, adults would do well systematically to eat more fat than usual in winter; and children may often be induced to do so if it is concealed by any of the familiar artifices of cookery. The thick gravy of an Irish stew, for example, may be made to carry much fat that would otherwise be wasted; and if the matter cannot thus be managed it will be found that nearly all delicate children will readily take cod-liver oil during jhe colder months.— N. Y. Observer.