Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1885 — The Bugbear Cold. [ARTICLE]

The Bugbear Cold.

“I observo, sir, you ' yourself hardly ever come near a fire* and never sit by one.” “It is because I never feel cold when lam well. But men are differently constituted; there are Warm-blooded men and cold-blooded men, but I question if the latter do much good to their constitutions by placing their feet so often on a cosey fender. Can you believe that more colds are caught at the firesidp .than in walking out of doors, even in the night air?—another bugbear, by the way.” “I can,” replied my friend; “I can understand that it does not stfend to reason to have one-half of the body exposed to the heat and the other not.” “True; let old people sit ccalmly by the fireside as long aa they please, but let them have high-backed chairs, and a pillow behind them to protect the loins as well. And when they go out, let them wrap up well, unless they can walk fast. Let them, and let every one else, for the matter of that, learn to breathe only through the nostrils, and the air they inhale will never give them catarrh, be it the stormiest day in winter.

“Look upon cold, a certain, degree of it, as a friend, and you can make it so; treat it as a bugbear, and it will become your constant enemy. * “Cold, as a bugbear, causes people to shut up every nook and cranny oT their bed-rooms at night, so that long before morning they are breathing their own exhaled carbonic acid; no wonder .they are heavy-headed and tired of a morning, and dawdle long over a meagre breakfast, trying to eat. “Cold, as a bugbear, causes people to over-crowd their beds with woolen stuffs, blankets, and such-like. The bedclothing, even for old people, should be light, though warm. There is nothing better than eiderdown, when you can get it. The night dresses of old people should be comfortable, and especially should they be warm between the shoulders; that is the place which cold likes, as a foe, to assail, just about three in the morning, when the morsel of fire has got low or gone out. Let them beware of it! “Cold, as a bugbear, plays much mischief in the nursery. Thousands of children in this country are coddled to death, and many actually stifled in bed. They call it being overlaid; it is being smothered. That is the right name for it.” * : —' “But children must be kept warm?” “Bless their innocence! yes. The bed. as soft as down, the clothes as soft as soft can be, but smooth withal, without any tendency to rumple up, or cover mouth or face. The room, too, should be moderately warm; no more, I pray you; and the air ought to be as pure and sweet as the odor of roses. Is it so in most nurseries? Nay, for your bugbear, cold, steps in and seals doors and windows. No wonder that when baby wakes up it is peevish and fretful.

“Young men wear double the weight of clothing on a winter’s day that they ought to. They sweat themselves in consequence, so cold, the foe, steps in and ends many a life. Top coats, in my opinion, should never be worn, except while riding by rail, or driving or when standing about in a draught? then they cannot be too.thick and cosy. If worn at all when walking, they should be very thin. Very light waterproofs should be worn when walking in winter, worn over the arm, I mean, and never put on the back except when it is raining. But the warmer the socks the better, and the shoes should be moderately strong and thick for many an ailment is caught from standing about on damp, cold ground. “Damp is much more to be dreaded than cold, but even this should not be made a bugbear of; I would rather have damp inner clothing than a damp coat; the underclothing, indeed,of every one who perspires freely and easily is seldom, if ever, free from damp. When I was newly married, the little woman who owns me, used to air my handkerchiefs, my newspaper, and my tablenapkin. She knows better now. But preserve me and you and every one from sleeping in a damp bed! “The bugbear cold does much harm to many a man on a winter’s day, by frightening him to take refuge < against it in various fe'timulants. It cannot be too widely known that these never did and never can keep up the animal heat. There may be times when, if judiciously administered, \rad in moderate quantity, a vinous stimulant does good.” “Example, sir?” “If one is cold and wet even to the extent of a rigor, or if one has fallen into the water, or after, not during, great fatigue; but in ordinary cases the imbibition of a stimulant on a cold day causes but a momentary glow, and even that is a false otfe; some excitement of brain to be followed soon by nervous reaction, by depression and ChiHing of the blood. “In defending the fortress of life, then, it is wise not to make a bugbear of cold, far better to treat it as a friend than a foe.”—-An English Family Doctor, in Cassell’s Magazine.