COLD AND COLDS 



have any effect in predisposing to colds. Dowling et al. (1958) re- 

 ported similar findings. 



There is quite an extensive literature, reviewed byThomson and 

 Thomson (1932), on the effect on the nasal mucosa of chilling 

 applied locally to the nose, to the whole body, or to the feet. The ex- 

 periments have mostly been carried out in hope of determining why 

 chilling causes colds. No evidence is adduced on the preliminary 

 question of whether chilling causes colds. Mudd and Grant (1919), 

 amongst others, found that cooling the body surface causes blanching 

 of the upper respiratory mucosa, and a fall in temperature there of 

 rather less than 1° C. Cooling of the feet alone was rather less 

 effective. Different observers are not in agreement as to whether 

 local draughts playing upon the nose are more or less effective than 

 cooling of the body generally. Schmidt and Kairies (1931) confirmed 

 other observers that chilling caused mucosal ischaemia. This hap- 

 pened to everyone they tested, but the rate of return to normal was 

 very variable, a fact having possible bearing on varying suscepti- 

 bility to colds. There is one report that chilling causes increased 

 acidity in the saliva with a suggestion that nasal secretion may be 

 similarly affected; this, if true, could perhaps be related to the 

 rather acid conditions which common cold viruses seem to like in 

 tissue- culture. Draughts could, of course, operate by causing local 

 desiccation and hence temporary stagnation in the sheet of mucus 

 which is normally flowing continuously backwards over the mucous 

 membranes... But I am in danger of becoming fascinated by these 

 reports of thirty years ago and am being entrapped into discussing 

 "how" and avoiding the question of "whether". 



1 offer for discussion three possible explanations of the conflict 

 between popular belief in this matter and our own experimental 

 findings. 



The first is that the popular belief is a fairy-tale, having no real 

 basis in fact. The second is that people confuse early symptoms 

 with cause. Assuming, as I do, that a common cold is essentially a 

 virus infection, it is hard to explain, on any hypothesis, how this 

 could be "full-blown" within an hour or two of the chilling episode, 

 as is usually reported. Is it not more likely that an early symptom 

 of the virus infection is an undue sensitivity to the effects of the 



303 



