Grizzled old Dr. Angus MacGilvary stood by a window of his second-floor office in a small Montana town and stared out at the snow-covered, wind-swept wheatland that stretched north to Canada.

This was in the depression of the Thirties, and the outer waiting room was filled with relief clients awaiting his atten­tion. Behind him, beside his desk, sat a distinguished-appear­ing, gray-haired man dressed in a business suit. The gray-haired man used a large handkerchief and lustily blew his nose.

"Don't blow your nose so damned hard," the doctor snapped. "It'll only make it worse. Tom—go home. Being president of the bank doesn't entitle you to stay on the job and give that cold to everyone else in the bank and to your customers. Go home."

The businessman glared at the doctor. They'd been friends for years. Somehow the banker seemed resentful that the doctor was paying more attention to the outside winter scene than to his patient.

"Give me something for it," he demanded.

The doctor sighed and turned away from the window. "Use your own cure," he said. He returned to his desk and wearily sat in his chair.

"Cure?" demanded the banker. "What cure?"

"Listen," the old doctor said patiently. "Everyone catches cold. It usually runs itself out in about seven days. But just about everyone has a sure-fire cure-—and then a cold only lasts about a week. My advice is to go home to bed, use your cure, and stay home until you've recovered. About a week."

The banker sniffed and used his handkerchief again. "Very funny," he said, "But you're probably right. You doctors never could do anything to cure a cold. We've used a family remedy for years."

"See what I mean? What do you use?"

"Hot lemonade—personally, I like a little whiskey in it— and then go to bed and sweat. But that hot lemonade seems to do it."

"My grandmother had one for kids," the doctor smiled. "Slice onions real thin, sprinkle loaf sugar over them, put the mess in an oven and simmer until the juice is well mixed with the sugar in a thick syrup. She prescribed a spoonful four or five times a day."

The banker blew his nose gently, and carefully. "For coughs my folks boiled down sweet cider. And I've heard of vinegar and honey, too. I still think there's nothing like a wet, cold cloth and salt water gargle for a sore throat."

"I still prescribe the salt water gargle," the doctor nodded. "Half a teaspoonful to a glass of hot water. As for vinegar and honey, it was used medicinally by Hippocrates. And the Indians have some cures down on the reservation. They use a batch of tea made from Indian Balsam chips. The Paiutes make a tea from Wild Peach. And for sore throat the Black-feet chew the root of the Bitter Root. Old-timers swear by it."

The banker grunted impatiently. "All right, all right. Now what shall I do for my cold? What do you do?"

The doctor scratched at his own thatch of gray hair. "Well, I usually take a hot bath and then I fix up some hot lemon­ade and go to bed and try to sweat it out. A little aspirin helps—and some salt water gargle if my throat is sore."

"And if it gets worse? What do I do then?" demanded the banker.

"Call a doctor," the medical man grinned.

Dr. Angus MacGilvary, some thirty years ago, said just about the same thing about the common cold as his grand­father might have said, or as the practicing physician of today might say.

Despite a large number of "cold cures" the American Medical Society concensus is that there is no "official" cure for the cold; that most colds seem to last about one week; but that some colds clear up rather quickly, within 24 hours or so, without running the full, longer course.

In the spring of 1960, a University of Illinois team dis­closed that it had made thousands of tests on 2,500 volunteer subjects with no indication that there is a preventive or a cure for the common cold. At least 70 viruses are reported to cause any of the conditions extending from the simple cold of runny nose and mild discomforts to influenza.

As a matter of fact, researchers point out that there is no such thing as the "common cold." We may be suffering from an attack of streptococci, staphlycocci, or diplococci germs, centering around the respiratory system; or we may have an allergy that evolves into all the commonly recognized symp­toms of a cold; and even an emotional disturbance may be causing the trouble.

Whatever the cause or the definition, the "common cold" and various respiratory ailments are responsible for about half of all lost working time in the nation; they cost people around $2 billion, and bring misery to untold millions of persons every year. Various estimates testify that two out of every three of us suffer three attacks a year, and as many as 30 to 40 million persons may be uncomfortable with colds or other respiratory ailments in one day.

Knowing the statistics concerned with the high incidence of colds is small comfort to those who are presently afflicted with a dripping nose, sore throat, and general indisposition of a cold.

More comfort may be found in knowing that a tremendous amount of research and large sums of money are being di­rected toward solving the mysteries of the "common cold" and ridding us of the unpleasant experience.

The hope rests—presently—in vaccines that will prevent colds, rather than in a cure for them.

Dr. Thomas G. Ward, professor of virology at Notre Dame University, believes that within a couple of years a vaccine will be available to prevent possibly as much as 70% of all common colds.

Significant progress has been made in this direction since 1914 when Walther Kruse, a German scientist, first attributed the common cold to a virus source.

Dr. A. R. Dochez of Columbia University, Dr. Christopher Howard Andrews of England and the Cold Research Institute (established there in 1946), have contributed much in this direction, as well as scientists at the National Institute of Health of the United States Public Health Service with Dr. Robert J. Huebner, head of the cold research committee at Bethesda.

