CLIMATE. — EFFECTS OF COLD. 339 



times attack persons who have been subject to such 

 complaints. Catarrhs are very rarely followed by 

 any dangerous consequences, but are generally ex- 

 pelled without proving the harbinger of other dis- 

 orders. 



It is a prevailing opinion, that sudden transitions 

 from heat to cold, are very inimical to health. 

 Where the heat is productive of copious perspira- 

 tion, the sudden exposure to cold might operate un- 

 favourably; but where no sensible perspiration pre- 

 vails, I have never seen, in a healthy person, any ill 

 effects resultingfrom the greatest transitions. For my 

 own part, indeed, whenever I have occasion to expose 

 myself to a severe cold, I like to get the body well 

 warmed, finding that the more I am heated the longer 

 I can resist the cold without inconvenience. Inter- 

 nal warmth, however, is clearly preferable to super- 

 ficial heat, and the warmth produced by simple 

 fluids, such as tea or soup, preferable to that occa- 

 sioned by spirits. After the liberal use of tea, I 

 have often sustained a cold of 10°, at the mast- 

 head, for several hours without uneasiness. And 

 though I have often gone from the breakfast 

 table, where the temperature was 50 or 60 de- 

 grees, to the mast-head, where it was 10°, and 

 without any additional clothing excepting a cap, 

 yet I never received any injury, and seldom much 

 inconvenience from the uncommon transition. 

 Hence when the sea is smooth, so that the smoke 



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