MEDICAL NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2608, 19 July 1923, Page 4

MEDICAL NOTES.

CATCHING COLD. In point of fact, catching cold is really catching a microbe —or being caught by it —and is not due to draughts and cold at all. Yet the current theory can only be reconciled with this undoubted fact on the assumption that the microbe was caught in the open air, and that the unfortunate nose or throat was prepared for it by exposure to the cold. This, however, does not express the facts at all.

In every crowded assembly there are persons suffering or recovering from colds, and probably one or two have brought a few specimens of the influenza baecillus with them. None- of these things can flourish in the opem air. The seed is sown in a diot, crowded place; but, «of course, it cannot multiply unless the soil (e.g. the throat) be prepared. This is done first by the breathing of impure air for some hours, which effectually poisons the blood and devitalises all the tissues which it nourishes; and, secondly, by the respiratory passages —already devitalised —to air many degrees colder (though pure) than that previously encountered. If the indoor air were decently pure and ventilated active enough to keep microbes on the move and weakened by contact with abundance of oxygen, one would not catch cold on going out into the night. The mere difference of temperature will not bi’eed a eold; no one who wraps up properly takes cold after a Turkish bath.

OUTWARD SIGNS OF COLDS,

If the nostrils or lips are puffy as the result of.a cold, bathe them with hot boracic lotion at bedtime, made by disolving one teaspoonful of powder in four tablespoonfuls of water. When a cold affects the mouth and gums, there is nothing better than tincture of myrrh, for it tightens them up. It can be diluted with equal parts of water, and used three or four times a day. It is important, if any strong cold remedy is used, such as inhaling an ammonia preparation, to rub cold cream on to the nostrils immediately after to counteract any ill-effects on the skin. The eyelids, if swollen, must be bathed with hot boracic lotion. A DRY COUGH. Most of the dry coughs or “irritant coughs,” as they are called, are unnecessary. They do no good and may actually cause harm to the victim. In certain forms of heart disease the blood is not properly handled by the heart. As a result tiie blood is dammed M&ek into the lungs, causing congestion and irritation. Then there comes the impulse to cough. As you see, there is nothing needing expulsion. The trouble is purely “nervous,” that is, there is stimulation of the nerves and the feeling- that one must cough to get rid of the irritant. We hear about “stomach cough” —cough due to undigested food in the. stomach, or to intestinal disturbance, possibly to intestinal worms. Children sometimes wake up in the night with this variety of cough. There will be spells of dry coughing like croup or whooping cough. Without doubt, indigestion may be a sufficient cause for the annoying symptoms. OTHER CAUSES OF COUGHING. You will be surprised to know that irritation in the ear may produce coughing. When wax accumulates in the ear and there is made an attempt to remove it by syringing or by the use of instruments, a sudden and uncontrollable cough is not unusual. This is called “ear cough.” Some throats and bronchial tubes are very sensitive to the slightest irritating vapour, to dust and to smoke. When most of us would be entirely unconscious of the presence of some chemical irritant in the air, these delicate mortals go into paroxysms of coughing. Certain disease peculiar to women may be accompanied by an annoying dry cough. It may be included, too, among the symptoms of hysteria. Inflammation of the brain coverings especially at the base of the brain, may have dry cough as one of its signs. These are some of the many causes for this irritating symptom. H you are the frequent victim of this symptom, have your doctor tell you why. The treatment will suggest itself on determining the cause.