His constitution badly shaken, but gradually improving, he returned home, and it took a long time before he recovered completely.
All traces of his sickness disappeared finally, and as active as ever he attended his former duties.
Another officer, with whom von Scherer traveled a few days between Krasnoe and Orscha, had not until then suffered any real want.
He rode in a well-closed carriage drawn by strong horses, had two soldiers as servants, was well dressed and suffered, therefore, much less than others. 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.