The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

THE HEALTH BULLETIN. 171house are left wide open, where thehouse is heated by steam, the radiatorsmay still be hot, and the circulationof steam continuous, but if wego down to the boilerroom we willfind a fireman using extra exertion tokeep the fire in the boiler up to theproper state of efficiency. The systemof steam heating is apparently inits normal condition, the difficulty wefind to lie in the overtaxing of thefurnace and boiler, and especially theoverworking of the fireman. Anywaste of heat places an extra burdenon the heating system. It is for thisreason that boilers and steam pipesare surrounded by an asbestos coveringwhich corresponds exactly to theclothing we put around our bodies.If we clothe ourselves properly ourboilers, so to speak, will have lesswork to do and we can lay up an extrasupply of vital energy, while a differentcourse taxes our system to theutmost point of strain.The feet are in the most unfavorableposition to retain heat. They areon the floor or ground where the temperatureis the coldest. They are alsoin contact as a rule with cold substanceswhich quickly withdraw theheat from the body. We frequentlysee shoes and other garments onpeople, especially on the ladies, whichas far as protection from cold is concernedare the mere symbols of clothing.A thin white slipper with a soleone-sixteenth of an inch in thicknessis a mere symbol of a shoe. Othergarmentsfrequently worn are no better.The savage tattoos his body tolook like clothes, but he is not protectedthereby from the cold. Thesesymbolic garments may look likeclothing, but as far as protectingfrom cold is concerned they are entirelyuseless, and simply deceive usinto misplaced confidence.If I put my hand on somethingwooden I do not feel cold. If I putthe same hand on a metal object inthe same room, it seems distinctlycold. The temperature of the woodand the metal is exactly the same, butthe metal is a better conductor of heatand takes away heat faster from mybody, thereby giving the hand thesensation of cold. In like mannerif I place my finger on a dry piece ofcloth it does not feel cold, but if thecloth be wet it feels very cold, becausethe wet cloth, being a goodconductor of heat, abstracts the heatfrom my body very rapidly.It is for this reason that wet shoesare generally recognized as being acause of illness. The same leatherwhich would be a poor conductorwhen dry, becomes a good conductorwhen wet, and rapidly takes awaythe heat from the feet, and in turnreduces the temperature and vitalityof the whole body. There is no particulardanger in getting the feet wet,and in fact all of the clothes wet, ifone keeps in motion and immediatelythereafter changes one's clothes entirely.But a person whose shoes arewet in the morning, as in going toschool, and who sits for several hoursin a room where the feet are in thecoldest air and next to a cold floor,thereby takes the best means possibleto abstract heat from the body andadd to the task to be performed bythe internal boiler, and thus so weakensthe system as to make it likely togive in at its tvcakest point.The general idea is that this isbound to give one a cold. As a matterof fact, getting the feet wet or chillingoneself suddenly is quite as likely logive a bad headache or some indigestionas it is to give a cold. It merelymakes us more likely to get ill in theway to which we are at the time mostliable. Rubber overshoes keep theordinary shoes dry, and when the