Frostbite

the freezing of any portion of the body by exposure to a = degree of cold. The parts of the y most exposed to the serious conseuence of frostbite are those farthest rom the seat of circulation, and the most exposed to a great degree of cold. These are, the toes and feet, fingers, ears, nose, and the cheeks below the eye. The effect of intense cold is, in the first place, to deaden the sensibility of the part most exposed, which it does by contracting the ve els and driving the blood from the surface; when the part, losing its healthy vitality, is unable to resist the specific influence of the surrounding cold, and quickly falls a prey to the potency of the frost, in a very short. time resulting in death, or in gangrenous mortification of the member or organ, which soon after separates or falls off.