Warm Nose, Cold Goes

The idea that a nip at the bottle may help to nip a cold, long popular with laymen, won medical support last week in the Archives of Otolaryngology. In the first stage of a cold, argued Chicago's Dr. Noah D. Fabricant, the nose is cold; its blood vessels contract, nasal passages become dry, and the stage is set for infection. At this time, said Dr. Fabricant, a jigger of whisky can raise the nose temperature and reverse the process.

Alcohol, Dr. Fabricant declared, has a number of effects that are useful in fighting a cold: it speeds the circulation, provides warmth and comfort, induces drowsiness, and encourages the patient to take to his bed. And bed rest "diminishes the severity of the common cold, limits its spread to others, and reduces the frequency of complications." But while Dr. Fabricant recommended the odd shot, he was not prepared to prescribe repeated doses: "Some people don't know when to stop."

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