Just as the body when at a low vitality is susceptible to colds, so it
may as truly be said of the soul, when impoverished it falls a prey to
temptation and sin.
The common theory that all colds are the result of exposure is a
great mistake, inasmuch as exposure is not the direct cause of
the trouble. Colds are caused by hostile microbes, or bacteria,
which gain a foothold at a time when our vitality has been
lowered by exposure. But there are many quarters of the globe
where one finds it impossible to catch cold, simply by reason of
the fact that there is no cold to catch.
Peary and his men during the months they spent in the arctic
regions were immune from cold, tho they were constantly enduring
exposure of every kind. They passed day after day in clothes
so saturated with perspiration that by day they froze into a
solid mass, so to speak, and the clothes cut into their flesh.
And at night, in their sleeping-bags, the first hour was spent
in thawing out. They returned to civilization none the worse in
health, but soon contracted severe colds upon reaching there.
People were much amused by the press accounts of how Commander
Peary had taken cold while proceeding to dine with a friend
in a suburb of Washington, the taxicab which was conveying
him and his wife having broken down during a snow flurry in
December.--_Harper’s Weekly._
(3409)
=Vocabulary and Missionaries=--See SPEECH AND MISSIONARIES.
=Vocal Practise and Health=--See SINGING CONDUCIVE TO HEALTH.