Taking cold : (the cause of half our diseases) its nature, causes, prevention, and cure its frequency as a cause of other diseases, and the diseases of which it is the cause, with their diagnosis and treatment

Front matter

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Preface

Part I. — Description, Symptoms, Causes, Means of Prevention, and Treatment of 4 A Cold.’ — The number of diseases. — The causes of disease : predisposing, exciting. — Taking cold the most prolific cause of disease. — Nature of a cold. — Stages of cold. — In a cold the weak part suffers. — Example of partial exposure. — Example of general exposure. — Explanation of the results of taking cold. — Physiology of a cold. — Causes of taking cold : insufficient and improper clothing, falling to sleep in waking clothing, draught of air, cold air, damp air, chill after exertion; damp clothes, boots, seats. — The causes of cold are constantly in operation. — All persons exposed to them. - — It is a wonder we are ever free from cold. — Diagnosis of a cold. — Evidence of having taken a cold. — Sameness of all the primary effects of taking cold. — Pathology of a cold. — Deranged nervous tension. —Check of cell-growth. — Check of nervous circulation. — Check of blood circulation. — Congestion. — Inflammation. — Fever. — Nature’s cure, vis medicatrix natures. — Same treatment required for all the primary effects of cold. — Key to the symptoms and treatment of the majority of diseases. — Leading idea to be kept in mind. —

IV

CONTENTS.

Single diseased state requires a single remedy. — Results of taking cold. — Taking cold the cause of most diseases. — List of diseases caused by taking cold— Prevention of taking cold. — Means of prevention.— Proper clothing. — When to alter clothing-— The parts to be covered. — Proper food. — Not to be exposed when hungry. — Washing in cold water. — Turkish baths. — Respirators : best, improper. — The medicine to be used as a preventive after exposure.— What to do after exposure.— What to do when a person’s peculiar illness shows itself. — The preventive medicine or antidote.

Treatment of a cold. — Domestic treatment. — Professional treatment. — Two stages of a cold. — The medicine that corresponds. — The proper medicine.— The medicines that do not correspond. — Improper medicines. — Aconite is the medicine. — Symptoms and pathology of aconite and of a cold compared. — Dr. Hempel’s recommendation of aconite.-— Dr. Reil’s explanation of the sphere and power of aconite. — The treatment recommended. — Advice to use aconite at once and alone.- — To use aconite for the beginning of all diseases. — Benefit of this advice.— One pathological state should be met by one medicine. — Dr. Dudgeon’s eulogy of aconite. — Tribute to Hahnemann. — Supplementary directions for treatment.

i Part II. — Description, Symptoms, and Treatment of Diseases brought on by ‘Taking Cold.’ — Catarrh: description of parts involved, varieties, symptoms, and treatment.* — Cold in the eyes. — Cold in the nose. — Influenzal catarrh. — Specific influenza. — Cold in the throat :

* Mucous membrane ; serous membrane; fibrous membrane, localities and description of, and effects of inflammation of.

CONTENTS.

V description of regions and parts involved, varieties, symptoms, and treatment.-^-Common sore throat. — Faucial catarrh. — Pharyngeal catarrh. — Quinsy. — Diphtheria. — Laryngeal catarrh. — Acute laryngitis. — Croup. — Tracheal catarrh. — Asthma. — Consumption. — Pleurisy. — Peritonitis. — Gastric catarrh. — Diarrhoea. — Bilious attack. — Jaundice. — Tabes mesenterica. mesenteric disease. — Glandular enlargements. —Diseases of bones. — Congestion of the kidneys. — Congestion of the bladder. — Suppression of menses, checked monthly. —Mammary abscess. — Rheumatism, rheumatic fever. — Erysipelas. — Congestion of the brain, infantile convulsions. — Hydrocephalus. — Dropsy. — Sciatica. — Chilblains. — Cough. — Hoarseness.

Preface To Fourth Edition

This essay was originally published under the conviction that, by attention to the directions it contains, persons may not only very frequently avoid taking cold, but may themselves frequently cure a cold at its onset, and thereby prevent the development of many of those serious diseases that would otherwise follow. The favorable reception it has met with is a sufficient testimony that it has been found useful.

In this edition the author has greatly enlarged its sphere of usefulness by adding a description and the treatment of some of the most important of the diseases that result from taking cold.

Grove Street, Liverpool; April, 1873.

