Diseases > Domestic medicine

142 buchan's
neglected. For this reason, instead of a critical
inquiry into the nature of the perspiration, its differ¬
ence in different seasons, climates, constitutions, &o.
we shall endeavour to point out the causes which
most commonly obstruct it, and to shew how far they
may be either avoided or have their influence coun¬
teracted by timely care. Tire want of a due attention
to these, costs Britain annually some thousands of
useful lives.
CAUSES OF OBSTRUCTED PERSPIRATION, ETC.
One of the most common causes of obstructed
perspiration, or catching cold, in this country, is the
changeableness of the weather, or state of the atmos¬
phere. There is no place where such changes happen
more frequently than in Great Britain. With us the
degrees of heat and cold are not only very different
in the different seasons of the year, but often change
almost from one extreme to another in a few days,
and sometimes even in the course of one day. That
such changes must affect the state of the perspiration
is obvious to every one.
The best method of fortifying the body against the
changes of the weather, is to be abroad every day.
Those who keep most within doors are most liable to
catch cold. Such persons generally render them¬
selves so delicate as to feel even the slightest changes
in the atmosphere, by their pains, coughs, and op¬
pressions of the breast, &c. they become a kind of
living barometers.
WET CLOTHES.
Wet clothes not only by their coldness obstruct the
perspiration, but their moisture, by being absorbed,
or taken up into the body, greatly increases the