Fight the Cold at the Start of Its Season

When winter arrives, many look upon it as one looks upon an unwelcome, "cold" guest, or an enemy attacking with its weapons and its hosts of winds, rains, and chill, and all that follows in their train — the common cold and the cold's attendants: the cough, bronchial catarrh, inflammations of the tonsils and the larynx, and the rest. For this we all dread and fear it, and wish we could be rid of its evil and its harm.

Most people reckon that catching a cold means being struck by the cold weather; they say of the person with a cold that he "took a chill." But this is a well-known error: the cold does not come from the cold weather, though it usually comes along with it. Its direct cause is the shutting of every opening, the lighting of fires for warmth, and the crowding together in rooms and halls, with all that follows — the air not being renewed, the breeding of infectious microbes, and their swift passage from the sick to the healthy. And so, whenever winter comes, the complaints of colds multiply.

Here now, madam, are some counsels which you should follow to guard yourself against its attacks. Do not forget that "prevention is better than cure," and that the cold, as the well-worn saying has it, "takes three days coming, three days staying, and three days going, whatever the treatment may be" — or, as the French say in their pleasantries, "If a cold is left untreated it lasts two weeks; but if it is treated, it will last no more than fifteen days!"... And here are the counsels, or the "ten commandments," for guarding against it:

1 — Sleep in a room whose air is renewed.

2 — Do not expose your body during sleep to drafts of air, especially if your body is damp with sweat.

3 — Beware of passing suddenly from a warm atmosphere into a cold one. If there is no help for it, take care to hold your handkerchief over your nose for a few minutes.

4 — Do not expose your body to cold or to rain, for the shivering of the outer body weakens the resistance of the nose and its membranes.

5 — Expose your body to the sun and its rays as much as possible, within the bounds of safety.

6 — Strengthen the body in general with fortifying foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, which contain calcium and the vitamins that increase the power of resistance.

7 — Persevere at athletic games in the open air.

8 — Abstain from smoking and from spirituous drinks, or cut them down.

9 — Treat any defect of the nose, such as growths, inflammation of the sinuses, and a crooked septum.

10 — If you feel a chill or the first signs of a cold, take to rest, and go early to sleep.