Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-27
Ice Over the Spine.

From the New York Medical Record
An objection frequently advanced to the use
Of cold over the spine, aud a formidable one to
combat, on account of Its universal prevalence
is the impression that it will .'chill the body
''it is heroic"-and must be exceedingly dis
agreeable TO the patient. The real fact, how
ever, is that with people who already suffer
from cold sensations, cold or cool legs and feet
cold arms and hands. or cold body. no known
remedy acts more quickly, powerfully and
pleasantly to overcome this abnormal condi-
ton. This truth is now proven beyond con-
troversy. SO far as my own observation is con-
cerned. From the results arrived at in treating
persons 50 affected | am convinced that the
body, arms and legs may be permanently
warmed by ice placed over the spine in bags
four and a quarter inches wide in the adult.
and the strength of the patients largely and
permanently added to. even though they NAV
have suffered for wears. The difficulty arising
to prevent physicians and the public from ac-
ceptance of this verify is a simple one.
1t is practically true that cold applied locally
upon the surface of the body, except during
the process of iniammatory Diseases or active
COMPOSITIONS. will and does chill the individual;
and thus it is argued that cold over the spine
must inevitably produce the same effect. Such
a conclusion is totally erroneous. NV belief is
that cool or cold surface Of the body or ex-
tremities not due to some immediate local
cause. such as exposure to cold. &C., but form
ing a constant factor in the daily life of the in-
dividual is the resultant of an increased circu-
lation. greater than normal of blood within
certain nervous centers-the sympathetic gan
Substituted close to the spinal cord: and
whose chief function for many years has been
declared to be by many eminent psychologists
that of contraction of the arteries. These knots
of nervous material or vasomotor centers. hay-
ing their functions increased by the stimulation
~,a1 ,ar g. IL.
healthy action, issue more forcible nervous
currents through their nerves to the elastic
and contractile coats of the smaller arteries in
the body and extremities, causing in these YES
sells powerful closure.
This contraction diminishes the usual and
normal amount of blood in the parts controlled
by the centers. and We have, as a consequence,
cold body, arms or legs, according TO the Gen.
tiers involved.
Now. il the circulation il decreased perma-
nently in any portion or portions Of the body,
We have lessened nutrition and physical pros
tration in the individual, as most graphically
presented in people suffering from the So
called nervous prostration, with cold arms and
legs almost constant factor. This disease in the
writer's opinion, should be properly termed
physical prostration, due to central vasomotor
stimulation. through which increased energy
the blood is largely shut of from the whole
surface of the body and muscular apparatus of
the extremities. Now. when such a state re-
suits the bulk of the blood is confined to a mar
row circuit, viz, to the internal organs; there
fore such patients are liable to take cold
easily and to sudden congestions Of the bronchi.
lungs. liver, uterus, &C., but are especially
subject to nervous disorders, owing to the
pressure and stimulation Of an undue circula-
ton within the brain and spinal cord. In his
work on ''Neuralgia and Kindred Diseases of
the Nervous System" page Sl4, Or. John Chap
man Of Paris says:
With reference to the sensations produced
by the spinal ice bag, my readers must bear in
mind that ii is designed not for the healthy. but
for the sick, and only for those sick persons in
morbid condition Of the circulation Of the
blood IN the nervous centers which the applica-
ton Of cold 10 Of all agents the most capable Of
subduing.