Coldness

“ The coldness and moisture of the atmosphere, or in other states of the air, not perceptible to the senses, but which impede and check the insensible perspiration of the skin, or cutaneous surface, are the chief and prevailing exciting causes. ”

“ Did you ever on a winter’s day, when the ground was as hard as a stone, the ponds all frozen, and everything cold and still, stop for a moment, as you were running in play along the road or skating over the ice, to wonder at yourself and ask these two questions:—“Why am I so warm when all things around me, the ground, the trees, the water, and the air, are so cold? How is it that I am moving about, running, walking, jumping, when nothing else that I can see is stirring at all, except perhaps a stray bird seeking in vain for food?” ”

“ Such intervals were generally succeeded by intense cold, racking, penetrating cold that nothing could ever alleviate, cold that was as Death itself, freezing her limbs to stiffness, congealing the blood in her veins, till even her heart grew slower and slower, and at last stood still. ”

“ The intense desire for sleep felt by persons exposed to great cold is closely akin to that produced by overwhelming fatigue: the whole nerve-force is consumed in either case and cannot be replaced. In those suffering from cold, the loss may be met by warmth or by food; in those worn out by fatigue, sleep alone is the restorer. How completely the brain is upset by cold we may learn from the striking narrative of the Arctic voyager Dr. ”

“ As the warm blood recedes from the skin, a sensation of cold is felt, but when the blood returns, there is again the feeling of warmth. The sensation of cold prompts one to seek a warmer place, or to put on more clothing; while the sensation of heat, if it be oppressive, leads to activities of an opposite kind. Prompted in this way by the sensations from the skin, one voluntarily supplies the external conditions, such as clothing and heat, that affect the body temperature. ”

“ And when persons exposed to extreme cold are overcome by a pleasing but fatal sleep, it seems as if the internal parts were affected with a preternatural warmth, from the vigorous sensations and concomitant vibrations impressed on the external parts by the cold, and thence ascending to the brain. ”

“ But, secretly, I was struck with awe at the revelation of powers so unsearchably new, lurking within old affections so familiarly known as cold. Upon the analogy of this case, it might be thought that nothing whatever had yet been truly and seriously felt by man; nothing searched or probed by human sensibilities, to a depth below the surface. If cold could give out mysteries of suffering so novel, all things in the world might be yet unvisited by the truth of human sensations. ”

“ Any one may observe what takes place when the body is immersed in cold water: first comes the sharp, half-pleasing, half-painful sensation of cold, almost immediately followed by a consciousness of internal warmth, the duration of which will be in proportion to the power of the organization to keep up this counteraction. ”

“ The cold had become intense, a bitter piercing cold which strained and snapped at joist and beam and turned the slush of yesterday to flint. From the street below every sound broke sharp and metallic—the clatter of sabots, the rattle of shutters or the rare sound of a human voice. The air was heavy, weighted with the black cold as with a pall. To breathe was painful, to move an effort. ”

“ You do not freeze, but you shiver; your fingers do not become numb with cold, but you have all the while an uneasy craving for more positive warmth. You look at the empty grate, walk mechanically towards it, and, suddenly awaking, shiver to see that there is nothing there. ”

“ When the hands, or any other parts of the body, have been exposed to a violent cold, they ought first to be put in cold water, or even rubbed with snow, and exposed to warmth in the gentlest manner possible. ”

“ If a cold could get into the body without the assent of mind, nature would take it out as gently, or let it remain as harmlessly, as it takes the frost out of the ground or puts it into the ice-cream to the satisfaction of all. ”

“ You can no longer imagine, as before, that it would be delicious to die of cold;—you shiver even with all the windows closed;—you feel currents of air,—imperceptible to nerves in a natural condition,—which shock like a dash of cold water, whenever doors are opened and closed ”

“ All my life I have suffered with cold—all kinds of cold—psychical and physical;—I hate cold!!!!—I never can resign myself to live in it!—I can’t even think in it, and I would not be afraid of that Warm Place where sinners are supposed to go! ”

