U'ea/Zicr, IVa/cr and Disease. 1 1 



motions. Here begins a prominent characteristic of our 

 weather — its variabilit}-. We all take the privilege of com- 

 menting on it and condemning it, forgetting that the average 

 temperature of a series of years does not vary much. The 

 law of correlation of forces ensures that. vStrict uniformity 

 of temperature, whether low, medium or high, is not desirable 

 in a health point of view. The simple fact, that such a thing 

 does not exist, is proof of it. A man or woman without some 

 reactionary power toward the infinite diversity of human life, 

 is enervated and insipid. The weather, without some insur- 

 rectionary power, deprives you of much healthy stimulus to 

 all your functions. In a mixed population, composed of 

 great varieties of constitutions, temperaments and acquired 

 weaknesses, all will not respond to external stimuli with safe 

 and equal resistance. Action and reaction are not always 

 equal in physiology or pathology as in physics. The capacity 

 to endure heat and cold is no doubt part of the hereditary or 

 acquired power of each individual. vSome endure cold bet*ter 

 than heat or heat better than cold, so that, in the actual condi- 

 tions of life, it can not be said that severe changes never do 

 harm. Physicians recognize these constitutional susceptibili- 

 ties, and always advise against the chances of chill — a word 

 we use as against the idea of mere cold. Simple reduction of 

 temperature is not productive of disease — there must be .some 

 other element wnthin the individual that has impaired his reac- 

 tive powers. If he be healthy, he can over-ride degrees of cold 

 that would be sure to destroy another with taint of constitution 

 or accidental weaknes.ses. Like a vessel in a storm, with a 

 competent commander, he will come out of it with whole 

 timbers and renewed strength for the next emergency. A 

 so-called cold (a phrase which has been used both by physi- 

 cians and laity as explanatory of a great variet}' of diseases) is 

 composed of two elements, a predisposing one and an exciting 

 one — a pre-existing unhealthy state of the system and a rela- 

 tively too great external impression from reduction or varia- 

 tion of temperature. The so-called bilious disturbance of the 

 system is a common predisposing cause of serious so-called 

 colds. Other conditions, capable of bringing about similar 

 predisposing causes, will be noticed later. 