Part I

DESCRIPTION, SYMPTOMS, CAUSES, MEANS OF PREVENTION, AND TREATMENT OF A COLD.

Diseases and their Causes.

The health of mankind is deranged and destroyed in a great variety of ways, and by a vast number of means.

The way sin which the health is deranged are termed “diseases,” and the means producing these derangements are the “ causes ” of disease.

Diseases.

The general recognised diseases are about ninety in number ; and these produced, in Eng-

2 TAKING COLD AS A CAUSE OF DISEASE.

land alone, in the year 1861, 427,460 deaths. The causes of these ninety kinds of disease are, of course, various, and not always single ; sometimes many causes contribute to produce one disease, and sometimes many diseases result from one cause.

The Causes of Disease.

The causes of disease are of two kinds, viz. predisposing and exciting.

The predisposing causes are those which induce a predisposition or susceptibility to disease, ancl are such as hereditary constitution, general weakness, weakness of some particular organ, unhealthy states of the air, irregular and pernicious habits, and so on.

The exciting causes are those which excite the disease into activity, and are such as infection, fright, mental emotions, fatigue, improper diet, talcing cold , and so on.

Now, of all the

DISEASES CAUSED BY TAKING COLD. 3

•causes of diseases, the most important, the most general, and most prolific, is

Taking Cold ;

for taking cold is the cause of more numerous and more serious diseases than is any other single known cause ; it alone is the cause of one half the diseases that afflict our race.

To give an idea of

how frequently taking cold is the cause of disease, and of what a great number, and of what serious ailments it is the cause, I need only refer to those very common diseases, catarrh, influenza, bronchitis, pneumonia, consumption, asthma, quinsy, sore-throat, croup, pleurisy, rheumatism, erysipelas, neuralgia, tic-doloureux, toothache, headache, and the like, which form the bulk of the daily work of the physician, and which plainly arise from taking cold ; and many other diseases also, in which the cause is the same, though less evidently so ; for taking cold acts not only as an

4 DISEASES CAUSED BY TAKING COLD.

exciting, but also as a predisposing cause ; that is, it not only brings on disease immediately in a person* predisposed, but it reduces the power of resistance, and thereby predisposes a person to become the victim of epidemic and other diseases. Of some diseases, as pneumonia, it is always the cause ; of others, as erysipelas and diarrhoea, it is sometimes the cause. Of some, as catarrh and bronchitis, it is the sole cause ; of others, as phthisis, tabes, and dropsy, it is only a partial cause. Of some, as rheumatism, erysipelas, and diabetes, it is an exciting cause ; and of others, as asthma, diabetes, and the fevers generally, it is a predisposing cause. Indeed, of all the numerous and varied influences that throw man into a state of disease, none are more potent or more general than those that induce the state known as

“ A Cold.”

This brings us to the consideration of

THE NATURE OF A COLD.

The Nature of a Cold.

“ A cold ” is a diseased state brought on by the body being exposed to cold, or having its heat abstracted suddenly by cold air, a draught of air, damp, or other means. The precise nature of this condition is, primarily , check or arrest of the vital processes going on either in some particular part of the body or of the body as a whole, inducing chills or shivering ; and, secondarily , excessive and perverted action, inducing inflammation or fever.

Localised excessive and perverted action constitutes inflammation ; in this case the part becomes hot, red, swollen, and painful, as in erysipelas, or the commencement of a boil. General excessive and perverted action constitutes fever ; in this case the whole system appears to be in commotion and out of order ; there is, as it were, general heat, redness, and painfulness, and feeling of

6 THE SYMPTOMS AND STAGES OF A COLD-

general swelling, as in the beginning of rheumatic fever, typhus fever, scarlet fever, measles, smallpox, &c.

The Symptoms and Stages of a Cold.

