Sunburn

“ The only harm done by freckles is to your vanity. They and sunburn both, in fact, are protective actions on nature's part, filling the skin with coloring matter, or pigment, so as to protect it, and the tissues below, from the irritating effects of the strong rays of light. ”

“ Ye shall bear a wish to the sunburnt band,
To the stalwart men who are stoutly fighting
With the heat and drought and the dust-storm smiting,
Yet whose life somehow has a strange inviting,
When once to the work they have put their hand. ”

“ It was one of those scenes of life and animation, caught in its very brightest and freshest moments, which can scarcely fail to please; for if the eye be tired of show and glare, or the ear be weary with a ceaseless round of noise, the one may repose, turn almost where it will, on eager, happy, and expectant faces, and the other deaden all consciousness of more annoying sounds in those of mirth and exhilaration. Even the sunburnt faces of gypsy children, half naked though they be, suggest a drop of comfort. ”

“ These experiments have often been alluded to as "baking animals alive." You will note that the heat was no greater than that to which laborers are frequently exposed in our hot summer-days, when working in the sun or in many industrial works. His experiments showed that the effects of sunstroke—or, as he happily termed it, Thermic or heat fever, a scientific name now widely adopted—were solely due to the heat, death following from coagulation of the muscular structure of the heart, or by its effects on the brain. ”

“ Under the whistling north wind it bristles with violet waves; the passing clouds marble it with still more sombre spots; as far as the eye can reach is a sickly agitation of wan waves, chopping and disjointed, a sort of moving skin that trembles, wrenched by an inward fever; occasionally a streak of foam crossing them marks a more violent shock. Here and there, between the intervals of the clouds, the light cuts out a few sea-green fields upon the uniform plain; their tawny lustre, their unhealthy color, add to the strangeness and to the limits of the horizon. ”

“ Summer has received its first mortal wound. But its death is more fatal than its life. The noontide heat is fierce and drinks up the moisture of the rain and the fetid dust with it. The fever-wraith rises in the damp, cool night, far out in the campagna, and steals up to the walls of the city, and over them and under them and into the houses. ”

“ The wind that fans me lying low, Restless with great desire for rest, No cooling touch of freshness yields. I, sleepless through the stifling heat, Watch the pale Lightning's constant glow Between the wide set open doors. I lie and long amidst the heat,— The fever that my senses know, For that cool slenderness of yours. So delicate and cool you are! A roseleaf that has lain in snow, A snowflake tinged with sunset fire. You do not know, so young you are, How Fever fans the senses' glow To uncontrollable desire! ”

“ Go to bed, place hot bricks to the feet, take nothing but a little gruel or beef tea, and drink moderately of warm, cream-of-tartar water. If you do not feel better the next morning, call a physician. If that be impossible, take a dose of castor oil or Epsom salts.
SUNSTROKE is a sudden prostration caused by intense heat. The same effect is produced by the burning rays of the sun and the fierce fire of a furnace. When a person falls under such circumstance, place your hand on his chest. If the skin be cool and moist, it is not a sunstroke ”

“ When they begin to blow, the sky, at other times so clear in this climate, becomes dark and heavy; the sun loses his splendor, and appears of a violet colour; the air is not cloudy, but grey and thick, and is filled with a subtle dust, which penetrates every where: respiration becomes short and difficult, the skin parched and dry, the lungs are contracted and painful, and the body consumed with internal heat. In vain is coolness sought for ”

“ Care of Sunstroke.—A sunstroke is a very serious condition, and when it occurs, requires immediate efforts to save the life of the one suffering from it. It generally comes on suddenly, the patient first complaining of the head; he soon becomes unconscious, the skin hot and dry, and the pulse full and bounding. The treatment consists of taking the patient to a cool, shaded place, removing all unnecessary clothing, applying ice or cold water to the head, and bathing or sponging the body in cold water. ”

