332 AFFINITY' BETWEEN BURNS AND FROST-BITE. 



severe dry cold, blankets and other woollen clothes 

 adhere to each other, and if roughly drawn apart will 

 frequently be found to emit sparks, accompanied by 

 a crackling noise, while in a dark room quite a bril- 

 liant glow of light is at times thus created. Even 

 passing a comb through the hair or beard is, on 

 these occasions, sometimes sufficient to draw forth 

 distinct electric sparks. These curious phenomena 

 may be produced, as we have said, by either intense 

 dry cold or heat, and the effects in both cases seem 

 to be almost identical. 



Then again there is the well-known fact, that in 

 very low temperatures a piece of metal, applied to 

 the skin, will adhere to it, and produce a burn, ex- 

 actly as if the iron had been red hot; if however 

 both the iron and the hand be perfectly free from 

 any trace of moisture, no actual " burn" will ensue, 

 but merely a severe stinging sensation, like that 

 produced by contact with a galvanic battery; the 

 slightest moisture is however sufficient to make the 

 skin stick to the iron, and a painful blister is at 

 once formed, precisely as if by a burn from a heated 

 iron. 



Then proceeding another step in advance, we are 

 again met with the curious similarity which exists 

 between the effects of burns and frost-bite : we do not 

 here refer to slight cases of frost-bite, but to the 

 more serious cases, which in many of the symptoms 

 closely resemble those of severe burns. There is the 

 same extensive blistering, destruction of the cuticle, 

 fever, swelling, and acute inflammation of the surround- 

 ing parts. If the frost has entered far into the flesh 

 (as for instance in cases of the congelation of a limb), 