The symptoms and stages of a cold are — after the cause, after exposure to cold — first, the direct local effect, viz. a check or obstruction of the vital processes going on in the cells of the part, with constriction or diminution in size of the blood-vessels, diminishing the supply of blood and producing paleness, with chilliness and diminished sensibility ; then the direct constitutional effect, viz. general chills, shivers or rigors, with “ goose-flesh ” condition of the skin, and a disposition to put on extra clothing, to creep towards the fire, to have stimulants, and to drink hot drinks ; this is the stage of depression : after these there is the indirect local effect, after the constriction has been exhausted, viz. the blood-vessels relax, open, and

THE SYMPTOMS AND STAGES OF A COLD. 7

enlarge, and admit too mucli blood ; this stimulates the cells to renewed and excessive action, and there result redness, heat, swelling, and increased sensibility ; then the indirect constitutional effect follows, viz. flushes of heat with thirst, loss of appetite, headache, &c., and disposition to throw off the clothes, and to seek cool places, and to drink cold water ; this is the stage of reaction. This constitutional depression and reaction recur again and again ; like a disturbed magnet of a compass oscillating: over the magnetic meridian first to the east and then to the west, and only by degrees settling with its point to the north; so these vital actions keep oscillating from chills to heats and from heats to chills, inducing the state called fever ; the heart at the same time beats quickly, laboriously, and perhaps somewhat irregularly.

If the part exposed be sufficiently strong to recover its natural action shortly, or if it be

8 THE PARTS AFFECTED IN A COLD.

assisted by appropriate treatment to do so, and no other organ be so weak as to be excessively deranged by the commotion, there will be a gradual settling down to the state of health ; but if any particular organ be so weak that its vessels remained relaxed and enlarged it will become hot, red, swollen, and tender, in fact, inflamed, and a local disease will be the result ; if it be the nervous system generally, or the vascular system generally, that is morbidly weak, then the constitutional chills and heats will continue, and the morbid action will continue .general, without settling in any particular organ as inflammation, and the state know as a “ fever” will be induced.

The Parts Affected in a Cold.

By exposure of the whole body to cold, a draught, or damp, a person’s weak part or organ will be very likely to suffer ; and therefore, after any and every exposure, a

THE PARTS AFFECTED IN A COLD. 9

man should fear and be on the look-out for the evil consequences, and be ready to combat them promptly and appropriately. Should any one have put on damp boots, or coat, or other clothing* ; should he have forgotten to put on his neck-tie, or flannel ; should lie have sat in a draught, or stood still whilst perspiring after exertion ; should he have fallen asleep in his waking clothes; should he have got his clothes wet with rain; or should he have been subjected to any other kind of exposure he should be on the look-out for the appearance of the ailment to which he is most liable — he should fear that his weak part will suffer, and he should be prepared promptly and efficiently to assist it to recover its natural state ; for here emphatically “ a stitch in time saves nine;” and prompt attention may prevent the onset of a most dangerous illness ; but, if neglected, a cold may end in the most serious consequences.

10 ILLUSTRATIONS OF TAKING COLD.

Illustrations of Taking Cold.

The following case affords an example of the effects of a partial exposure producing a local disease : — A lady riding home in the evening felt the wind through a broken window of the car beating on the right side of her face, which became thereby cold, and slightly numb and stiff ; but, as the journey was short, she did not alter her position. After being in a warm room a short time, the right cheek and side of the face began to prick and burn ; these increased during the night, and ended in an attack of erysipelas of the face and head. This was cured by aconite and belladonna.

The following case affords an example of the effects of a general exposure producing a local disease : — A gentleman walked home from a dance on a cold night ; he felt chilled, and shivered a good deal, and had a contracted sensation about the

ILLUSTRATIONS OP TAKING COLD. 11

chest. After having got home he became hot and suffered headache , in the morning feverish symptoms were present ; cough supervened, and an attack of inflammation of the lungs was the result. This was cured by

aconite and phosphorus.

And the following

case gives an example of a general exposure producing a general disease a continued fever : — A married gentleman, aged thirty-five, a cotton-broker, had been much overworked both bodily and mentally for three years, and kept in continual mental strain by the excited state of the market, was exposed to wet and cold one morning going from Liverpool to Manchester ; he felt chilly during the day, and in the evening had some headache ; next day he went to his office, but felt occasional chills and heats, had but little appetite, and was rather thirsty. These symptoms gradually increased, and on getting out of bed during the next night he had a distinct shiver or

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF A COLD.

rigor; after getting into bed again this was followed by great heat of body and intense throbbing headache, with much thirst. A severe attack of typhus fever followed, and lie died on the thirteenth day. In this case the nervous and vascular systems, especially the former, were the weak parts from having been exhausted by continual straiu.

The Physiology of a Cold.

