The Russellville Democrat., 1892-09-01
ICE OVER THE SPINE.

All oUJcctioi frequently tufdHCou
 to the use of cold over the spine,
 and formidable one to combat, on
 account of its universal prevalence,
 is the impression that 1t will "chill
 the body' Git is heroic" c"-and
 must be exceedingly disagreeable to
 the patient. The real fact, however,
 is that with people who already sui
 fer from cold sensations, cold or
 cool legs and feet, cold arms and
 hands, or cold body, no known rem edy acts more quickly, powerfully
 and pleasantly to overcome this ab-
 normal condition. This truth Is now proven beyond controversy, so far as my own observation is con cerned. From the results arrived
 at in treating persons so affected, l
 am convinced that the body, arms
 and legs may be permanently
 warmed by ice placed over the spine in bags four aud quarter inches
 wide in the adult, and the strength of the patients largely and perma- nently added to, even though they may have suffered for years The difficulty arising to prevent physi- cians and the public from acceptar ce of this verity is simple one.
 It is practically true that cold ap- piled locally upon the surface of the
 body, except during the process of infammatory diseases or active con- gestions, will, and does, chill the individual; and thus it is argued that cold over the spine must in evitably produce the same effect. Such a conclusion is totally errone. ous. My belief is, that cool or cold surface of the body or extremi- ties not due to some immediate local cause, such as exposure to cold, etc., but forming constant factor in the daily life of the individual, is the re- sultant of an increased circulation, greater than normal, of blood, with in certain nervous centers-the sym pathetic ganglia-situated close to the spinal cord; and whose chief function for many years has been declared to be, by many eminent physiologists, that of contraction of the arteries. These knots of nervous material, or vaso- motor centers, having their function increased by the stimulation of more arterial blood than is required for their healthy action, issue more forcible nervous currents through their nerves to the elastic and con tractile coats of the smaller arteries in the body and extremities, causing in these vessels powerful closure.
 This contraction diminishes the usual and normal amount of blood in the parts controlled by the cen ters, and we have, as consequence, cold body, arms or legs, according to the centers involved.
 Now if the circulation is decreased permanently in any portion or DOT tions of the body, we have lessened nutrition and physical prostration in the individual, as most graphically presented in people suffering from the so-called nervous prostration, with cold arms and legs almost constant factor. The 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 off from the whole sur face of the body and muscular ap- paratus of the extremities. Now, when such state results the bulk | of the blood is confined to a narrow circuit, viz, to the internal organs such patients are liable to take cold easily, and to sudden con- gestions of the bronchi, lungs, liver, uterus, etc.. but are especially sub ject to nervous disorders, owing to the pressure and undue stimulation of an undue circulation within the brain and spinal cord. In his work on Neuralgia and Kindred Diseases of the Nervous System" page 3l4, Dr.. John Chapman, of Paris, says
 With reference to the sensations produced by the spinal ice-bag, my readers must bear in mind that it is designed not for the healthy but for he sick, and only for those sick per