336 EFFECT OF COLD ON THE HUMAN BODY. 



There is a technical point of high importance which 

 it is always desirable to bear in mind, in connection 

 with this strange and remarkable occurrence namely 

 that the first effects of exposure, or of the application 

 of cold to the human body, is to cause a progressive 

 rise in the temperature of the internal organs. It has 

 long been known that cold causes immediate contraction 

 of the skin, and of the adjacent blood vessels, while 

 heat on the other hand, dilates them. This contraction 

 is sometimes so considerable, that its effects produce 

 what is known as goose skin, or a rough papular 

 appearance, somewhat resembling a goose's skin 

 when the feathers are removed; while the blood, thus 

 necessarily repelled from the external surface of the 

 body, is thrown back upon the internal organs, pro- 

 ducing a species of congestion : a condition which 

 accompanies more or less, every ordinary cold, or 

 catarrh, and hence the serious, and often even fatal 

 complications which follow a neglected "case of 

 common cold" when congestion of the lungs, or 

 pneumonia, for example arises. 



The late Dr. A. H. Garrod, a most rising and scientific 

 young man, whose career was unfortunately cut short 

 by an early death, made a regular series of experi- 

 ments upon himself, with a view to determine the 

 extent of the increase thus produced on the temperature 

 of the human frame. It would be too long to state 

 the results except in general terms. 



" On stripping the human body (he says) in air of about 

 50 Fahr., a rise in the internal temperature commences 

 immediately. This phenomenon (he proceeds to point out) 

 is explained thus. The contact of cold air produces so 

 considerable a contraction of the vessels, that the blood is so 



