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Volume 1

[-274-]

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST COLDS.

IF a person getting wet through were to try the experiment of rolling a blanket round himself, or of putting on an india-rubber or any other entirely waterproof covering, in a quarter of an hour he would find himself quite warm. The wet-sheet process of the water cure is but an exemplification of this fact. When a cold attacks any one, it is but that the heat is carried too quickly away from the body, which becomes chilled by the rush of cold air from the outside; the moment a shivering fit is felt, if the victim would undress and lie down between blankets£ the newer the better£ and then take a few drops of spirits of camphor on moist sugar, heat would be almost instantly generated in the system, and be prevented by the blankets from escaping; but if the same process had been adopted with linen or cotton fabrics, the result would have been different.