COLDS.
This was one of the subjects of discussion at one of the meetings of the New York State Medical Association.
One physician thought that cold was only a predisposing factor in these cases, microbes being the chief element in the affection. At the beginning of an ordinary cold in the head the serous flow was an effort of nature to relieve the congestion and eliminate the infection, hence it should not be interfered with at this stage.
Another doctor said that while cold was a separate disease in the minds of the laity, to physicians it always meant a condition secondary to something else. A person with nasal polypi, for example, would complain of almost constant stuffiness of the nose; one with an enlarged lingual tonsil became hoarse after very slight use of the voice in singing.
Dr. —— —— ——, of New York, took up the treatment of colds. He thought some colds in the head are communicable, and that isolation might sometimes be a useful protective measure. Cod-liver oil was a good preventive for those who were in the habit of constantly catching cold. If the temperature was over 100° F., he insisted on the patient staying in bed, or at least in the house. A moderate dose of quinin and Dover’s powder at night, followed in the morning by a laxative, would cut short some colds. A hot mustard foot-bath increased the comfort of the patient. Rhinitis tablets were effectual if taken early, but persons susceptible to belladonna should be careful in using them. The alkaline treatment was often satisfactory—one dram of bicarbonate of soda in half a glass of water, with a few drops of lemon juice. Camphor internally and by inhalation often yielded good results. He was not a great believer in local treatment, though admitting that irrigation with saline solution was often useful. It was, however, dangerous except in skilful hands. When colds showed a tendency to recur, he advocated tincture chlorid of iron in large doses for two or three days, also cod-liver oil, quinin, or the vegetable bitters. Sometimes change of climate was the only cure.
Cold a Germ Disease.—Walsh, in the Medical News, says a very striking indication that cold is due to microbic invasion is to be found in the fact that the process is nearly always accompanied by fever. A distinct period of incubation can be traced, and the efficient cause of the illness is commonly farther off than the patient imagines. The treatment advised when fever and chilliness occur is the use of calomel and hot drinks, especially cream-of-tartar lemonade, which acts as a diuretic as well as a laxative. A diaphoretic at the beginning of the affection will always give the patient comfort and may unload the system of enough depressed toxic material to enable it to react and bring about the abortion of a cold.
Other medical men objected to calling everything an infection. A common cold, they thought, was nothing else than the effect of the lowered temperature on the human system. The dry air of houses caused a chronic postnasal catarrh, which at times increased. To overcome susceptibility to catching cold, overdressing should be avoided and cold baths taken.