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What A Cold Is, And How To Treat It

What A Cold Is, And How To Treat It image
Parent Issue
Day
12
Month
January
Year
1872
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

One of tli o most oouirnon exprossions lic-uil, and heard everywhere, is, "I havo takun a cold." Whcro one man has (lied in battle, thousamlü have died from taking cold ; and of every thoosand tlying, fivo hundrud liuve come to tlioir fute from uot knowing what n cold is. As a physician, i aui coniident that I do not overstut this. Now, what I proposo here is, to teil the readei just exacify what a cold is and the principie on whioh the doctor treat3 it. The wholo gist of the matter is very simple - su muen so, indeed, that you will likely be prompted to ask if that is all ; and yet t will be. A cold moans a disturhance from exposure of the circulation ; such exposuro ïiiay li-.ive been to cold, to heat or to draughts. Flowing through the circulatory systeui of man is that material whioh we cali the blood. In a state of oquipoise, or non-dorangeiuent, cvery part has of tliis fluid a proper proportion ; thoro is ju.t so much circulating through his lungs, just so imich in his livr ; 30 much in his feet ; every part has enougli but not oveniiueh ; ho is comfortable ; iu liealtli, in ease. iow we will maleo a cold. Four friends go out íor a walk on ft sloppy winter's day, and all oome back with wet toet. Or tbr; four, on a. summer's afterhoun, go out for a row on the lako or river ; bccoming overheated from exertion, eaob throwa off his vest or nockcloth, luxuriiting in tho breezo, which ' delightfully rel'reshes. Nest dny the four aro sick : thoy all havo t tken a cold. One, howovnr, lis pneumonía; a seoond, pleurisy; a thnd, infa mnationof 11 bawols ; and the f jurth, lumbago. In other words, all liave the samo thing, yet all havo different diseases. This is their conditiun. The oold, impinging on tho suri'ace of tho wot foet, or over the expostd mrt neeks, ?o contraf'ts the vessels of thoso parts thnt all the blood is drivon out of thtiin ; tin's fluid had, of courBO, to gï sotnevh' e, SO it int.ruded on thecirculati'in 't' other parts; it became in reality, tbrouga its exoi-s", an irritant: it over-stimnlatod ; it over-coügested. In the oase of the fitst patiënt, the langs wero hia woakest orgaus; they had not the vit il force to eontr.-vot upon and drivo back tho ourront intriiding on th'in, só the iiniil forcud itsalf iuto arteries and capill.'iries, andgorgod them ; this is pneumonía. The othur parts saved themselve only through their superior vitality ; thcy possessed the oapabilitiea of rosistanco and antagonism. In tho seooud oaso tho pleura w.is the weak part; in the.th,e third, theabdoiriïnal viscera; in tho fourth, the máseles of tho back. We have, then, ourfour pationts, all afflicted through a comruon derangoiiu.nt of their circulatory systems ; tho principie involved in all being procisely the same. If just hete may bo accomplished. the ivstoration of the derangcd equilibrium, the four wil! bo well ou tho third morning; ifsuoh equipoise may not bo secured, one out of tho four will most likely sucouiub ; a socond ba ooa verted into a lit'e-long in valid ; the third and fourth ïuay esoape with inore or leas injury. What can be done? Tho indication is to relieve the overburdened part. How ? We will take the lung as out cxumplo. The organ is fuü, ovcrfiill, of lilood ; the man ia drowning frotn the engorging fluid ; the vesssls and oapillalies of the part contract upon themsblvea to their owii emptying, bocnuse of th.is ovcr-fullaees, wbich is the destruotion of their tonioity ; assiSt now to get away any of this excosa and nature will care for the balance. To eet away any part of the blood is theii the object. This may be attuiuptcd in any way that pvomisos to fulfill the indication. First, if the toet of a man bo placed in hot wate-, it is soon remarked that tho