572 Of the Salubrity of Warm Rooms. 



what vast numbers are carried off annually by con- 

 sumptions ? 



It is well known that this dreadful disorder is almost 

 always brought on by colds, and that the cold of 

 winter is commonly fatal to consumptive people ; but 

 why should the inhabitants of this island be so pecu- 

 liarly subject to these colds? Is it not highly probable 

 that it is because they do not take proper care to pre- 

 vent them ? For my part, I declare, in the most seri- 

 ous manner, that I have not the smallest doubt that 

 this is really the case. 



Much has been said of the supposed danger of 

 keeping rooms warm in winter, on account of the 

 necessity most people are under of sometimes going 

 into the cold air. But how many proofs are there that 

 these sudden transitions from heat to cold, or from cold 

 to heat, are not attended with danger, if care be taken 

 to be properly clothed, and if the heats and colds are 

 not partial ? 



How very hot do the Swedes and the Russians keep 

 their houses during the long and severe frosts that pre- 

 vail in winter in those countries ! And yet no people 

 are more strong and healthy than they are, nor are 

 there any less liable to catarrhs and consumptions. 



It is the very warm rooms in which this hardy race 

 of men spend much of their time in winter (which, by 

 promoting a free circulation of their blood, gives them 

 health and strength) that enables them to support 

 without injury exposure for short periods to the most 

 intense cold. 



In Germany the rooms of people of rank and fashion 

 are commonly kept in winter at the temperature of 

 about 64 or 65 of Fahrenheit's thermometer (the 