An explanation of these results of exposure to cold will be found in the following facts, namely, All the processes of life result from the operation of the nervous fluid; the nervous fluid is analogous to the electric fluid— some philosophers think them identical it acts in similar ways and under similar conditions, that is, as positive and negative, and under the stimulus of heat and cold. The application of heat attracts the positive and repels the negative, and the application of cold attracts the negative

TIIE CAUSES OF A COLD.

and repels the positive. The surface of the body is generally positive, and the internal parts negative (taking the body as a whole). Therefore exposure to cold deranges the state of the nervous fluid, throwing the skin, which ought to be positive, into a negative state, and thereby some internal part, which, in reference to the skin, ought to be negative, into a positive state.” Hence the derangements in the vital processes, and the shivering, the congestion, the inflammation, and the fever, that result.

The Causes of a Cold.

The causes of “ a cold ” may be classified under three heads, namely, clothing, air, and water.

Improper Clothing as a Cause.

The clothing may be either insufficient or improper ; and this insufficiency or impropriety may be either constant , as in leaving uncovered the abdomen, thighs, and legs

14 IMPROPER CLOTHING AS A CAUSE.

of young children, and the neck, chest, and arms of children and young girls, and in the neglecting to put on flannels and extra clothing in winter ; or it may be only occasional, as in the adoption of muslin and low-bodied dresses by ladies, and thinner neckties, vests, and boots by gentlemen for evening parties ; and in the neglecting to add more clothing during sleep.

The frequency with which disease results in children from the insane practice of leaving their digestive, genital, and respiratory organs, and their extremities, exposed to the chilling blasts and varying temperatures of our atmosphere, is unfortunately too well known to need that I should enter into any proof ; nor need I more than protest against the cruelty, to say nothing of the absurdity, of leaving those parts naked in children that we find it absolutely necessary to clothe the most warmly in adolescence and

IMPROPER CLOTHING AS A CAUSE. 15

adult life ; and more especially when we reflect that in childhood the bodily growth is in progress, and that growth is retarded and checked by cold and favoured by warmth ; and still more especially inasmuch as there is absence of reason and experience to teach how to keep up the warmth of the parts exposed ; whilst in adolescence and adult life the growth is complete, and reason and experience possessed. For myself, I am convinced that very many of the cases of infantile diarrhoea, cholera, constipation, remittent fever, dropsy after scarlatina, marasmus or tabes, consumption, catarrh, bronchitis, pneumonia, quinsy, sore-throat, hoarseness, and opthalmia, result from this exposure ; and that many a lovely child has been sacrificed to its mother’s pride and her tyrant, Fashion.

Very many cases of bronchitis, phthisis, pneumonia, and rheumatism, result from insufficient

THE AIR AS A CAUSE.

clothing, especially the want of flannel in the winter.

And a great number of cases of catarrh, bronchitis, phthisis, sore-throat, quinsy, neuralgia, headache, and toothache, result from the alteration of the dress for evening parties, concerts, and theatres.

And a still greater number of cases of neuralgia, headache, toothache, rheumatism, sore-throat, catarrh, quinsy, and bronchitis, result from sleeping in the waking clothes, as, for instance, in the afternoon nap. On this last cause I wish to lay particular stress, because I have myself known it to induce and keep up, in spite of all treatment, neuralgia, rheumatism, catarrh, and bronchitis, to the induction of confirmed paralysis, asthma, and consumption. It is a very dangerous practice.

The Air as a Cause.

The atmosphere may be the cause of taking cold under

v O

THE AIR AS A CAUSE.

three conditions, namely, when too cold, when in too rapid motion, and when too moist. The air may be too cold though sufficiently still, as in a cold room without a fire in winter ; at formal morning calls, especially when wanting food or flannel clothing ; or by going into a cold bedroom to dress or sleep ; from breathing too cold air when the bronchial mucous membrane is irritable and susceptible, as in bronchitic, emphysematous and asthmatic subjects ; in these cases it may be avoided by the use of a respirator. I need not ask how many young ladies have suffered from these causes, bringing on catarrh, bronchitis, phthisis ; painful, difficult, and suppressed ‘monthly;’ and the various neuralgias. The air may be too much in motion , though ordinarily warm, as when coming in a current from an open window, door, or ventilator towards the fireplace. The air may be suitably still and warm whilst the _ body is driven through it too rapidly , as when riding in an open or

WATER AS A CAUSE.

partially open carriage, inducing faceache, erysipelas, rheumatism, &c. The air may be of ordinary warmth and stillness, but the body too ivarm, as after a Turkish or other hot bath, and after too violent exercise, as running, cricket, &c. The air may be ordinarily still and warm, but the body too still , as sitting a long time in one posture, as reading, writing, drawing, painting. Or the air may be damp, as in a mist, a damp house or room, or a house with a damp cellar ; especially amongst the poor, who rush into new houses even before they are finished building.

