Especially was he well protected from the cold, yet this had a
severe effect on him. His mind became deranged, he did not recognize von
Scherer with whom he had been on intimate terms for years, nor could he
call either of his servants by name; he would constantly run alongside the
carriage, insisting that it belonged to the French emperor and that he was
entrusted to guard his majesty.
Only when he had fallen asleep, or by force, was von Scherer able, with the
aid of the two servants, to place him in the carriage.
His mental condition became worse every day; von Scherer had to leave him.
This officer reached Wilna, where he was made a prisoner and soon died in
captivity.
Many more cases resembling these two were observed by von Scherer, and
other army surgeons reported instances of the like effect of cold.
Surgeon General von Schmetter had remained with the Crown Prince of
Wuerttemberg in Wilna, while the army marched to Moscow.
He reported many cases of unfortunates whom he had received in the hospital
in Wilna, who by cold and misery of all kinds had been reduced to a pitiful
state--men formerly of a vigorous constitution presented a puerile
appearance and had become demented.
A cavalryman of the regiment Duke Louis, who, during February, 1813, had
been admitted into the hospital of Wilna, suffering from quiet mania
without being feverish, was constantly searching for something.
Hands and feet had been frozen. He became ill with typhus and was more or
less delirious for two weeks.
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