Medicine: Cold Impasse

British medicine has made dogged and elaborate attempts to find out what makes “the common cold” so common. In the latest Scientific American, Dr. Christopher Howard Andrewes, director of the Common Cold Research Unit at Salisbury, England, reports some of his findings: <| Women are more susceptible than men. CJ Chilling alone does not produce colds. <J “Cold cures,” including vaccines and antihistamines, don’t work.

Dr. Andrewes’ conclusion: “There are things that can be done to relieve the unpleasantness of colds, but it still remains true that the untreated cold will last about seven days, while with careful treatment it can be cured in a week.”