That an animal must perish as soon as the temperature of the medium in
which it lives ceases to preserve the blood in a state of fluidity, is
one of those self-evident propositions which scarcely requires notice,
much less explanation; but that a degree of cold not sufficiently
intense to occasion any physical changes upon the constituent parts of
the body should extinguish its vitality is a fact, whose history
involves some of the most interesting questions of physiology.
The degree of cold, necessary for the production of its fatal effects,
varies in a very remarkable degree with the strength and circumstances
of the individual to whom it is applied, as well as with the rapidity of
the cooling process. In some instances we find that man has endured an
extreme degree of cold with but little inconvenience, whilst in other
cases, we see him perishing from it in a temperature at which water even
retains its fluidity. The interesting history of Sir _Joseph Bankes_ (at
that time Mr. Bankes), Dr. _Solander_, and eleven others, on a botanical
excursion to the mountains of Terra del Fuego; and more recently, the
narrative of our enterprizing countrymen, in their voyage to the Polar
seas, will furnish a good illustration of the former fact, whilst the
melancholy fate of the Cambridge student, as hereafter explained,
affords a curious and instructive example of the latter. _Animal heat_,
as Mr. _Brodie_ observes, _is in some way or other dependant upon the
integrity of the functions of the Nervous System_; and consequently the
absolute degree of cold which an animal can bear with impunity will,
_cæteris paribus_, be determined by his powers of producing heat; we
must therefore cease to regard the fact as extraordinary, that an
animal, which is under the influence of a deleterious narcotic poison,
or in whom, from any other morbid cause, the powers of the nervous
system are exhausted, may be destroyed by a diminished temperature, that
would scarcely affect even the sensations of one, differently placed in
relation to his nervous energy; thus it is with a person in the last
stage of intoxication, in whom the powers of life are ebbing, in
consequence of the previous state of morbid excitement; in the course of
the last winter, two instances occurred of drunken persons being taken
to the watch-house; where, there not being any charge against them, they
were dismissed by the constable of the night, and perished in the
streets. A military friend has lately communicated to us an instance,
where out of a great number of troops who were exposed to intense cold,
the only one who perished was under the influence of intoxication; and
we learn from _Le Baume’s_ interesting account of the campaign in
Russia, that similar results were observed during the disastrous retreat
of the French army on that memorable occasion.
In our own country scarcely a winter passes without the occurrence of
some event equally illustrative of this physiological fact; and it is
highly important that the medical jurist should be able to appreciate
its influence; those who perish in this manner are generally individuals
of the most wretched condition, and will be found to have undergone much
suffering and privation; by which their nervous energy had been too much
exhausted to generate sufficient heat to counteract the diminished
temperature of the atmosphere; an event of this nature occurred in
London during the winter of 1819, when a man and his wife, aged persons,
and poor, but not supposed, nor indeed proved to have been quite
destitute, were found dead in their apartment, although food was
discovered in the room, and money was in the pocket of the man: the
night (28th of December) had been inclement, and there was neither bed
nor fire in the miserable couple’s apartment. It appeared in evidence
that they had been previously ailing. The verdict recorded that they had
perished from the inclemency of the weather, in consequence of the
destitute circumstances under which they were found.
It would seem that persons who are long exposed to intense cold do not
suffer a painful death; they gradually lose their sensibility, become
drowsy, and die as if through the effects of an opiate. Mr. _Brodie_[52]
classes the effects of cold in the following order.
1. It lessens the irritability, and impairs the functions of the whole
nervous system.