c li A r 1 i: KM. 



CONCERNlNi; Tin: MKTIIOUS 15Y NVIIK H THK A N 1 M A T, OIUJAMSM 

 CONTROLS tin; 1' 1! O I» T ( T M> \ A N H l> 1 SS 1 I'A i' I o N OF IIKAT. 



In 1837, Sir Hnij. Hnnlir (MvdicD-Chiiiinj. Trans., 1837) observed the case cf a 

 man in whom, aft< r a Iraiimatic seetion of tlie spinal eonl, the leniperature rose in 

 tlie course of u few liours to 111° 1*\ Actin-,' upon tiii^ hint, he made ex|)erinH'nt8 

 upon animals, and found that in them, under ceriain einumstauces, the tempera- 

 ture rose very greatly after division of the cord. 



Studies of the cft'eet of section of tlic cord upon tlie temperature liave, since the 

 time of Ikodic, been made by very many observers, notably by Bernard {('rmipl. 

 Jinid., ISo'J, IS.j:'), Sehiff (^I'lifrrfOd/tiiut/rn ziir P/ii/''io/fnju' <Iih ServetiKi/nlim*, 

 l-'rankfort, iSoo), Chossat {MivhtCa Archir, lt>52), Tsehesehiehin (Ji'ritfntl't 

 Arr/iir, 186()), Naunyn and Quincke (Jlu'd. 1SG5)), Rosenthal ((Vnh-utUatl, April, 

 1.SG9), Binz ( Virrhoic's Archir, 1 .s70), Henri Pariuaud (Arrhir. de Phi/siolojic, 1877). 

 It is hardly necessary to trace, step by step, the various views which har^ been 

 held by these authors, and 1 shall only speak of the results obtained by the more 

 recent obsirvcvi — results which I have myself experimeutully determined to be 

 correct. 



If the cord of a rabbit or other small mammal be cut in the lower cervical region, 

 the temperature, as measured in the victim, at once falls; and if the air of the 

 apartment be decidedly below tlie warmth of the body this fall is permanent, and 

 even ])rogresses so that at death the animal heat is several degrees below the nonnal. 

 If however the animal be thoroughly wra])ped in raw cotton or in wool, and if 

 the external temperature be not too low, the fall just spoken of is but temporary, 

 and is succeeded by a rise of temperature which ])as.ses beyond the normal point, 

 so that tin- animal dies in a state of fever. In mv own experiments, the cooling 

 of tlie body after death has often taken jilaee more slowly than nornnd, but I have 

 never seen that post-mortem rise of temperat<ire which has been noted by Nannyn 

 and Quincke, and by other observers, but which a])pears to be oidy an occasional 

 I)henomenon that is absent in the majority of cases. According to my own experience, 

 (and the testimony of other investigators is in accord with if,) if the external tem- 

 perature be much below that of the body of the animal, no amount of wrappings 

 will suffice to bring about the febrile reaction ; and if an animal in which the fever 

 hiLs already come on be exposed to exteriial cold, the temperature falls. The time 

 that elapses between the division of the cord and the rise of temperature varies 

 from a few minutes to many hours, and is dependent upon tlie external i onditioiis 

 (U) 



