in the lonii ol" vesicles or blisters. Within the interior 

 of the ])lnsiu()<liuni, syneresis would manifest itself in the 

 phase separation or disorganization." 



This view, the authors state, lits in with the fact that 

 the changes induced by cold are, in general, the same as 

 those produced by otlier lethal agents; the approximation 

 of the molecules wliieii causes gehition would be a lower- 

 ing of temperatuie in the present case, while it would be 

 an electrostatic discharge or a dehydration or an adsorp- 

 tion, etc., in the case of otlier killing agents. The influence 

 of the time factor (death })roduced in 5 seconds at -1°), 

 the greater elTect of abrupt cooling and the percentage of 

 recovery after exposure to cold at a given temperature 

 and for a given time, are also, the authors point out, con- 

 sonant with the theory. 



B. ACTION OF COLD IN THE SUBCOOLED STATE 



1. Observations. The literature on the action of cold in 

 the subcooled state is summarized in Table 1. 



2. Discussion. A. M e c h a n i s m of Injury and 

 Death. It readily appears that an injurious action of 

 cold in the subcooled state, though definitely observed, is 

 rather unfrequent. Subcooling probably affects some 

 types of protoplasm more than others but it is, at present, 

 impossible to say which types. 



As in the case of injury above the freezing point, the 

 time factor plays an important role. This and other sim- 

 ilarities make it quite certain that, in the last analysis, 

 when no ice is formed, the mechanism of action of cold on 

 protoplasm is the same above and below the freezing 

 point. What has been said in the preceding section would 

 then adequately apply here. 



On first consideration one might think that, in the cases 

 in which cold injures protoplasm, subcooling must cause 

 more damage than chilling, for the simple reason that the 

 subcooling temperature is lower. But if injury is due to 

 a disequilibrium of functions, the latte7% in general, are 



