the eye is affected, we, for
a similar reason, shut out the light. So, when the stomach is
disordered, we respect its condition, and are more careful about diet.
The lungs demand a treatment founded on the same general principle. When
inflamed, they should be exercised as little as possible. All violent
exercise ought, therefore, to be refrained from during at least the
active stages of a cold; but colds may often be entirely prevented at
the time of exposure by a proper exercise of the lungs.

In conversing with an eminent physician recently on this subject, he
expressed the conviction that one of the most effectual methods of
warding off a cold, when exposed by wet feet or otherwise, is to take
frequent deep inhalations of air. By this means the carbonic acid, which
the returning circulation deposits in the lungs, is not only more
effectually disengaged, but, at the same time, the greater amount of
oxygen that enters the lungs and combines with the blood quickens the
circulation, and thus, imparting increased vitality to the system,
enables it more effectually to resist any attack that may be induced by
unusual exposure.

A late medical writer, who has become quite celebrated in this country
for the successful treatment of pulmonary consumption,[19] expresses the
opinion that, to the consumptive, air is a most excellent medicine, and
"far more valuable than all other remedies." He thinks it "the grand
agent in expanding the chest." In urging the importance of habitually
maintaining an erect position, he expresses the conviction that
"practice will soon make sitting or standing perfectly erect vastly more
agreeable and less fatiguing than a stooping posture." To persons
predisposed to consumption, these hints, he thinks, are of the greatest
importance. While walking, he says, "the chest should be carried proudly
erect and straight, the top of it pointing rather backward than
forward." To illustrate the advantages of habitually maintaining this
position, he refers to the North American Indians, who never had
consumption, and who are remarkable for their perfectly erect posture
while walking. "Next to this," he adds, "it is of vast importance to the
consumptive to breathe well. He should make a practice of taking long
breaths, sucking in all the air he can, and holding it in the chest as
long as possible." He recommends the repetition of this a hundred times
a day, and especially with those who have a slight cold or sy