t 9 o2] FROST-BITES 183 



noses were swollen to a prodigious size ; but as this meant a 

 return of circulation, there was nothing worse for them in this 

 respect than a great deal of pain and discomfort. But one of 

 Barne's hands was in a much more serious condition ; the 

 blood obstinately refused to return to the dead white fingers, 

 and, whilst he swathed them in well-greased bandages, the 

 doctor informed me that there was little hope of saving them. 

 For many days the prospect of amputation seemed imminent, 

 and it was not until a week after the accident that the blood 

 began to extend slowly and painfully towards the tips of the 

 fingers. Although the hand was left in a shockingly mangled 

 and painful condition, the fingers were saved. 



It may be of interest to those whose fortune has not taken 

 them to the colder regions of the earth to say a word or two 

 concerning frost-bites. 



Even in the coldest places it is necessary to keep one's 

 face and sometimes one's fingers uncovered ; consequently it 

 is these parts of the body that are most likely to suffer, and in 

 the Antarctic Regions we were all so frequently frost-bitten in 

 them that we learnt to regard such an evil as part of the 

 ordinary course of events : and indeed there was very little to 

 fear as long as the frost-bite was noticed and the remedy taken 

 in time. Under ordinary conditions one has a distinct sensa- 

 tion on being frost-bitten ; the blood seems to recede from the 

 veins in the exposed part with a suddenness that almost con- 

 veys the sound of a ' click ' and the feeling of a prick with a 

 sharp instrument. At such times all that is necessary is to 

 apply gentle warmth to the frost-bitten member. For instance, 

 if one's cheek or nose is gone, one simply covers it for a minute 

 or two with the palm of one's hand. There is a fiction that 

 the best remedy is to seize a handful of snow and rub the 

 offending member, but as the snow in the polar regions has the 

 consistency of sharp sand or emery powder, the application of 

 such a remedy would speedily remove the skin, with anything 

 but a pleasant result. 



Frost-bites such as I have described are merely superficial, 

 and, as I have said, they were of such frequent occurrence that 



