FOR THE LITTLE ONES

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 99, 29 April 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

FOR THE LITTLE ONES

JOHNNIE BROWN'S COLD

THE REASON WHY WE GET HOARSE

My Dear Little Friends,— Isn't it dreadful the way colds are going round just now? Many of my small acquaintances have them, and for some a cold means a bitter disappointment. Colds and disappointments should not go together, but colds, concerts and disappointments are a combination more easily Understood. The fact of the matter is that Johnnie Brown was to play a a most important part in a concert, and almost at the last minute he caught a cold, which entirely dashed his hopes of appearing on the great night. Mother would have been quite prepared to wrap him in warm clothes and provide him with eucalyptus-soaked handkerchiefs, but the real trouble was the fact that his voice had become terribly hoarse and no amount of throat lozengers would clear it. However could a person say a most important part if his voice was hoarse and croaky? The gentleman who was arranging the concert simply had to arrange tor another boy to take the part, whilst a very downcast Johnnie Brown watched the play ,from the body of the hall. "Why is it that our voices go funny when we catch cold?" Johnnie asked, and his mother, who at one time had been a nurse, was able to supply the answer. "You must understand that the voice is produced in a sort of little box in the throat," she; said, "and in this box there are two vocal cords. These work in very much the same way as do violin strings—they vibrate, or move quickly backwards and forwards, and this movement causes the sound when we speak or sing. Now when we get a cold in the throat these vocal cords swell up and become thick and irregular, are unable to produce a clear note, and so the voice sounds thick and hoarse. It is as if the string of a violin had been soaked in hot water in places until it had become swollen or thick, for it would then be unable to vibrate properly, and it would be quite impossible to produce a clear note with it.' l Johnnie Brown was quite satisfied with his mother's explanation, but, like most boys of his age (he had just turned eight), he had another question to ask. "Why do we sneeze?" was what he wanted to know. Mrs. Brown made short work of this question. "You sneeze simply to clear your nose," she answered. "As you knew, your nose is specially intended for you to breathe through, and if there is anything that blocks up the passage so air cannot easily get through it, very sensitive nerves notify th© brain, which causes a sudden blast of air to be forced up through the passage, thus helping to clear it." "By the way;" Mrs. Brown added, "if ever you want to stop a sneeze, you may do so simply by pressing on the sides of the nose about half-way down. There are nerves there which, when pressed, tell the brain that a sneeze is not wanted." We have all suffered the same dis- AyJ _ appointment as Johnnie Brown, and you will no doubt be interested to know the / j/ f\ reason why our voices go hoarse when V S T7 we have a cold, and also why we sneeze. —