“ Sunstroke occurs in those who work under the direct rays of the sun, when the air is hot, still, and humid.
Heat-stroke or thermic fever affects those working in places which are excessively hot and confined, as in glass-works, foundries, stoke-holds, boiler-houses, sugar-refineries, paper-mills, &c. ”

“ Do you know that even here we have no less than eleven different kinds of fever,—most of which know the power of killing?
I am very glad winter is coming, to lift the languors of the air and restore some energy to us. The summer is not like that North. At the North you have a clear, dry, burning air; here it is clear also, but dense, heavy, and so moist that it is never so hot as you have it. But no one dares expose himself to the vertical sun. I have noticed that even the chickens and the domestic animals, dogs, cats, etc., always seek shady places. They fear the sun. ”

“ As it is the humidity of the air which principally absorbs the radiant heat, the caloric rays of the sun must, in those localities, manifest an intensity of action far above the common. Observation has shown that this is the case, for on high mountains and in the arctic regions exposure to the sun's rays produces on the bare skin an excessively painful dermatitis, which the radiant heat reflected by the snow very much aggravates. The effects of exposure to the sun appear to be most severe in spring-time. ”

“ The odor of smouldering heaps of burning brush and weeds, or of tardily burnt tobacco-plant beds, is all that as yet scents the breeze. But after a month of frost and rain and snow and clouds, the breath is the breath of spring, and the glow of the sun, now bursting through the clouds, seems no longer the sickly glare of winter. ”

“ The furnace winds of midnight were withering to flesh and blood. And sometimes the air carried invisible death in shape of poison gas or dust. In winter, sudden changes of temperature, whirling icy winds down upon a prospector who had gone to sleep in warmth, would freeze him to death. ”

“ If the skin is cold, moist, or clammy, the trouble is due to heat exhaustion. Give plenty of fresh air, but apply no cold to the body. Apply heat, and give hot drinks, like hot ginger tea. Sunstroke or heatstroke is a dangerous affliction. It is often followed by serious and permanent results. Persons who have once suffered in this way should carefully avoid any risk in the future. ”

“ As, by the greater pressure and humidity of the atmosphere, the pores of the skin are so affected that they become unable to perform their office of exhalation, with the same facility as in winter and summer, it follows that perspirable matter, or at least, its grosser particles, will in autumn be liable to remain on the surface, in a state inclining to putrefaction, and to be re-absorbed, to the great detriment of the human or animal body. ”

“ Neither moisture nor smoke give that yellowish look here; it is the sand which the wind collects as it blows across the desert in its northern course. As the wind increases, so the temperature rises, and the extreme dryness of the air causes those unpleasant sensations felt with the first symptoms of fever. ”

“ When the March wind comes blustering down the street, rudely dashing a cloud of dust in our faces, we are uncomfortable and out of patience. We duck our heads and cover our faces, but even then we are likely to get a cinder in one eye, to swallow germs by the dozens, and to get a gray coating of plain, harmless dust. We welcome the rain that lays the dust, or its feeble imitation, the water sprinkler, that brings us temporary relief. ”

“ In all ages and climes, it has been observed that the increased temperature of the skin and system in fevers, is abated as soon as free perspiration is restored. In damp, close weather, as during the sultry days of August, although the temperature is lower, we feel a disagreeable sensation of heat, because the saturation of the air with moisture lessens evaporation, and thus prevents the escape of heat through the lungs and skin. ”

“ Towards the end of the day, when the sun is oblique, the most inconceivable effects are produced: the mountains sparkle like heaps of rubies, topazes and carbuncles; dust, which looks like dust of gold, fills the intervals, and if, as is often the case in summer, the labourers are burning stubble in the plain, the smoke, while rising slowly towards the sky, borrows the most magical reflections from the rays of the setting sun. ”

“ Death from extreme heat usually occurs in the form of burning and scalding, attended with destruction of a large portion of the cutaneous structures. Here the cause of death is obvious. The human body is capable of exposure to very hot air—as is seen in Turkish baths—for a considerable period with impunity. Sunstroke is a cerebral affection brought on by too great exposure to a hot atmosphere, especially whilst undergoing fatigue. ”

