And those of a stronger
constitution, who had resisted the effects of cold on body and mind, became
deeply horrified on observing, in addition to their own sufferings, how the
mental faculties of the best men, hitherto of strong will power, had become
impaired, and how these unfortunates sooner or later, yet gradually, with
lucid intervals of a few moments' duration, invariably became completely
insane.
The intense cold enfeebled, first of all, the brain of those whose health
had already suffered, especially of those who had had dysentery, but soon,
while the cold increased daily, its pernicious effect was noticed in all.
The internal vessels, especially those of the brain and the lungs, in many
became congested to such a degree that all vital activity was paralyzed.
On necropsy, these vessels of the brain and lungs and the right heart were
found to be bloated and stretched; in one case the different vessels of the
brain were torn and quite an amount of blood was effused between the
meninges and the brain, in most cases more or less serum had collected in
the cavities.
The corpses were white as snow, while the central organs in every case were
hyperaemic.
At the beginning, while the cold was still tolerable, the effect of the
humors from the surface of the body to the central organs had caused only a
slight derangement of the functions of these organs, like dyspnoea, mental
weakness, in some more or less indifference, a disregard of their
surroundings; in short, all those symptoms of what was called at that time
"Russian simpleton.
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