Dull Brains and Frozen Feet: A Historical Essay on Cold

This essay will review historical and medical aspects of cold exposure, hypothermia, and frostbite during the Napoleonic era. The 19th century writings of Dominique Jean Larrey, Pierre Jean Moricheau-Beaupré, and others are used to provide an evocative supporting narrative to illustrate some of the cold illnesses, physiology, and theory of both an earlier era and the present time. Medical care for over a century followed the how but not the why of treating frostbite and hypothermia slowly with snow or cold water rather than heat. There were 2 main reasons: First was a practical attempt to limit gangrene. Less known, and long forgotten, is a major rationale based on the erroneous theory of heat called “the caloric.” Because of these 2 reasons, the slow method of “cold warming” remained standard medical practice well into the 20th century. Although these recommendations are now known to be flawed, some of the reasons behind them will be discussed, along with early but correct observations on afterdrop and circumrescue collapse. There is a long backstory of treatment from 1812 to the present.