690 1MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. DECEMBER, 19‘10
spray or drip, and a fan to cool by evaporation may be used in hot, dry weat,her. The diminution of protein food, which stimulates metnbolieni and heat prodiiction, is indicated. Monkeys fed on rice ancl ripe haiinnns stand exposure to tropical sun out of dooiu. The taking of vigorous outdoor esercise keeps men much fitter in the Tropics than women shut up and cooking in houses. The body weight can be diminished to sis-t,entlis of the pre- war figure safdy, according to German reports on the effect of the blockade on the civilinn population. A diminution pclrticularly of heavy weights in t.he Tro ics
increased in pro o r t p to the mass of the body. In England beEef 111 the open or gas fire 39 a source of radiant warnitli is justifieil. The moist, nust\-, mild weather is thus counteracted. Gas fire must replace con1
firpa to secure ecoiioniy of cod enFrgy and remove the all of smoke, dirt, and destruction of vegetable life rrom the t.owns and the great loss of health and wea.lth these entail. The theory that chemical purity of the air is the one important thing h n s erlnit,t.ed the estah-
office rooms lighted DV wells, etc.
is an obvious advantage, the surface exposure being t a us
lishment of slum cities, i.ndergrount Y plnres of hsiness,
It must be redizeh t.lint the c.nrlmnic acid is never
not forthcomin to be exhaled infection from physical state of the these are the agents The garden citv proviilea ootdyor esercise to be tttkeu in games and gardening, and the int,erests nntural to most men of perfect.ing the homestad a i d raising st,ocl; and
plants. Rabbits and fowls yield piotehi food, goat,s yield milk, and this and the green foods secure ani \e supplies of essential mino acids and vitriniines. &e
man with his eight-hour clay at t.he fact.ory has his leisure filled in by reductive work and he and his family are
kept well fei, esercised, interest,ed, heixltlly, and 1:appy. The arden city with its fnctories is t,lie niaiii solution of
he& % troubles of civilized people. With the g u r i h city must go discipline, t.lirou@i education oi’ tlie P O U I I ~, in t,he
simple ways of keeping fit ancl enjoying life.
NOTE IN REGARD TO INDOOR AND OUTDOOR HUMIDITY.
In the discussion of indoor and out.door humidity and temperature and its relation to disease and health, found on age 504 of the MowrHLr WEATHER REVIE\\: for Sep- tem f er, 1920, the following point,s seem to hnre been overlooked :
(1) The kind of indoor heat is not stated, whether steam, direct-indirect, hot air, or st.ore. The “coninlon
home” is usually heated by st,ove or bg hot-air furnace. Country schools are heated by stmes. The fluc t.uat,ions
of temperature and humidity woulcl be greaber with such heat and would more nearly correspond to those out- doors.
(2) Praeticallg all the indoor temperatures cited are
above what has been accepted as the optinium for hunian health and for mental activity, viz, 65 to GS”. New
York State inst,itutions are now required to keep the temperature at this figure. The cla.t,s cit,ed would seem to indicat,e that the heat was by steam nnct the tempera- ture intended to be kept at about 73’. It ran up as
high as 89O; the lowest was 64” F.
(3) The relative humidities are correspondingly below the optimum.
(4) If the indoor temperature is kept near the opti- mum of 65 to GS”, the indoor relative humidity will be higher; the body will not be constantly overheated; there will be less contrast between outdoor and indoor temperature. Sweat.ing of the room walls will be much less apt to occur when the indoor humidity is high. (5) Movement of the air in the room is a factor that is kportant to comfort and healtli.--John R. Weeke.
NOTE IN REGARD TO THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF COLDS.
I t would seem that the conclusions of Dr. C. M’ Richt,er, in 1913, uoted in the MONTHLY WEATHER
primary cause of a “common cold” are not in accord with the most recent medical thought. The espired air from the lungs is normally near the saturation oint when it asses over the mucous mem-
per se, can not cause a discharge from and congestion of the mucous membranes. The air commonly enters dry and passes out moist.: therefore it can not b e a change from di to moist air, per se, that would cause cor za.
these differences. In recent studies of ventilation the effects of breath- ing satmated and humic1 air for varying periods have been observed. Breathing warm, saturated air whibe the body .is immersed .in. i t raises t,he hodi temperature, causes disc.onifort, and is in urious if t ere is no air c.irculation, but has not, I beiieve, been shown to cause irrihtion uncl hypersecretion in the mucous membranes
of the nose and throat. Similarly, experiments have shown that chilling of the body surface cnuses an ischemia (nnzemia) of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat instead of n hyperemia as was formerly su posed.
greater prevalence of colds with cyclonic- weather tha.t weather has macle dust which the winds
causing niechnnical irritation and bacterial implants- t.ion and growth. An am lification of this phase of tlie subject is given by Dr. Oyiver T. Osborne, rofessor of
on the “common cold” that a pears in the Handbook
the American Medical Association. If we define a “common cold” (acute coryza) as an inflammation and congestion of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat, then the best medical evidence is that a “common cold” is in the great majority of cases caused by bacterial invasion. If we n.sk what causes or
allows bacterial invasion, the answer is too lon diversi-
~~E V I E W for Septem a er, 1920, page 507, in regard to the
hranes of b K e nose a.nd t! Rr oat, therefore saturated air,
Even t 1 e liyperesthetic membrane is nccustoniel to
It may be suggestec! in explanation of the o 1 served
Eave carrie B from the streets to our nostrils an+ throats,
therapeutics at Yale ITniversity, in an exce P lent articlc
of Therapy, third edition, pub P ished by the Journal of
revious dr
fied, and complicated for these pages.-John % . Weeks.
CLIMATE AND HEALTH, WITH SPECIAY REFERENCE TO THE UNITED STATES.
By ROBERT DE C. WARD.
[Presidentid address before the American Meteorological Society at Chltago, Eee. 3,
(Author’s Abstract.)
1920.1
In the statement of the objects of tho American Mete- orological Society, the relation of nieteorology to the _. ._
1 To be published partly in the Sciratifie Molonfhly and partly in the Bouton Mcdical rird Surgical Journal.