parta grow red nnd ongorged ; this ia beoause the capillaries are snlarged, und the blood, by gravitation and attraction; has filled every part. This blood must come frotn somewhere ; it comes as niuch iiom the overhlled iung as any other part ; tho Iung, thus, perhaps, unburdoned to the limit ot' its contructilo power, the troublo is onded. A single Lot foot-bath, or a ropotition of theso, has gaved a ibultitude of lives. A secoud principio of rolief to a congestcd part is to get to bed aud drink hot tea until thrown into a profuse perspiration. Now, as porspiration is the water ot tho blood, ft man cannot sweat without casting off so much from tho volume of the blood. ín this way congestión is ofton speedily relioved. A third manner is found in rodiicing the volume through the uso of what are called hydragosuo cathartics. A doso of Epsom salts, for instance, may reduce tho quantity of water in a man's blood to the extent of a quart, and this, in a congestión, might well bo his salvation. In eonjunction with the depletory medicine, the physicianalmost invariablylpreseribes opiates ; this is with the object of soothing and quietiug the irritatod and worried nervous system. A iniiii recognizes that he has taken a cold through a sense of feverishness and heat that takes possession of him. This is likely his first syniptoni ; it i the condition of a simply deranged circulation ; at no point is thoro a special dorangement but the system at large is in in a state of irritubility. A quietiug, soothins; influence, any one may recognize, is just now the indication ; it is really tho caso that tho nurvous contor, lik? an ill offleor, has becomo fussy from fright, ordoring, if vouplease, tho troops hero and thero without any sufficient reason. it tno centor was loss impressible, or a trifle moro indifferent, notfiing wonld be folt to be wron- indeed, nothinii wonldbe wrong. Anything which a man has folt to bo soothing tohim W-bere in placo; tew tilines aro botter liiun kmemado made veryacid, and if.in roujimrtkm with this, tho patiënt will take, on going to bed, twenty grains of bromidi of potassium, the chances are that next moming he Will get up woll. If hc does not, yet iools no worse, or may bo a Httle better, then heia ñmplyto continua hia lemonade and potaMinm through tho day. t ,.; i V1. temona to bc oonsumed with tho and flf'een or nwonty grama ot tne latter dÜBolvod L a vrinc-glass oi wator, three times repeated dunng theday.- [Jndorsnota a oourse, itis muobniare nkolvthütii' oiroulatiem viU be found to o'ftlm iteelf aa do Üae watera a storm. -We are, bowever, iaourlesson, to look. at the oppposite aspooi of tho matter; nerhaps the patiënt r,ows worso inst.-a.l of better. A (onseof fallne) is telt m tho bead, or oppression intae enes. beoame a Weak pari ia b rag ovor-iloodod - tho weak print, pfeyaioalljr, nl the ïmhviduul A man oan alwaya learn ot suoh. wcak places fctaongh ccOd. tae nw tho comlitions ftttd ndications iound mul ■■„ h! withthc fourrowere. ow M il for relief loud and prossmg. lt is in the comlition of a country o ivenrun aadoverburdened with its vn troops ; ;ll, .„ m1M( be gottan away, Uoi lUein, and tb, quiokertto botter. H.-iv, thcn. ia the aeiuand fat tke hot fout-bath, tho woatinir medioinea tata tbc diurenoB,tae oathaitóu, and, ü'the individual ba of tul! babit and plethonc, ït muy be nec. bodestroy tko troops iu bulk by ing. Tbislast, however.is aeldoin neeessary ; proper geaaralihip will save botli countiv and troojis. . . , This, then, isa col.l, and tbe principio given is that on wbioh it is t.:lo. . lo this extent has the reader leapned of medicine, and become indootrinated in swatbropy.- Odd B ftywew. The use of eymbale in bwws bands is to re-i.'l. a olimax tbr.u;H Oilmore, who pretenda he has induced ninetT-mne oxnert Cbineso cj-mW íuen to play nt lus fubilee. ; ply symbolicaA of tfio ' noise CHlmorc intends to inake.

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus