SURGERY

No satisfactory term has yet been suggested to apply to the condition of the feet which has incapacitated so many of the troops who have been engaged in the entrenched warfare in the north of France during the winter months. The ready-made term "frost-bite" is that most generally applied, but it is evident that the condition in many respects differs from that which occurs in those who have been exposed to intense cold for prolonged periods. During the present campaign the frost has not been intense, and although the weather has been extremely trying, this has been chiefly due to heavy falls of rain and sleet accompanied by high winds. The temperature has seldom been much below freezing-point, and the men have not had to stand in snow for long periods. Nor do the lesions produced resemble those described by Larrey under the name gangrene de congelation. Actual gangrene is neither a prominent nor a constant feature of the condition, and when it occurs it is usually limited to patches of skin or to parts of one or two toes. The terms " frosted feet," " frozen feet," and piecl geU are