CATCHING COLD. 373 



and account for, such sicknesses as croup, diphtheria, pneumonia, 

 measles, scarlet, typhus, typhoid,* rheumatic, " malarial," and other 



fevers. 



I have already remarked that the condition of disease produced by 

 an unhygienic mode of living, relating chiefly to food and air, and 

 whose occasional ebullitions are observed in the " well-known symp- 

 toms of cold," forms the basis of most sicknesses by whatever name 

 they are known. " I catched cold in the first place, and kept adding 

 to it, some way, I couldn't tell how, and finally it settled on my kid- 

 neys " (or lungs, throat, face, limbs, or whatever organ or locality 

 seems especially affected). As the nearest to a panacea for all the 

 physical ills of life, I would offer this : Take care of the colds and the 

 fevers will take care of themselves. Whatever may be the origin of 

 disease, or whatever may give rise to its manifestations, whenever 

 these manifestations or symptoms are said to indicate a cold, the con- 

 dition, as every intelligent physician well knows, is that of fever : the 

 thermometer placed under the tongue shows at once that the tempera- 

 ture is above the normal. The patient may, usually does, have periods 

 of chilliness ; his first noticeable symptom is, very likely, a chill ; and 

 if at such a moment he happens to feel a puff of fresh air on his cheek 

 he thinks that was the moment when he caught his cold ! Possibly 

 he might have been feeling a little too warm, and that "draught" f 

 did the business for him ! Chills and fever, speaking in popular 

 phrase (in reality it is all fever), indicate blood-poison, always. In its 

 earliest stage, the patient, being perhaps wholly unaware of his condi- 

 tion, feels "too warm," and throws off coat or shawl ; pretty soon he 

 feels the reaction the chill and, thinking he has done a careless 

 thing in removing the garment, replaces it ; too late, alas ! he has 

 already caught cold ! 



It is noteworthy as a curious yet easily explicable fact," says the 

 Lancet," "that few persons take cold who are not either self-con- 

 sciously careful or fearful of the consequences of exposure." J It is 



* It is held by some that typhoid fever and some other diseases depend upon the in- 

 troduction of germs of the disease from without the organism. u No seed, no crop," 

 remarks a friend, and adds : " These germs do not always lodge, or, if they do, may not 

 grow ; but they may. Not all the thistle-seeds take root and grow." To which I reply, 

 that neither thistles nor any other undesirable weeds ever " get the start " of a good gar- 

 dener ; and that, of all antagonists to obnoxious or undesirable " weeds," the vital organ- 

 ism, under the influence of rational personal hygiene, is the most alert and efficient. 

 none of these, or at least but seldom, could get a foothold. 



f Whenever a patient comes to me with " a cold," complaining of a draught, I usually 

 ask, " A ' draught ' of what pure air or impure food ? " The answer, in the absence of 

 certain physiological knowledge, is sure to be a blank stare of helpless ignorance as to 

 my meaning. 



\ Former patients comfort me with such remarks as these : " Your colds-theory has 

 given me a new lease of life ; " " How thankful I am for being rid of my old fear of cold 

 air ! " "I date my first real improvement from the hour when you induced me to throw 

 off my dread of cold," etc. " Now that I know what it is," writes a bright Southern lady, 



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