What Causes Coughs

Cold and coughs are prevalent throughout the country, but throat

affections are by far more common among business men. Every unfortunate

one mutters something about the abominable weather and curses the

piercing wind. Much of the trouble, however, is caused by overheated

rooms, and a little more attention to proper ventilation would remove

the cause of suffering. Doctor J. Ewing Mears, who was thus afflicted,

said to a inquirer: The huskiness and loss of power of articulation so

common among us are largely due to the use of steam for heating. The

steam cannot be properly regulated, and the temperature becomes too

high. A person living in this atmosphere has all the cells of the lungs

open, and when he passes into the open air he is unduly exposed. The

affliction is quite common among the men who occupy offices in the new

buildings which are fitted up with all modern improvements. The

substitution of electric light for gas has wrought a change to which

people have not yet adapted themselves. The heat arising from a number

of gas jets will quickly raise the temperature of a room, and

unconsciously people rely upon that means of heating to some extent.

Very little warmth, however, is produced by the electric light, and when

a man reads by an incandescent light he at times finds himself becoming

chilly, and wonders why it is. Too hot during the day and too cold at

night are conditions which should be avoided.