Dr. Maurice Hilleman of the Army Medical School, Walter Reed hospital, has been active in solving the mysteries of the "common cold." Dr. Winston H. Price of Johns Hopkins and the above-mentioned Dr. Ward of Notre Dame, have accom­plished much in this area of study. Dr. George Gee Jackson already has been quoted in reference to the findings of the University of Illinois investigating team.

All in all, the battlefront of cold prevention promises great victories for the near future, but as for a cure for the common cold, the story is as discouraging as it was 30, 100 or 1,000 years ago! There is no sure cure.

Likewise, there is a great deal of doubt about some "pre­ventives." Scientists are inclined to look skeptically upon most of them, as well as most of the homely remedies.

They say that vitamins, cold showers, fruit juices, alkalizers, antihistamines, or sunbathing probably will not prevent you from catching cold. The antihistamines might help you if you have an allergy attack that behaves like a cold. Vitamins, fruit juices, special diets may tone up your health so that you will have more resistance to any infection. But there is evi­dence to confirm that all of these probably have little or nothing to do with you and your cold. As for antibiotics—the wonder drugs—they won't cure a cold, but they may help in the treatment of resulting complications, according to scientists.

Despite these revelations—that have been rather numerous in recent years—a tremendous number of persons still have, and firmly believe in, their favorite cold cures.

In addition to those remedies already mentioned, garlic and onions have found favor as folk medicines for colds; grease, turpentine, mustard plasters on the chest, bacon rind around the neck, vinegar with white wine and licorice, and quinine have been popular. The list of herbs used by primitive tribes is long and occasionally complicated in prescription. Of course, there has long been a maxim that we should "Feed a cold and starve a fever."

The problem of fever with a cold has received considerable attention. Until a few years ago the general idea was to bring down the fever that accompanies most colds. Quinine, as well as aspirin, has been popular for this purpose.

In recent years some experts have come to believe that the fever resulting from many virus infections is a major defense mechanism set up by the body to help defeat the infections, and that the fever should be allowed to run its course without interference.

In the use of quinine, interesting and pertinent results concerning such respiratory infections was recently disclosed by Dr. Wolfgang-Dietrich Muller in Munich's Medizinische Wochenschrift. In a study on thousands of patients in Biele­feld, the doctor found that Asian flu was five to ten times as common among those who took quinine at the first suggestion of a cold, compared with those who let colds run their course.

If fever is beneficial in such cases, a problem is posed about the use of aspirin. The drug is one of the best painkillers for the aches and pains of a cold, but—as noted above—it also is effective in bringing down a fever, and thus may hinder rather than aid recovery.

In the last few years many of the old-time cold cures have been abandoned for newer methods, such as the use of com­paratively new antihistamines. One popular remedy is com­posed mostly of APC (a compound containing aspirin, phena-cetin, and caffeine) with a small dosage of Chlor-Trimeton, and antihistamine. Many persons believe it helps.

Vitamin C has been a widely recommended cold preven­tive and cure, especially by much-published dieticians who have greatly influenced a large segment of the public in recent years. Usually, substantial doses of vitamin C derived from rose hips are recommended.

A West Coast advertising man swears that he can "nip a cold in the bud" by a combination of these methods, employ­ing antihistamines and vitamin C.

"As soon as I get that rawness and tickling in my nose and throat I take 200 milligrams of vitamin C and follow it with 100 milligrams about every hour or so for five or six hours. Then I usually take an antihistamine and make certain I get to bed early. Most of the time I'll whip the cold before it starts."

Several of his co-workers use and endorse his system. Others say it won't work with them.

Nose drops will give temporary relief for stuffiness and are prescribed by many doctors. The consensus is that they should be used sparingly, however, and not continued over a long period of time. Snuffing a weak solution of salt water is recommended by some experts.

Laxatives usually are not recommended for colds, and the Army found that soldiers treated with laxatives for colds usually were confined to bed about two days longer than those not so treated.

Alcohol may make your cold seem less obnoxious, but it is not believed to be especially valuable, medically speaking. Specialists usually suggest no alcohol, or a maximum of one or two drinks of whiskey.

Recent medical suggestions about treating a cold are strik­ingly similar to those propounded over the years.

Assuming that a cold has two stages—the invasion and the entrenchment—it has been recommended that the hot bath, hot drink, and long bed rest of around 10 hours be tried as soon as the first signs of a cold become evident. Some doctors suggest an aspirin or two, and a salt water gargle at this stage. Sweating seems to be advisable.

If you fail to block off the cold, and a fever begins to rise, you may be well advised to call your doctor if the fever gets above 101. Otherwise, drink plenty of liquids—water, fruit juices, tea and thin soups are suggested. If your throat is sore, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of hot salt water makes a good gargle.

Doctors usually warn patients to be careful about blowing their noses, warning them to blow gently. Hard blowing may result in spreading infection into the middle ear.

If you develop a bad cough, it is usually wise to consult with your physician who may prescribe an effective cough syrup.