Water as a Cause.

Water may be the cause of cold by being applied to the body either wholly or partially, as damp air, mist, rain, snow, damp bedding and clothing, especially boots and coats not properly dried from the previous day’s wetting ; also by sitting on a damp seat, as in a car, railway

THE DIAGNOSIS OP A COLD. 19

carriage, or on the ground at picnics, &c.

Now, these unfavorable states of the clothing, air, and water, being in constant operation, and no person being exempt from them, it is not to be wondered at that they should be such frequent and prolific causes of disease. The wonder is, not that we should so frequently take cold, but that we should ■ever be free from it.

The Diagnosis op a Cold.

The symptoms or the evidence of having taken a cold is in most cases the occurrence or coming on of the peculiar derangement, illness, or disease to which the individual is liable ; if, for instance, a person liable to bronchitis finds himself with roughness, scraping, or dryness in the throat, he may be sure he has taken cold, even though he cannot remember a cause or discover a reason. Does a person subject to catarrh find himself

20 THE DIAGNOSIS OF A COLD.

sneezing and sniffing ? fie fias taken cold, though fie cannot tell fiow or wfien. Does a person subject to quinsy find fiis tonsil swollen and fiis throat painful on swallowing ? fie fias taken cold, tfiougfi fie may protest ever so against tfie possibility. Does a person subject to rheumatism find pain and stiffness in tfie back or one or more joints ? fie fias taken cold most certainly. Does a person subject to diarrhoea find fiis bowels suddenly relaxed without a dietetic cause ? fie fias taken cold in all probability. Is a person attacked with headache, toothache, tic-douloureux, or other neuralgia ? ninety-nine chances to one fie has taken cold, tfiougfi fie may not think so, and may attribute it to fiis stomach, fiis liver, or fiis bowels. In short, whenever tfie peculiar weakness of tfie individual shows itself, fie may conclude fie fias taken cold, and ninety-nine times in tfie hundred fie will be right.

In tfie early stages-.

THE PATHOLOGY OF A COLD. 21

of all these various diseases the pathological state is the same, namely, congestion or inflammation ; and the symptoms are those of these states, namely, a feeling of coldness, chill, creepings or rigors, followed by or alternated with a feeling of warmth or flushing of heat or feverishness ; and it is only afterwards that a specific disease makes itself manifest.

The Pathology of a Cold.

The diseased states produced by taking cold are — local congestion and inflammation, and general fever. The first effect of a general exposure is to derange the nervous tension of the skin and some internal organ ; the second to check, arrest or pervert the cell-growth of the parts affected, and thus obstruct the circulation of the nervous fluid, and produce a recoil of the nervewave, and thereby the chill, shiver, or rigor, and the coldness and numbness of the part. At the same time the

22 THE PATHOLOGY OP A COLD.

capillaries of the part are constringed, this diminishes the supply of blood to the part, hence pallor and shrinking. After the withdrawal of the chilling constringing influence the capillaries relax, open, and admit too much blood ; this stimulates the cells to renewed and excessive action and there result redness, heat, swelling* and pain, with flushes of heat, thirst, loss of appetite, headache, &c.

If the ganglionic nervous centres remain intact, their influence, as a regulating force, is sometimes sufficient to overcome this check and restore the normal action — this is Nature’s cure, the vis medicatrix Naturce — sometimes it is only able to run the action off, at a tangent, as it were, and produce some perverted action, hence the different inflammations and fevers (see p. 5). Such I believe to be the true pathology of taking cold, and the true nature of thebeginning of all those diseases that result from taking cold ; that, in fact, a

THE RESULTS OF TAKING COLD. 23

congested and inflamed state is at the bottom, 'whatever the disease be, whether bronchitis, catarrh, rheumatism, erysipelas, toothache, or tic-douloureux ; whether convulsions, diarrhoea, tabes, amenorrhcea, chlorosis, or fever ; that the beginning of all that result from taking cold is the same , and requires the same treatment.

