Rooms are often rendered damp by an unseasonable piece of cleanliness; I mean the pernicious custom of washing them immediately before company is put into them. Most people catch cold, if they sit but a very short time in a room that has been lately washed; the delicate ought carefully to avoid such a situation, and even the robust are not always proof against its influence[56]. _Sudden Transitions from Heat to Cold._ The perspiration is commonly obstructed by SUDDEN TRANSITIONS from heat to cold. Colds are seldom caught, unless when people have been too much heated. Heat rarifies the blood, quickens the circulation, and increases the perspiration; but when these are suddenly checked, the consequences must be bad. It is indeed impossible for labourers not to be too hot upon some occasions; but it is generally in their power to let themselves cool gradually, to put on their clothes when they leave off work, to make choice of a dry place to rest themselves in, and to avoid sleeping in the open fields. These easy rules, if observed, would often prevent fevers and other fatal disorders. It is very common for people, when hot, to drink freely of cold water, or small liquors. This conduct is extremely dangerous. Thirst indeed is hard to bear, and the inclination to gratify that appetite frequently gets the better of reason, and makes us do what our judgment disapproves. Every peasant, however, knows, if his horse be permitted to drink his bellyful of cold water after violent exercise, and be immediately put into the stable, or suffered to remain at rest, that it will kill him. This they take the utmost care to prevent. It were well if they were equally attentive to their own safety. Thirst may be quenched many ways without swallowing large quantities of cold liquor. The fields afford variety of acid fruits and plants, the very chewing of which would abate thirst. Water kept in the mouth for some time, and spit out again, if frequently repeated, will have the same effect. If a bit of bread be eaten along with a few mouthfuls of water, it will both quench thirst more effectually, and make the danger less. When a person is extremely hot, a mouthful of brandy, or other spirits, if it can be obtained, ought to be preferred to any thing else. But if any one has been so foolish, when hot, as to drink freely of cold liquor, he ought to continue his exercise at least till what he drank be thoroughly warmed upon his stomach. It would be tedious to enumerate all the bad effects which flow from drinking cold liquors when the body is hot. Sometimes this has occasioned immediate death. Hoarseness, quinseys, and fevers of various kinds, are its common consequences. Neither is it safe when warm to eat freely of raw fruits, sallads, or the like. These indeed have not so sudden an effect on the body as cold liquors, but they are notwithstanding dangerous, and ought to be avoided.