Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-03-01
The Physiologic Effect of Intense Cold,

The recent terrible snow storms In
Minnesota, in which so many human be
ings perished, suggest several important
and impressive lessons, which physiology
will value, and which may be Of great ser.
vice to the public. The graphic reports
OF the fate Of the frozen sufferers, are re-
piete with instruction upon the physiologic
effects of intense cold on the human
frame. Ii, amid the frightful and deadly
visltations OF heat and cold which annual
ly assail him, man can find no secure
retreat, he may at least learn to mitigate
their horrors. Although incapable of en-
during any great change of temperature
in his body, he is known to be capable of
passing safely through many excessive
changes in the atmospheric medium
which surrounds him.
1t is well known to Psychologists that
when the heat of the body Is reduced to
point where freezing begins the blood glo-
blues become thoroughly disorganized,
and when the disorganized fluid, thus
poisoned, re-enters the circulation it cor
rupts the blood. Experiments on ami.
mails Indicate that the deadly effect does
not occur while they are in a semi-frozen
condition, but subsequently,, when the
heat is increased and circulation quick
ened so far as to allow the disorganized
matter to penetrate the blood vessels and
thus overwhelm the nervous system. 1t
has often been noticed that the fatal
moment arrives just when relief and COM
fort reach the sufferer. Sir John Franklin
related instances in which fishes in the DO
Lar regions when laid on ice became insni-
mate, but, when removed, recovered Vi
tality after few days.
Travellers have sometimes observed that
some kinds of fishes in the shallow Siberi-
an lakes (when frozen to the bOttom) are
restored TO life on the very gradual melt
ing of the water in spring, and it has
been said that even the gold fish re-
wives from frozen water In which he has
been confined. While the delicate human
frame is, Of course, unable to bear such
thermal variations, it has been inferred,
from such capabilities in other animals
and from the other circumstances men
toned, that, by allowing the frozen parts
to thaw by almost infinitesimal degrees,
sudden alteration of the life blood may be
prevented, the shock to the nervous sys-
tenn averted and life saved. Amons those
who were lately Overtaken by the late
snow storm in Minnesota we read of a
couple, who, when the
crisis of their fate arrived, though driving
on the highway, turned loose their horses,
ONSAoSt tiiC clCiSus tIlcu CIdWlIug un-
der it wrapped themselves in the buffalo
robes. A wiser and bolder thing could
not have been done, and after two DAYS |
Imprisonment they were rescued alive. |
The very element that threatened them |
with speedy death proved their deliver
ance. From its lOOseness of texture, and |
from its harboring within its fieecy folds |
about ten times its bulk of air, the snow |
is an excellent protection. 1t eften hap
pens that in times of intense cold the soil |
of the earth Is forty degrees (Fahrenneit) |
warmer than the surface of the outlying
layer of snow or the air above it. The |
greatest peril of the traveller overtaken by |
the snow hurricane is in the furious winds |
that accompany it, and make the cold far
more intOlera5le than it would be i'm a
tranquil atmosphere. The aerated and |
porous character of the snow covering
viii permit the man who is buried beneath
It to survive for many hours, as the man,
mails, of the arctic regions, who make
heir lairs beneath it, and as the Esqui-
nlaux, who burrow under walls of sol
d ice.
We may confidently expect before the
present Winter passes away a repetition
N the mountainous parts of this State and
New England Of just such snow storms as
have overtaken the people of Minnesota,
md these practical suggestions may be of
value to the benighted traveller overtaken
'y their binding fury.-M =. Herald.