122 rOPULAll ERRORS. 



summer ; and ihc body, therefore, that is warm in the winter when the 

 thcnnometer is at 32, must be Iwt from the same clothing in the summer 

 when the temperature is at 62. If, therefore, the clothing used in 

 the whiter be as much in excess above what is needed, as a winter dress 

 is when worn in the summer, the effect in both cases will be the same, 

 namely, to cause an excess of heat on the surface, and an undue heat- 

 ing of the system. Now, the legitimate end of clothing, besides its 

 other purposes, is to resist the cold of the external air, and not to 

 raise the heat of the system ; and, therefore, no more clothing should 

 be used than is needed to attain the first object, and the quantity and 

 material of the clothing should be regulated by this effect and therefore, 

 be considerably less in summer than in winter. Of the consequences of 

 neglecting these rules I have now to speak. In the taking of that most 

 frequent of all ailments a common cold ; it is by the sudden abstraction 

 of heat from a limited portion of the body, when the heat of it is in 

 excess, that this effect is produced. The chilling agent may be a 

 current of cold air, or any cold substance, as damp or wetted parts of 

 the dress, as of the stockings, or by the uncovering, and keeping 

 uncovered, any portion of the person ; and it is not, be it remembered, 

 necessary to the effect that the chilling agent, whether it be air or water, 

 should be at a very low temperature; for if the body be much heated by 

 an excess in the clothing, a moderate degree in the temperature of the 

 chilling agent will be sufficient : for the heat which the excess in the 

 clothing will produce, will render the exjiojied parts more susceptible, 

 and a moderate chill more effective ; and thus the summer breeze, 

 refreshing as it is, may serve as the chilling agent. When a cold is 

 taken it is always, as has been just observed, by the chill being received 

 at alimited portion of the body ; and in proof of this fact that it is by the 

 partial and not by the general abstraction of heat from the body, that 

 a cold is taken, I may mention that no one is found to take cold in 

 rising from his bed on a winter's morning, and going through 

 the cold processes of ablution and dressing ; nor does the use of a 

 shower bath or of cold bathing produce this effect, and the reason of 

 this exemption is that the cold is applied to the whole body, and the 

 abstraction of the heat is general. On the same principle, a person 

 may lie a whole night awake through the scantiness of the bed covering, 

 and rise in the morning almost stiff with cold, and yet without mani- 

 festing any signs of having caught a cold ; yet, perhaps, on some sue- 