“ SYNONYMS.—Coup de soleil, Sunstroke, Heat apoplexy, Heat asphyxia, Heat fever, Sun fever, Thermohæmia, Erethismus tropicus, Insolation.
The immediate cause of thermic fever is always exposure to excessive heat in some form. As the body can cool itself much more readily in a dry than in a moist atmosphere, it is able to resist the influence of a dry, overheated air much better than when there is also moisture. ”

“ IV. Smoke lessens the duration and intensity of sunshine, reduces the intensity of daylight, the limit of visibility and the diurnal winter temperature; increases humidity, mists, the frequency and duration of fogs and possibly alters the electrical potential.
V. Sunshine is an important bio-dynamic agent. It promotes anabolism, transpiration and perspiration, and increases the percentage of hemoglobin. The blue and ultra-violet rays of sunshine exert a bactericidal effect on pathogenic bacteria, and a tonic, vitalizing influence upon the human organism. ”

“ As it approaches, the atmosphere assumes a yellowish hue, tinged with red; the sun appears of a deep blood colour, and gradually becomes quite concealed before the hot blast is felt in its full violence. The sand and dust raised by the wind add to the gloom, and increase the painful effects of the heat and rarity of the air. Respiration becomes uneasy, perspiration seems to be entirely stopped ”

“ If the wind is moderate in the least degree—that is to say, if it is not blowing a whole gale, they are flying about in myriads, from daylight to dark (fortunately they modestly retire in the night) , and alight on you in clouds, literally covering every part of your skin that happens to be exposed, and not only that, but they get inside our clothes and bite there. ”

“ Then the dust rises in clouds, the atmosphere becomes thick and dark; and often, at mid-day, you are environed with the terrors of night, or rather, with an intense and almost palpable blackness, a thousand times more fearful than the most sombre night. ”

“ Yet at night you can scarcely sleep. Repose is made feverish by a still heat that keeps the skin drenched with thick sweat, or by a perpetual, unaccountable, tingling and prickling of the whole body-surface. ”

“ Long exposure to the night air, especially in cold northerly winds, 259or whatever suddenly checks the perspiration, especially after the body has been much heated, is very apt to cause an inflammation of the eyes. Viewing snow or other white bodies for a long time, or looking stedfastly at the sun, a clear fire, or any bright object, will likewise occasion this malady. A sudden transition from darkness to very bright light will often have the same effect. ”

“ While admitting that there may be cases where the effects of certain rays of the sun are responsible for clinical manifestations varying from death of striking suddenness to vague complaints of irritability, headache and defective memory, yet the generally accepted views are that high temperature, high relative humidity and lack of evaporation from the skin, whether from excessive humidity or from lack of circulation of the surrounding air, can and do produce at one time heat stroke and at another heat prostration. ”

“ To such sudden vicissitudes in temperature, an Indian doctor, in whom I have great confidence, attributes fevers and agues. As it is clear that those persons only, whose business or pleasure obliges them to be out on cloudless nights, suffer from the severe cold produced by the rapid radiation into space of the heat of their own bodies and that of the earth, those who remain at home are not likely to suffer from the effects of the sudden and continued chill. ”

“ While sunstroke represents the maximum direct effect of solar heat upon the human subject, the large increase of deaths from wasting chronic diseases and diarrhœal affections., of children under one year of age and persons upward of seventy years of age, shows the terrible effects of the prevailing intense heat of summer upon all who are debilitated by disease or age and thereby have their "heat-regulating power" diminished. ”

“ Surprising Effects of Extreme Cold.—By extreme degrees of cold, trees are burst, rocks rent, and rivers and lakes frozen several feet deep: metallic substances blister the [Pg 660] skin like red-hot iron: the air, when drawn in by respiration, hurts the lungs, and excites a cough: even the effects of fire in a great measure seem to cease; and metals, though kept for a considerable time before a strong fire, will still freeze water when thrown upon them. ”