Volume 1

Health lectures for the people.

Date:
1883-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health lectures for the people. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    459/896 (page 207)
    to breathe, by the nose and not by the mouth. When out in cold winds the neck should be covered by a muffler or cravat, which need not be thick, but sufficient to protect the skin from chill in that locality, which appears to be a frequent manner of our catching cold. Indoors equal care is necessary to avoid draughts and cold rooms. I am no advocate for fires in bed-rooms, but they are sometimes necessary when the room is large, and there is a tendency to cough after lying down and during the night. The practice of sleeping with an open window in winter is not safe, at all events in the case of the delicate or the very young. Colds may be caught in bed, and therefore there should be ample covering to the body by bedclothes, and by night-dress, which in children should be long and of woollen material. When there is a liability to frequent sore throats, a regular night and morning gargling with cold water all the year through will avail much Perambulators are now so thoroughly an institution of our day for the locomotion of young children that it would be vain to attempt to discountenance them. In winter, however, they are often the cause of their occupants catching colds, when used in biting winds, or when allowed to stand while those in charge of them are enjoying a talk with a friend, or when the body and limbs of the child are not abundantly wrapped up. Lastly, let me say that when we feel ourselves chilled and tending to shiver, we should try to put forth a strong effort of the will to resist the feeling, for much evil I am persuaded may often be warded off in this way. If, in addition, we can promptly have recourse to a hot bath for the whole body, and a hot drink —tea, coffee, gruel, etc., are better than alcohol—a cold which might otherwise produce serious results may often be extinguished at the onset. This, however, leads me to the confines of my subject, and to pursue it further would be, as the lawyers say, travelling beyond the record, for you will observe my lecture did not include the treatment of a cold. This may, perhaps, form a subject for future discussion, for the whole topic is one that is much too large for a single lecture, and I have had to deal