If you want to try a homemade cough syrup, Dr. Jarvis of Vermont in his Folk Medicine, suggests boiling a lemon for 10 minutes, slicing it in two and extracting the juice. Put the juice in a drinking glass, add two tablespoonfuls of glycerine, stir, and then fill the glass with honey.

He warns that the syrup should be stirred before taking; one teaspoonful if you have a coughing spell, one before bed­time if you're likely to be awakened by coughing, and several times a day if your cough is severe.

A similar syrup was popular some 80 years ago and was prescribed by other New Englanders. They roasted a lemon and mixed the juice with powdered sugar.

Common sweet cider, boiled down to one half, was fre­quently used for children's coughs. A little more complicated was a favorite remedy of the late '70s: "Take a handful of hops, put it into three pints of hot water; let it boil one half hour, or until the strength is out. Strain and add one and one half cups of best kind of molasses, and one cup of white sugar. Boil slowly in a bright dish or enameled kettle to about one quart. Then bottle up, and it is ready for use. Drink a little when you cough."

One medical writer of the same era wrote: "We are often troubled with severe coughs, the result of colds of long stand­ing, which may turn to consumption or premature death. The remedy I propose has been often tried by me, with good results, which is simply to take into the stomach before retir­ing for the night a piece of raw onion, after chewing. This esculent in an uncooked state is very heating, and tends to collect the waters from the lungs and throat, causing imme­diate relief to the patient."

The onion cure, in a slightly different form, was also fre­quently used by pioneers to treat children for colds. Onions were sliced thin, covered with sugar, and simmered in an oven until the onion juice was thoroughly mixed with sugar. The resulting syrup was given to children in teaspoonful doses four or five times a day to relieve colds.

Borax, too, found favor as a home remedy in the area of colds. It was usually specified for hoarseness or loss of voice. As one expert in the preceding century observed: "In sudden hoarseness or loss of voice in public speakers or singers, from colds, relief for an hour or so, as by magic, may be often obtained by slowly dissolving and partially swallowing a lump of borax the size of a garden pea, or about three or four grains, held in the mouth for ten minutes before speaking or singing. This produces a profuse secretion of saliva, or 'water­ing' of the mouth and throat, probably restoring the voice or tone to the dried vocal cords, just as 'wetting' brings back the missing notes to a flute when it is too dry."

Two additional reliefs for coughs are demonstrative of the more complicated folk remedies. One calls for equal parts of hoarhound, elecampane root, comfrey root, spikenard, and wild-cherry bark. These were boiled in one gallon of soft wa­ter until one quart remained. To this was added one pound of strained honey.

The second of these recipes specifically instructs: "Take one quart thick flaxseed tea, one pint of honey, half pint of vinegar, two spoonfuls saltpeter. Boil all together in a new earthen pot that is well glazed, until it becomes a pretty thick syrup; keep stirring while boiling with a pine stick; if fresh from a green tree the better. Dose, one tablespoonful three or four times a day."

Sniffles, sore throat, coughs, colds.

Probably in no other area of human physical distress has there been more conjecture, search, suggestions, "remedies" and methods of relief. Folk medicine abounds with methods of preventing or treating a cold. The most modern scientific research is expensively concerned with solving the mysteries of the "common cold." Almost countless nostrums, prescrip­tions, and methodology have evolved from efforts to do some­thing about colds.

The sum and substance of results indicate that some of the old folk remedies still are as useful in bringing a measure of relief to the cold victim as the most modern methods. No primitive or time-tested folk remedy actually seems to have whipped the "common cold" with a cure—nor has any "wonder drug" of today's fabulous medical progress done the trick.

Relief may be in sight, as indicated above, in the use of preventive vaccines, but in the meantime Grandma's sugges­tion of a hot bath and "to bed with you" is still recommended for a cold by the same scientists who are making headway in laboratories toward effective vaccines.

Thus, in this one area, we find a certain meeting of the ways between folk medicine and modern medicine.

This may bring us to definitive questions about the efficacy of folk medicine.

Is so-called folk medicine ever really useful? Has folk medicine been wholly discredited by "modern medicine?" Is a contemporary re-awakening of interest in folk medicine dangerous, beneficial, wise, unwise, good or bad? Is a specific folk medicine more effective in remedying a certain ailment than the newly developed drug prescribed by the young doctor? Did Grandma know best, or does the modern labora­tory technician know best?

The information revealed in a contemporary exploration of the "common cold" probably gives us a fairly good answer: It might be wise to assume that there is no definite stand to be taken—there is no "white is white, and black is black."

Our pioneering forefathers certainly were not going to their doctors for "cold shots" and "flu shots" or taking antihista-mines with complicated names. On the other hand, when their descendants of today do come down with a cold, they are quite likely to use at least some of the attempts for relief that the pioneers used.

To be quite specific to whether or not laymen, or the medical people of today, should even consider some of the possible benefits to be found from folk medicines, it might be well to read what Dr. Benjamin Rush, the doctor usually called the father of American medicine, remarked to other doctors a good many years ago:

"Do not condemn or oppose unnecessarily the simple pre­scriptions of your patient."

With his observation in mind, we may well take a look at "folk medicine."

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