The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1864-01-20
The Dangers of Cold Weather How
to Avoid Them.

Intensely cold weather is now upon us,
and already we hear accounts of persons
perishing from its rigor Our pleasure
seekers at the skating ponds will be liable
to suffer from the extreme cold, and thero
will doubtless be numerous cases of frost
bites, frozen limbs, ETC., the result of ex-
posure now while the thermometer indi-
Gates temperature so near zero.
The first sensation which indicates that
freezing is taking place is that of stingiug
pain, which yields to numbness and ut
ter insensibilitv. If the bone is frozen it
perishes, and requires to be dissecled
away. 1t is common idea that brisk
rubbing of frozen part will restore tho
circulation, generating heat TO thaw it
back to life. The application of snow is
recommended. Everybody has read the
story of Madame Rachael, the tragedienne
who was walking in the street 10 ST. Pc
tersburg, was surprised at the audacity of
stranger rubbing her face with snow, he
having discovered that her nose was froz-
en-. However true the story, the applica-
tioE of snow in such cases may be judi
ciously made, or it will aggravate the diff
iculty instead Of restoring the parts to
q normal and healthy condition.
Ifthe snow which is applied be colder
than the frozen flesh, it will still further
abstract the heat and freeze it worse than
before. But if the snow is Of the same
temperature it will keep the flesh from
thawing till the heat of the body shall
have effected it, thus preventing gangrene.
Water, in which snow or ice has been
placed SO as TO keep its temperature at
lhirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, is proba-
bly, better than snow.
But by no means should frozen flesh
be rubbed. Every chemist knows that
fluids, when CONCEALED, assume & christa-
line form, as cubes or polyhedrons. The
juices Of the feshy tissues, when frozen
in their minute sac or cells, at once be-
come in each of those enclosures crystals,
having large number of angles aud sharp
points; and hence, rubbing the flesh
causes them to cut or tear their way thro'
the tissues, so that when it is thawed the
structure of the muscle is more or less de-
stroyed. The freezing at the outset is
sufficiently unfortunate occurrence, with
out destroying the flesh by this injudi-
cious rubbing.
From all this it will be seen that when
any part of the body is frozen, it should
be kept perfectly quiet till it is thawed
out, which should be done as promptly as
possible. As freezing takes place from
the surface inwardly, so thawing should
be in reverse order, from the inside out
wardly. The thawing out of portion
of flesh, without at the same time putting
the blood from the heart into circulation
through it, produces modification; but by
keeping the more external parts still con
gealed till the internal heat and the cx-
ternal blood gradually soften the more in
terror parts, and produce circulation of the
plood rs fast as the thawing takes place,
most Of these dangers are obviated.
The use Of alcoholic liquor to "keep
out cold," to sustain the vital energy, or
to prevent freezing mechanically by pour
ing il into the shoes, is Of doubtful utili
ty. But exercise during the whole peri
cd of exposure is Of essential Importance.