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Show WHY You CATCH COLD in a DRAUGHT health and inured to rigorous physical circumstances circum-stances of living react better after chilling, as for instance by a sea bath, than the leas vigorous. It seems possible that one factor in the hardening harden-ing process of cold bathing, outdoor life, and so forth, with its incidental heightened resistance to colds and sore throats, is a training of the vas-omoter vas-omoter system in the direction of development of a quick reaction of hyperemia in the pharynx following fol-lowing chilling, such as has been shown to exist in the tonsils of the subjects of the present experiments. ex-periments. , "We would reiterate In order to minimize any possibility of misunderstanding. We are concerned con-cerned in our experiments with excessive chilling of the body surface, which, like overdosage of a useful drug, we believe may have ill effects. Certainly Cer-tainly we would not encourage the unreasoning fear of alight draughts and exposures so often encountered. Good ventilation and circulating air in buildings, cold weather and out-of-door living are needed for vigorous health; many people are unquestionably benefited by cold bathing. But excesses in this direction should also be avoided.'1 a ITALIAN physicians have discovered by experiments, experi-ments, that chilling of the skin, as in draughts, lowers the temperature of the air expired from the lungs, thus accounting for the way in which many colds are caught A somewhat similar study, made by Samuel B. Grant Stuart Mudd and Alfred Goldman at the Washington University Univer-sity Medical School, St Louis, is reported in detail de-tail In ths Journal of Experimental Medicine. They watched the effect on the tonsils, palate and pharynx of a cold draught directed upon the back. Their method was pretty. To register the rise and fall of temperature in the throat they attached the terminals of a thermopile to the tonsils and led them Into a test tube with the bulb of a sensitive thermometer and connected with a galvanometer. The subjects of the experiments were brought into the room well wrapped up and after everything had been adjusted readings of the galvanometer and thermometer were taken. Their nostrils were stopped so that they had to breathe through their mouths. They were asked to increase the rate of their respiration, this being regulated by a metronome. When the readings appeared constant, the wrapa were taken from the subjects and an electric fan was made to throw cold air against the small of their backs. This draught wss kept op for front 7 to 19 minutes. The readings on the' Instruments, together with observation of the mucous membranes of ths throat proved that the chilling of the back was accompanied by constriction of the small blood vessels of the soft palate, pharynx and tonsils, ton-sils, with marked diminution in the blood supply to these organs. When the subjects were warmed HP again the tonsils quickly reacted, often becoming be-coming red and swollen, while the other parts of the throat recovered much more slowly. The deduction the experimenters make from these facta is aa follows: "It is well known that persons la robust |