The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-05-07
TO DETECT DEATH.
Napoleon First to
Apply Test to
Frozen Bodies.
STICK PIN in HEART.
That is An Easy Way to
Determine if Patient
Lives.
STICK PIN IN HEART.

the emperor had returned to PARIS,
Mortified by the scenes he had wit
messed. He had seen thousands of his
soldiers perish in the snow He had
seen men brought into camp uncon-
scious with frost, and buried, and he
1 firmly believed that many of them had
/ been buried alive. He consulted physi-
clans who admitted that the trance
cause by frost was often indistinguish-
able from actual death. Then the en-
peror issued proclamation calling for
advice from the medical profession, and
offering prize for the most useful sug-
gestion.
4 Many doctors competed for the prize,
but Professor AndraEswon the reward
His test was very simple. 1t consisted
only in listening for the heart-beats by
means of a stethoscope, and it was
believed that in this way its slightest
futter could be detected.
But that method has since been
abandoned for another by means of
which life can be detected in a heart
which would seem dead to a person
operating with a stethoscope. This
idea was suggested by DR.. Middledorf
! of Breslau. Middledorfs instrument is
nothing more than a long, sharp
needle The doctor thrusts it between
the fifth and sixth ribs, so that the
point enters the heart, while half it's
! length protrudes beyond the skin. If
| the heart move in the smallest degree,
lit will cause the needle to vibrate, and
/ it is then evident that the patient lives
Some times this trance-lil1e state
/ may last for days. There are cases IN
which men have been revived and Ie-
/ covered after having been unconscious
! for six days, and in one case, at least,
a man who had been twelve days I'M
/ der the snow was picked up and re-
! covered within two months. This case
is reported in the Partisan Gazette des
I Hopitaux, and the doctor who treated
1 him was Felix Krajewski, of Grubes
chow, in Russian Poland.
! 1t is difficult to tell just how far the
/ process Of freezing may go before so
/ changing the body that recovery is i'm
\ possible. The brains of certain ami
mails may be frozen without fatal re-
suits. In such case the animal loses
consciousness, and is, as it were, placed
in state of artificial Information, but
the functions of organic life remain
the same, and when the animal RECEIVERS
! it seems merely to have been asleep.
Many physicians believe that the fatty
matter in the outer portion of the
cerebrum becomes solidified, and there
by forms a BARRIER Which prevents the
ingress of cold to the remainder of the
brain. The same is thought to be true
of the spinal cord; but if the frost once
solidifies the cord, recovery is impos-
sible.
It is also uncertain at just what tenn
perature fatal congelation takes place
in the human body. The average tenn
perature in health is 1856 degrees above
zero. A fall of two or three degrees
causes great discomfort and drop of
twenty degrees is considered fatal, al
though there is one case on record
where a man recovered after his tenn
perature had been reduced to IS degrees
above zero That temperature, of
course, was taken with the bulb of the
thermometer under the mans tongue,
and, doubtless, his extremities were icy
at that time.
Death from excessive cold may occur
in several ways. Slow and continuous
chilling, as explained before, drives the
blood inward, and the victim is said to
die of congestion of the brain. But if
the chill is great and sudden, the blood
rushes to the extremities, leaving the
brain bloodless, and the patient is said
to have died of cerebral anaemia. If a
badly frozen man is suddenly reheated
death follows from "embolism." That is
to say, the carbonic acid gas leaves the
blood, which Immediately coagulates.
When a man dies of less severe frost
bite it is usually from congestion, but
sometimes from anaemia Both of these
conditions are caused by tiny blood
elots, which form in the frozen part and
then pass elsewhere and stop the cir
culation.
A patient sufferingl from an ordinary
case of frost bite should be placed in a
cool room, and the=injured parts i'm
mersed in iced water. or very gently
rubbed with snow If iced water or
snow cannot be had, the very coolest
water obtainable should be used,
changing it repeatedly until the circu-
lation and sensibility are restored. It
must be- understood that the frost has
separated the red coloring matter of
the blood from the blood cells In that
condition the blood is poisonous, and
should it be quickly thawed it would
produce modification. But if sent into
the circulation little by little 1t will be
absorbed without doing any injury. 1t
is therefore very necessary that the
patient should not approach the fire
and that the thawing process should be
very slow. If both snow and iced water
are available it is best to use the snow
first, and follow with water. If the
case is at all severe a doctor should be
called. If the affected part, however,
can be rubbed with snow, or water,
until the return of feeling, and can
then, at night, Ne brought into a per-
spiration, the injury will in most cases
have been entirely cured, and no re-
lapse need be feared.