HEAT AND CLOTHING 24! 



an agreeable feeling of drowsiness steals over the mind, 

 until the actions of life cease. After the drowsy feelings 

 begin, life can be restored only by applying heat to the 

 body and performing artificial respiration so as to start the 

 process of oxidation again. 



426. Frost bites. When a part becomes very cold the 

 cells may be seriously injured long before they are frozen. 

 A toe or an ear which has been on the verge of freezing 

 will begin to prick and tingle when warmed. For a long 

 time afterward, sensations varying from an itching to severe 

 pricking and smarting will cause great annoyance. In 

 severe forms, short of actual freezing, the part swells and 

 becomes red and inflamed, while the sensations are ex- 

 tremely annoying. A part which is actually frozen is 

 likely to die. The part turns black soon after being 

 thawed, and has no feeling. After a few days the dead 

 part comes off, leaving a raw sore. Fingers, toes, and 

 ears are very liable to become frozen, but the eyelids are 

 almost the last thing to freeze. 



427. Frozen limbs. When a solution of a substance in water 

 freezes, the first ice formed is composed of crystals of pure water, while 

 that frozen last contains most of the dissolved substance imprisoned in 

 the meshes of the crystals. The cells of the body are made of water 

 in which albumin and mineral substances are dissolved. When freez- 

 ing occurs, the first ice is composed of needles of pure water which has 

 been taken from the cells. If the freezing takes place rapidly, the 

 water produces swift currents which break down the delicate framework 

 of the cells and cause their death. If freezing occurs very slowly, the 

 water may leave the cells so slowly that no damage is done by the tiny 

 flood. If thawing occurs just as slowly, the water may reenter the 

 cells so that they may be preserved alive. When a hand or a foot is 

 frozen, it should be rubbed gently either with snow or else while im- 

 mersed in ice water, and the raising of the temperature of the water 

 should be done very slowly, taking, at least, two or three hours for the 

 thawing process. The preservation of the frozen part depends upon 



ov. PHYSIOL. 1 6 



