40 SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD-WORK. 



frozen part ; the arrested circulation must be very gradually 

 reestablished, or inflammation, perhaps mortification, ensues. 

 General precautions against taking cold are almost self-evident, 

 in this light. There is ordinarily little if any danger to be 

 apprehended from wet clothes, so long as exercise is kept up ; 

 for the "glow" about compensates for the extra cooling by 

 evaporation. Nor is a complete drenching more likely to be 

 injurious than wetting of one part. But never sit still wet ; 

 and in changing, rub the body dry. There is a general ten- 

 dency, springing from fatigue, indolence or indifference, to 

 neglect damp feet ; that is to say, to dry them by the fire ; 

 but this process is tedious and uncertain. I would say es- 

 pecially, off with the muddy boots and sodden socks at once 

 dry stockings and slippers, after a hunt, may make just the 

 difference of your being able to go out again or never. Take 

 care never to check perspiration ; during this process the body 

 is in a somewhat critical condition, and sudden arrest of the 

 function may result disastrously even fatally. One part of 

 the business of perspiration is to equalize bodily temperature, 

 and it must not be interfered with. The secret of much that is 

 to be said about bathing, when heated, lies here. A person over- 

 heated, panting it may be, with throbbing temples and a dry 

 skin, is in danger partly because the natural cooling by evapo- 

 ration from the skin is denied, and this condition is sometimes 

 not far from a " sunstroke." Under these circumstances, a per- 

 son of fairly good constitution may plunge into the water with 

 impunity even with benefit. But if the body be already cool- 

 ing by sweating, rapid abstraction of heat from the surface 

 may cause internal congestion, never unattended with danger. 

 Drinking ice-water offers a somewhat parallel case ; even on 

 stooping to drink at the brook, when flushed with heat, it is well 

 to bathe the face and hands first, and to taste the water before 

 a full draught. It is a well known excellent rule, not to bathe 

 immediately after a full meal ; because during digestion the 

 organs concerned are comparatively engorged, and any sudden 

 disturbance of the circulation may be disastrous. The imper- 

 ative necessity of resisting drowsiness under extreme cold re- 



