246 



INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE ON BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS 



was reached. Table 5 shows no difference in the survival times of the tw^o 

 groups. 



Electrocardiograms have been made on 13 animals during asphyxiation. 

 A preliminary study of these indicates that although the time of last 

 gasp was delayed, the time of ventricular arrest was not affected by pento- 



Table 5. Cooling before and after narcosis* 



Cooling after narcosi.s 

 Cooling before narcosis 



TEMP. 



"C. 



23.6 

 23.7 



T.O.D., 



sec. 



547 

 555 



% 



100 

 102 



♦Condensed from table 5 Miller and Miller, 1957. 



Table 6. Effects of temperature and sedation on 



TIME of ventricular ARREST 



Table 7. Effects of narcosis on oxygen uptake and on asphyxial survival 



* From table 9, Miller and Miller, 1957. 

 t From table 2, Miller and Miller, 1957. 



barbital in either normothermic or hypothermic animals (table 6). If 

 confirmed by further studies, these findings indicate that the heart is not 

 benefited by sedation during asphyxia. 



Oxygen uptake measurements were made of narcotized animals before 

 and after cooling. These agreed well with the previously observed mean 

 prolongation of asphyxial survival by narcosis in the two temperatures 

 measured (table 7 ) . This finding indicates that the protective action 



