Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 25.djvu/329

Rh regain health they must be in constant motion, and that the more they can be doing the sooner they will get well. They forget that their disease is in itself a tremendous drain upon their vitality, and that any additional strain is to be avoided. When the heart has become accustomed to the additional work put upon it, by reason of the increase in elevation, and the system has adapted itself to the new conditions by which it is surrounded, it is well to undertake exercise of a moderate character, and the best is riding horseback. Fortunately, the price of ponies (from sixty to one hundred dollars) is so reasonable and the sport so popular as to make this form of exercise both possible and attractive to every invalid.

There is another fallacy inherent in the minds of many consumptives, coming to Colorado, which should be mentioned; that is the idea that the climate is the only factor in the cure of phthisis, and that it will be sufficient for them simply to be breathing this dry air in order to secure a complete recovery. It is most absurd to imagine that an invalid can disregard all the laws of hygiene and health, can keep irregular hours, smoke incessantly, disregard all changes of temperature, expose himself in every possible way to cold, in order that he may become "toughened," and then expect that the climate is going to work wonders in curing his trouble. And yet many a one, leading just this type of life, grumbles at the climate, and wonders that he does not recover his health!

This leads us to speak of the matter of clothing. The ranges of temperature in Colorado are often very large, hence a person should be prepared for both warm and cold weather. In winter one should wear flannels and heavy clothes just as in New York; in summer thin garments will be comfortable at midday, but woolens will be needed at night. The air is so dry and rare, and the soil is so exposed and sandy, that both solar and terrestrial radiation are rapid. The sun's rays heat rapidly, and, they being withdrawn, the air is rapidly cooled. There is, however, this positive fact which makes thermometric variations unfair criteria on which to base comparisons as between Colorado and the East. As has been shown, this air is exceedingly dry, and consequently heat and cold, as indicated by the registration of the mercury, are not felt as much as in New York. Mists are seldom seen here, and dew is rarely deposited.

The question of occupation for the invalid is one of prime importance, and has almost as direct a bearing upon his recovery as have climate and proper care. Even if it be true that consumptives are, as a rule, sanguine about themselves, it is equally true that, if a man has nothing to think of but his health, he soon becomes a hypochondriac—a disease as much to be dreaded as any real malady—and every physician, who has had much experience with chronic invalids, knows how important it is that the mind should be "diverted." The writer regards it as a great mistake for the phthisical invalid to be