The same argument applies to storm coats of rubber, water-proof material. They should not be worn as overcoats all day, but only when going to and from school or business when it is actually storming.
Underclothing or hosiery should not be heavy enough to cause moisture of the skin. Health demands a dry skin at all times. The necessary degree of body heat should be attained by the quality of the outer clothing, not by the quantity of the underclothing. Many men and women wear heavy underclothing which causes moisture when indoors, with the result that they get surface chills when they go outside if the weather is cold and as a result catch cold. The underclothing should be just heavy enough to be comfortable indoors and the extra warmth necessary when outside should be supplied by a good overcoat or furs.
F. Direct Infection.--A baby may catch cold if kissed or "hugged" by an adult who has a cold.
Catching cold while bathing is possible, but scarcely probable, if ordinary precautions are taken. It is very bad practice to permit children to use one another's handkerchiefs or the handkerchief of an adult. Certain children are predisposed to attacks of "cold in the head" or acute coryza or nasal catarrh (these being the medical names for this condition). Sometimes this is an inherited characteristic. There is no doubt, however, that most of these children acquire the habit by bad sanitary and hygienic surroundings. These children do not as a rule get enough fresh air. They are kept indoors most of the time in stuffy, overheated, badly ventilated rooms, unless the weather is absolutely perfect. The windows in their bedrooms are always kept closed, because they are "liable to catch cold." They are overdressed and perspire easily and as a result "catch cold." These conditions all tend to create an unhealthy condition of the nasal mucous membrane and of the throat, and this is rendered worse if the child lives in a damp, changeable climate, such as that of New York City. In these susceptible children the exciting cause of an attack may be trivial; exposure, cold or wet feet, inadequate head covering (as already pointed out), a draught of cold air even may excite sneezing and a nasal discharge; hence we have: