682 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



stimulating drink, we must not forget that the taking of liquor causes 

 the blood to rush to the brain, and that the cold, too, drives the blood 

 from the skin to the inner organs, and particularly to the brain. 

 Strong drink must, therefore, favor the congestion of the brain which 

 is caused by cold. 



Good nourishment, an energetic character, and a sound heart, are 

 the best preventives against the danger of perishing by cold. Close- 

 fitting garments, which impede the circulation of the blood, and ex- 

 posure in damp, windy weather should, if possible, be carefully avoided. 



Many persons have the idea that life is endangered only, if the pa- 

 tient be brought too suddenly from the cold into a warm place. They 

 believe that, if one proceed very carefully and slowly with the warm- 

 ing, the cold can never produce a lasting injury to the system. There 

 is certainly no doubt that sudden warming is very dangerous, and that 

 a great deal depends upon the right treatment of the frozen limb. Ex- 

 perience shows that, while some people have frozen joints treated in 

 such a manner that they are completely restored, others are less fortu- 

 nate, and suffer frequently in after-years. But one must admit that 

 intense cold alone, without being followed by sudden warming, which 

 proves so disastrous, suffices to cause severe suffering. In this respect, 

 a great deal depends on the nature of the person. If very sudden 

 transitions from heat to cold and from cold to heat be avoided, a 

 healthy person can withstand intense cold without serious conse- 

 quences, especially if he be mentally active, energetic, and muscular, 

 and has a sound heart that is, if his pulse be regular and strong. A 

 robust person can withstand the tenrperature at which alcohol and 

 mercury freeze. Members of north-pole expeditions have experienced 

 temperatures of fifty or more degrees below zero without suffering 

 harm. 



However, it happens not unfrequently that even moderately cold 

 weather, when the thermometer is but a few degrees below the freez- 

 ing-point, causes serious ills, and sometimes even fatal results. This 

 is apt to happen to persons who are anaemic, poorly fed, effeminate, or 

 mentally depressed. Old men, children, anaemic girls, drunkards, and 

 people with a weak heart, are all liable to be frost-bitten, and easily 

 freeze to death if they succumb to sleep while exposed to intense 

 cold. They fall into a sort of stupor, sit down to rest, soon fall asleep, 

 and in most instances never awake. For a long time they remain in a 

 condition bordering on death ; they breathe a little, and the heart 

 makes feeble attempts to maintain the circulation of the blood. 



This beating of the heart is the cause of the long duration of this 

 death-like trance. The heart exerts a slight pressure on the lungs, 

 and causes thereby a sort of artificial breathing, which, however, is so 

 slight that laymen and even physicians often erroneously consider peo- 

 ple who are merely frozen to be dead. 



When Napoleon I had returned to France from Russia, he felt 