“ The fresh glow is simply the result of relaxation of the capillary vessels of the skin, allowing a large quantity of blood to come to the surface, so as to give the feeling of superficial warmth. But if a larger amount of blood comes to the surface, it robs the parts within; and the feeling of genial warmth gives way to a general depression, especially when we are exposed to severe cold. ”

“ The cold is intense; the blankets, thin and gray, afford no protection. My whole body is shivering and shaking uncontrollably as if in high fever, my teeth rattle like castanets accompanying a Spanish fandango. ”

“ The cold felt has little in common with the brisk, keen cold of a frosty day or that met with at a high altitude; but it has certain raw and penetrating properties, and the discomfort becomes hourly more acute, while at every moment the puddles suck and squelch beneath you, and fresh streams of colder water flow in from unexpected directions to chill you to the bone. ”

“ The cold sensations are best distinguished on the parts normally most exposed to cold, as the tips of fingers, malleoli, tip of nose, chin, patella, wrist, and least on the protected areas, inner side of thigh, flank, loins and abdomen. The warmth sensations are best distinguished on the regions on which the stimuli of warmth has most frequently fallen, tips of fingers and toes, cavity of mouth, palm of hand, less so on the neck and loin. ”

“ I say nothing of the headaches, chills, colds of every kind,—daily, tertian, and quartan fevers, which men get through obeying me,—submitting to shiver with cold and be suffocated with heat, as I please,—to cover their bodies with woollen stuff, and their chests with linen, and do everything in the way I tell them, even though it be to their own hurt. ”

“ It numbs your fingers or tingles your ears maybe, but it gives the blood a fillip that makes it dance merrily, and you are warm though it is cold. The fog chill works in your marrow and you are cold inside first. ”

“ The cold’s got an edge like a jackknife — it must be forty below;
Leastways that’s what it seems like — it cuts so fierce to the bone.
The wind’s getting real ferocious; it’s heaving and whirling the snow ”

“ Cold—the sinister demon who grazes the universe with his damp wing, and breathes pestilence on bewildered nations! Cold, tarnishing everything, unrolling its gray and nebulous veil over the sky's rich tints, the waters' reflections, the hearts of flowers, and the cheeks of maidens! Cold, that casts its white winding-sheet over fields and woods and lakes, even over the fur and feathers of animals! ”

“ Even under bright sun-shine, and in a most exhilirating air, the biting effect of the cold upon the portion of our face that is exposed to it resembles the application of a strong acid; and the healthy grin which the countenance assumes, requires—as I often observed on those who for many minutes had been in a warm room waiting to see me—a considerable time to relax. ”

“ As a matter of fact, she may realize a warm cold thing whenever two points of the skin, so near together as not to be locally distinguished, are touched, the one with a warm, the other with a cold, piece of metal. The warmth and the cold are then often felt as if in the same objective place. ”

“ The cold is a sad enemy to beauty. My poor wife and Ella, with their pinched faces, strained, aching expression, red, rheumy eyes and noses, and blue or pallid cheeks were sad parodies on their comely selves. ”

“ You ask me to explain why I am afraid of a draught of cool air; why I shiver more than others upon entering a cold room, and seem nauseated and repelled when the chill of evening creeps through the heat of a mild autumn day. ”

“ The cold then deprives him of all motion and feeling, his body becomes much swollen, and fearful distortion of the features is produced by the dreadful convulsions he is suffering, while the surface of his skin becomes nearly black. ”

“ Arrived at the place of destination, our feet are benumbed with cold—the grass is yet damp with the last night's rain—a general shivering, with an impulse to get away, creeps over us—we grow caustic and bitter in our remarks, and finally end the day with the commencement of a severe cold. ”

“ Cold is thy hopeless heart even as Charity—
Cold are thy famish'd babes—God help thee, widow'd One! ”

