THE COMMON COLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 9 May 1925, Page 10

THE COMMON COLD

SIR W. MILLIGAN’S HINTS SENSIB LE—AND SILLY—FA Sill 0X S, I lm Health Committee of the Preston ffirporation (England) (has set itself seriously to tl*> task of educating tho public on matters relating to the more common ailments and diseases. Last month a- crowded audience assembled at he lantern lecture by Sir William Milligan on “A Common Cold ; What, it is, and what it may lead to.”

At tlie outset Sir Willinm asked his audience to dismiss from their minds in gauging (lie proper and relative importance ol a. eumnion cold the theories attributing it to draughts, to exposure and. to cold in general. The void duo 1.0 inleelion was the common and by !ar tin' inure important from a. sociological and economic point of view as compared with the cold due to irritation. Me explained, with the aid of lantern slides, how the nasal organs warmed, moistened and filtered 'he air, preventing impure particles, dust, soot, and smuts from entering the lungs, and explained the handicap which < bslructions in the nasal organs put upon the body in its continual defensive war faro against myriads of unseen foes. The act of sneezing, coughing, kissing, tended to convey myriads of organisms from one person to the other, so that the vicious circle of infection grew like tiio proverbial snowball. Proceeding, Sir William gave figures to show that respiratory diseases wore twice as fatal in Manchester as over the whole of England and Wales. This was due to pollution of the air by factory and domestic smoke. SMOKE ABATEMENT URGED The human nose is incapable of dealing with an assault on such a massive scale; its filtering functions are overtaxed and break down. No wonder, therefore, that respiratory diseases are so common and so fatal, and no wonder that such a vast amount of ill-health, susceptibility to infection, and a general tendency to a lowered vitality exist in our largo and over-populated cities. The urgent necessity of a vigorous “smoke abatement campaign” is obvious.

The value of fresh air, though better understood than it formerly was,. .:s still much under-rated by the British public. During the past 35 years the death-rate ir, this country from tuberculosis has been reduced by approximately 50 per cent., and largely trom the recognition of the value of fresh air and isolation of the infected person. The “never-open-the-window-brigade ’ are simply courting disaster. Fresh .a#' nover killed anyone, and never will.

The dread of night air is an exam pm of a long-lived and erroneous tradition. Far from being injurious it is infinitely preferable, in cities at least, to the an by day, for it is purer owing to the greater absence of domestic and facto-y smoke, and the absence of. dust from the greatly diminished vehicular traf-fic-motor and horse-drawn. Freedom from serious affections ot the respiratory tract, tho direct eon sequence of a “common cold, would be enormously increased were we to realiso *. — 1. That the common cold ls n infectious catarrh. , . , 2. That infected individuals soon .1 be isolated. „ . 3 The value of fresh air. Much needless suffering, much economic loss, would be saved were people to grasp the fact that the common col 1, or a nasal catarrh, is in the majority of cases an infectious disease pr me to spread from one person to anj-ie • Isolation of the infected id.) h»;' 1 would in most- cases arrest the >pi f - 1 of infection. Unfortunately --no l '--' mon' 1 cold is classed as quite a nn or maladv, but how many cases of acute and chronic bronchitis, and o • ” pneumonia owe their origin to i ■- "TUi™.,,,™ i»»........ “'r; half of° U^popilation 0 contract cold* durin" the winter months, and that a oiisly mfa*- °» «*SST “ Si C “suoh‘“wcring of vitality positkm » infection » iiltv habits of clothing. t) ing is almost as much a danger as undem cloUvin rr - - Civilisation demands that si mi lid be clothed, hut it does not demand that we should, be encased fi° toad to foot with heavy non-absorbable materials nor that we should neglect suitable covering over the more xulncialile carts of our bodies. The maintenance of the normal contractile power of. the skm us essent.at to health, and this is obtained neither by too much clothing nor by too little, in fact, a certain amount of cold should always be allowed to reach the skin of young people. It stimulates them and 'incites them to take exercise. Clothing, especially that worn next the skm should be of an absorbent material, capable of talcing up moisture from the skin. Flannel or wool, which is usually worn, is a non-conductor of heat but it is non-absorbent, whereas cotton, linen and silk, from the fact that they contain no air spaces, are not warm materials, but are highly absorbent. It is however, possible to-da,y to manufacture flannel so as to make it an absorbent material, and cotton, linen, and silk in such a way as to contain anspaces, and therefore warmth. Clothing also .should never be so tight as to cling to the body; it is infinitely bettei and warmer to have an air space between the clothing and tho body than not to have one. SHORT SKIRTS GOOD: FLIMSY HOSE BAD The short skirt of to-day, allowing freedom of limbs, and the open neck, far from being inimical to health, are distinctly beneficial to the weaver arid certainly more hygienic than the. dustsweeping skirt and high-necked bodices of our grandmothers. '.I lie thm footwear and the diaphanous silk stockings of the modern flapper are an invitation to the tubercle bacillus not to dine with hut. to dine on the hostess. Gold lout are in more senses’ than one inimical to the proper fulfilment of the daily task, the common toil. A vast amount of inefficiency, industrial and otherwise, is duo to the want of adequate clothing. It has been said (fiat, oii'o-fifth of the populatio is underclad. The underclad and cold man is never an efficient workman. The partnership between poverty and sickness is one of the most destructive factors of oui- national efficiency. Much ot existing tuberculosis owes its origin to the neglected cold. The common cold is apt it neglected to extend from the nasal passages to the ears, where it, may cause sevcVc and permanent deafness, and at times fatal results; to the larynx, where it may ca use a most ineonviont loss of voice; to the bronchial tubes where it. may induce a chronic bronchial catarrh with ail its disagreeable results and dangers from a secondary enlargement, of the heart; and to the lung tissues itself, where, it may produce a pneumonia often severe and often fatal.