OPEN AIR.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19156, 12 November 1927, Page 11

OPEN AIR.

—« ADVICE AGAINST MUFFLING COLD A FRIEND AND ENERGISER (most ora own cobhespojtdekt.) LONDON, October 4. Victorian theories regarding the catching of colds were criticised by Dr. Leonard Hill in his presidential address at the annual conference of the Sanitary Inspectors' Associations, held at Plymouth. "While colds are ascribed popularly," said Dr. Hill, "to draughts from an open window, to wet footgear, to cutting the hair in winter, and to saying good-bye at an open door after coming from a warm room, a medical officer told me the other day that he had never 6een in his sanatorium any ill-result arise from exposure to cold. "While it has been . the custom of the Victorian age to fear tho cold wind, to muffle up the throat, to put on overcoats, tho lessons learnt at the open-air sanatorium are wholly in the opposite sense. The man who has been cured by open-air treatment at a sanatorium rejoices in the wind and loves to feel it sweep through his clothing. It incites him to take vigorous exorcise. He puts on no hat, overcoat, or muffler. He has no fear of going out into the night air or, adequately clad, riding in an open motor-car at any season of the year. He sleeps by an open window. All fear of feeling cold has gone from him. He regards cold as his friend and the energiser of bodily health, vigour, and appetite.

The Hardy Ones. "Balloonists, flying men, alpine climbers, street-corner men, fishermen, ploughmen, shepherds, bakers going from hot ovens to cola streets, doctors going from warm beds to speak at open windows or to drive in cars to patients, winter bathers, Russians who, after a steam bath, roll in the snow, are not subject to catarrh or

rheumatism through exposure to cold. The soldiers at the front in the Great War, exposed in the trenches, and the I sailors exposed in the North Sea to the severest winter conditions, were singularly free from catarrhal complaints and pneumonia. They suffered from such when returning home on " leave and in crowded depots. A man engaged in business severely suffered each winter from chilblains, and was fearful of the effect of exposure when called np to serve in the war. At the front he had no chilblains at all.

Pneumonia Blouses. "The view has been commonly held that pneumonia results from exposure to cold, and the low-necked blouses or women when first introduced, were called 'pneumonia blouses. lhe /* * s little or no evidence in favour of tms Illness, continued Dr. Bill, was costing the country £100.a».9<» £ loss of wages alone. That, might be saved by educating the individual in hvgiene. The working, power would be increased, so that the national income might be doubled, or even trebled. _ Importance of Prevention. The whole attitude of both the public and the medical profession needed chanßin". At present the medical profession was paid for looking after 11 people. The profession ought to be ?aid, in the first place for the supervision of those not yet _ Il-for the prevention of disease by the education of the individual in personal by Tha n doctor should not wait for the sick to come to him, but .should go round the factory daily, «ut the ailing, »nd «nding the tired away for a holiday before they reached the breaking point. X voung roai) in Constantinople has been'sentenced to one week s imprisonment for wearing, Oxford trousers, m Turkey, it is a criminal offence to wear these garments. In England they have gone even further, and made it untrshlonable. In Detroit, during the last year, the fares collected on the bus lines of the municipally-owned system increased more than 100 per cent. In addition, thousands were carried on privately operated lines and other carriers using petrol-driven motors.