This is the key to the symptoms and treatment of the majority of the diseases that afflict humanity ; and this is the leading idea to which I wish to draw the attention of the public, namely, that as there is one common cause and diseased state , we should trust to one common remedy. This single remedy I will presently mention.

The Results of taking Cold.

The effects of taking cold, or the diseases produced, are many and various, and frequently serious and incurable, and not seldom

24 the results of taking cold.

fatal. Taking cold is mostly, if not always, tlie cause of the following diseases, namely, catarrh, bronchitis, pneumonia, pleurisy, emphysematous asthma, phthisis, and almost all other lung diseases ; laryngitis, quinsy, sore-throat, and croup ; rheumatism and lumbago ; inflammation, hypertrophy, and dilatation of the heart ; erysipelas, tic-douloureux, headache, toothache’ sciatica, and other neuralgias ; convulsions, hydrocephalus, and paralysis ; diarrhoea, dysentery, jaundice, bilious attacks, infantile cholera, and cholera morbus ; ophthalmia, ozsena, polypus, otorrhcea, and deafness ; ascites’, and dropsies generally; inflammation of the liver,, peritoneum, and kidneys ; tabes ; difficult, painful, and suppressed menstruation; abortion and chlorosis ; almost all inflammations, properly so called ; and many fevers, as bilious, catarrhal, rheumatic, infantile, remittent, and milk fever, and sometimes puerperal — a rather formidable list of diseases to result from one

THE RESULTS OF TAKING COLD. 25

cause, and a very serious list too, seeing that these diseases caused, in round numbers, 339,000 of the 427,000, that is, eight tenths, of the whole number of deaths given in the last report of the Registrar- General ; and those of them that resulted exclusively from taking cold caused 73,399 deaths, that is, nearly one sixth of the whole number ; this is the number of deaths ; but the number of diseases resulting from taking cold bears a greater proportion to the whole than do the deaths, because many of these diseases never do end in death ; for instance, chilblains, tic-douloureux, headache, toothache, and other neuralgias; ophthalmia, ozrnna, polypus, deafness ; dysmenorrhoea and other disorders of menstruation.

Having examined all the cases I treated during one month I find that those which without doubt resulted from taking cold form very nearly one half of the whole.

26 CLOTHING AS A PREVENTIVE.

The Prevention op taking Cold.

The means of preventing taking cold are the following, namely, clothing, food, baths, and exercises, and the avoidance of the causes mentioned at pages 13 — 19.

Clothing as a Preventive.

At all times of the year, the clothing should be sufficient to protect from the influence of variations of the climate, and to keep the body up to a comfortable degree of warmth, and should be varied according to circumstances. Increase of clothing is always required in the evening and at night, both winter and summer, especially if the air is damp ; also when an east wind is blowing, and on going out of a warm room into cold air ; and in this case the extra clothing (overcoat, for instance) should be put on a few minutes before going out, in order that it may become warm, and not have to

BATHS AS A PREVENTIVE. 27

abstract heat from the body after having got out, by which it would assist to bring on a shiver ; also invariably before falling asleep. A woollen garment ought always to be worn next to the skin ; always flannel in the winter ; and the clothing should always cover not only the vital regions — throat, chest, and abdomen — but the extremities also ; and these should always ' be well-dried and well-aired

Food as a Preventive.

The food should be sufficient and varied, and contain flesh once or twice a day. Persons should never be exposed to cold or infection whilst hungry, for them there is a much greater susceptibility, the system being in a receptive absorbent condition, and less resistent to evil influences.

Baths as a Preventive.

The daily use of cold water to the skin, all over, is per-

28 RESPIRATORS AS A PREVENTIVE.

liaps the most effectual means of prevention, if possible in the form of a shower-bath ; also an occasional Turkish bath has a wonderfully invigorating effect. Persons who cannot bear, or are unable to react after a cold bath, may substitute the daily use of a cold wet towel or sponging.

Exercise as a Preventive.

Also regular out-door exercise ; a portion of every day should be spent out of doors.

Respirators as a Preventive.

Much of the risk from the atmospheric causes may be avoided by the prudent use of a respirator, especially in persons subject to asthma, bronchitis, quinsy, or catarrh. I am convinced that I have prevented many attacks of bronchitis by ordering a respirator to be put on before going out on a cold day, and before going into a cold bedroom.