374 Pyroxylic Spirit audits Compounds. [Nov. 



From these experiments it appears that, 1 . In man the 

 temperature of the muscles exceeds that of the cellular 

 tissue by 4° & 2°i. 2. The mean temperature of the muscles 

 of three young persons, aged 20 years, was found to be 

 98°* 186. With the common thermometer. Dr. Davy esti- 

 mated the heat of the human body at 98° ; and Despretz 

 found the mean temperature of nine men, aged 30 years, 

 98°-85; of four men, aged 68, 98°-83 ; of four men, aged 

 18 years, 98*58. While John Hunter found the tempera- 

 ture of the rectum of a healthy man between 97° k 98°. 



3. The mean temperature of the muscles of several dogs 

 is 100*94 ; while Despretz makes it 103°*06. This difference 

 may be attributed to accidental circumstances. It is to be 

 observed, also, that the state of the health has an effect 

 upon the temperature. The temperature of the brain was 

 100*85 : this temperature was suddenly reduced some de- 

 grees, and in a few minutes the animal died. 



4. The temperature of the common carp was only about 

 ^■Q of a degree above that of water. 



5. The contraction of the muscles augments the tempera- 

 ture, while the compression of an artery diminishes the 

 temperature. Agitation, motion, and in general every 

 thing which determines a flow of blood, tends to elevate the 

 temperature. Whether the nervous system has any share 

 in producing a rise of temperature remains to be deter- 

 mined.* 



Article VII. 



Pyroxylic Spirit and its Compounds. 



Dumas and Peligot have published an elaborate examination 

 of pyroxylic spirit, (Ann. de Chim. Iviii. 1.) which will be 

 found interesting to British chemists, as this substance is 

 becoming a very important article in the laboratory. It 

 was discovered by Philip Taylor, in 1812, who termed it 

 pyroligneous ether, from the mode in which it is prepared. 

 The lowest sp. gr. to which, as far as we are aware, it has 



• Ann. deChim. et de Phys. lix. 113. (It is to be regretted that the authors 

 do not mention the season of the year when these experiments were made ; for, as 

 has been remarked to me, by a distinguished comparative anatomist, the relative 

 temperatures of fishes, and the medium in which they are placed, vary according 

 to the season. — Edit.) 