“ We may add, that a common cold is the effect of the perspiration being suddenly checked, and that the health of the body depends on the minute pores we have referred to being kept open and in action.
J. S. D.
[3] Animals are divided by naturalists into two classes, cold-blooded and warm-blooded; the latter breathe by lungs, through which all the blood of the body is continually passed, and which has direct communication with the air. ”

“ If cold thus acts on things without life, how much more must it influence living organisms and the power of man’s will! Cold lowers the beat of the pulse, weakens the bodily sensations, diminishes the capacity of movement and of enduring great fatigue. ”

“ Tea and coffee also do their share of mischief to the heart. Those who use them very strong often complain of palpitation, or heavy and irregular beating of the heart.
14. Taking Cold.—People usually "catch cold" by allowing the circulation to become disturbed in some way, as by getting the feet wet, being chilled from not wearing sufficient clothing, sitting in a draught, and in other similar ways. It is very important for you to know that a cold is a serious thing, and should be carefully avoided. ”

“ When cold is suddenly applied to the previously warm skin of the living body, it shuts up all the perspiring pores at once, and then empties its supply-pipes of their streaming blood inwards. You know how pale and numb your skin becomes on a cold frosty day, when you stand quietly in the chilling air. That is because the cold squeezes all the blood out of the small vessels of your skin. ”

“ We hug each our own fireside; but this is because, for eight months of the year, the great cold gives us a habit of tension. We enjoy too little the elixir of our still winter days, and hurry, hurry as we go, to pop back to our warm hearths as fast as ever we can. ”

“ In other parts, all things would verily be frightful and stark with extreme cold; whence all high places would be very rough, unfruitful, inaccessible, covered with a pall of perpetual shades and eternal night. ”

“ Mere cold would never give us chills or grip or colds. But our being chilled, or getting our feet wet, or sitting in a draught, just cools down some part of the body enough so that the blood cells can’t fight quite so well. ”

“ Cold is simply the absence of heat, and when the body is surrounded by substances at a low temperature, heat is abstracted from its surface, and a certain painful and familiar sensation is imparted through the nerves of the skin. ”

“ The extreme cold, coupled with the want of food, was beginning to tell on us, as we lay too weary to care very much what happened, so long as only the night would come, that we might push on again and get some circulation in our limbs. ”

“ But learn to swim, trim your bark, and the wave which drowned it, will be cloven by it, and carry it, like its own foam, a plume and a power. The cold is inconsiderate of persons, tingles your blood, freezes a man like a dew-drop. ”

“ The ordinary sensations of cold give but a faint conception of that which comes on after hard climbing with want of food and sleep in such exposure as this. Life is then seen to be a fire, that now smoulders, now brightens, and may be easily quenched. ”

“ If we suppose the circulation to cease entirely at the surface of the body, from the cold, then will warm blood circulate through the internal parts alone; and these parts will continue to be defended from the cold by the external ones, for a time. And thus the body will approach to the common state of a person going to sleep. ”

“ This most frequently happens after the body has been temporarily heated by exercise, warm rooms, anger, or intemperance. Hence colds are produced in the external air by resting after exercise, or by drinking cold water. ”

“ For example, when we feel the cold air on the skin, the nerves of sensation report to the brain, and thus to the mind, that the body is growing cold. The mind thus knows that more clothing is needed, and wills to have the eyes look for it, and the hands and feet move to get it. ”

“ Not only did we suffer terribly from mal de pays, that extreme longing for home that amounts to a malady, but the heaviness of the sky seemed to affect the mind, as if the excessive cold had frozen all one’s energies. ”

“ But the literal truth is that when we relax, we open the channels of circulation in our bodies, and so allow the cold to be carried off. In addition to the relaxing, long, quiet breaths help the circulation still more, and so help the cold to go off sooner. ”

“ When no longer able to endure the cold, he may lie in this place. Thick and chilly, these disgusting coverings adjust themselves to the body when softened by the warmth, where, without caution, the liquid will run into the eyes and the mouth. ”