HISTORICAL REVIEW 
Current Concept of Nervous Control of Temperature Regulation 
The current concept of the nervous control of temperature 
regulation is that the control is effected through a modified reflex 
system, somewhat similar to the control of respiration. This 
modified reflex system consists of afferent pathways, a center, 
and efferent pathways to peripheral effector organs with, at least 
for shivering, a "feed-back" pathway for control of shivering 
rhythm. 
Afferent system. Afferent impulses from cutaneous thermal 
receptors, to be described later at this Symposium by Professor 
Hensel, travel via afferent nerves through the dorsal roots, the 
spinothalamic tracts, and the fifth cranial nerve to reach the thala- 
mus. From the thalamus, which functions as a distributory center 
for afferent impulses, the impulses are relayed to the cerebral 
cortex and hypothalamus. This theory of the thalamus functioning 
as a distributory center may not be strictly valid since animals 
with a larger part of the thalamus destroyed regulate their body 
temperatures efficiently. This is the so called "peripheral" control 
of body temperature, and requires further stucfy. 
There is considerable evidence from experiments on brain 
cooling and heating that the temperature regulating activities can 
be motivated or suppressed by temperature changes of the brain 
without any temperature change of the skin. This leads to the con- 
clusion that there is a "central" or "central thermostatic" control- 
ling system. 
Temperature regulating center. The term "center"' for such 
activities as respiration, vasomotor activity, or temperature regu- 
lation has been justly criticized as a term which has a vague 
meaning and uncertain anatomical localization. Nevertheless, the 
term serves a useful purpose in the original sense as used by 
Sherrington when applied to a region in the brain which serves to 
integrate, coordinate, and regulate the afferent influences for moti- 
vation, inhibition, and regulation of the motor effects. An anatomical 
center may subserve more than one physiological function. The 
term "center" will be used here for want of abetter substitute. 
