460 J- Lindhard. 



cases are concerned this explanation seems improbable; I am much 

 more inclined to believe that they were due to the direct influence of 

 the cold on the region of the bladder, a view that might probcibly very 

 well agree with Ekelöf's observations. The cases gradually disappeared 

 without treatment as the men became accustomed to the cold or learned 

 to make the berths warmer; they were much rarer also and less trouble- 

 some in the beginning of the following winter. 



Cases of frost-bite occurred rather frequently especially during 

 the first winter. When going about in the open the head with exception 

 of the central part of the face was as a rule covered by a camel's hair 

 hood and \\ind-tight "anorak". To go about in the wind without 

 wind-tight overcoat was to court punishment; in one case I saw wide- 

 spread frost-bite with strong reddening and swelling as well as blistering 

 of the skin on the head — the ears stood out like a pair of thick sau- 

 sages — neck, shoulders and upper arms. The man was out for a walk 

 лvithout his wind-coat in — 32° and was surprised by a storm. 



The appearence of light frost bites on the skin of the face, chiefly 

 on the nostrils, the ridge of the nose, cheek-bones and sometimes on 

 the forehead, in fact, on all the places where the subcutaneous tissues 

 are thin was quite a common thing, if one went out in a temperature 

 lower than — 20°, especially if there was also some wind. The skin 

 attacked had the appearance of livid-white spots of irregular form, 

 sharply marked-off from the surrounding, sound skin, quite resembling 

 the spots produced by anaesthetising with aethylic chloride. The sub- 

 jective sensation was that of a peculiarly fine but intense prickling, 

 which lasted quite a short time and was then often unnoticed, so that 

 the bite was only discovered when another caught sight of the white 

 spot. These spots quickly disappeared with rubbing. The best way 

 was to place the finger firmly on the spot and move the skin rapidly 

 along with the subjacent layer, so as to avoid rubbing off the frozen 

 epidermis. If the rubbing was postponed a blister quickly formed with 

 serous or sanguinary contents; only in a few cases were real sores formed. 



Fingers and toes were often much exposed; blisters were formed 

 round the outermost phalanges, often with sanguinary exudation under 

 the nails, which in such cases gradually broke off. 



Some cases were more serious, as when a finger or toe became in- 

 sensitiA'e and painful: the colour of the skin was livid and the part at- 

 tacked was bounded upwards towards the sound skin by a well-marked 

 bluish red streak. Hard rubbing was always successful however in 

 restoring the circulation: only in a single case did superficial gangrene 

 occur on the big toe. The usual cause of these frost-bites was as a rule 

 carelessness on the part of the sufferer. 



The winter in itself, the shut-in life, the comparative inactivity 

 and above all the dark, had a very considerable psychical influence on 

 everybody. The sleep was for the majority less quiet; one was more 



