20 THE TONER LECTURES. 



period at which the hlood jjiessure was increased. In many ex- 

 j)ei'imeuts upon the action of irritation of a sensitive nerve 

 upon the ai'terial pressure, I have Ibund that if the rise oc- 

 curs it is immediate, and that in a very brief time after the 

 cessation of the irritation the arterial pressure becomes normal. 

 In all of my experiments, here reported, the fall of tem^ierature 

 did not fairly commence until after the period of disturbances 

 of the circulation ; in most cases it was very persistent and 

 Ijrogressively increased for many minutes. In Experiment i 

 the fall amounted to three degrees and three-quarters, and did 

 not reach its maximum until twenty-three minutes after the last 

 irritation of the sensitive nerve. Without occupying more time 

 with the matter, it is evidently absurd to attribute the fail of 

 temperature to disturbances of the circulation, since, at the time 

 of the fall of temperature, the circulation is not profoundly 

 affected. 



The conclusion, from all the data which has been brought 

 forward, seems logically inevitable that the fall of temperature 

 which results from the irritation of a sensitive nervey is inde- 

 pendent of the circulation, and is due to a direct influence of 

 the nervous system upon the heat-producing function of the 

 body. 



The clinician knows full well that in certain conditions of 

 the system a fall of tempei*ature occurs in man apparently'- in- 

 dependent of the circulation ; and in animals the same thing 

 can be experimentally shown to follow severe injuries. Ac- 

 cording to Horwath (Cenfralblatt fiir die Med. Wissensch. 18V0, 

 No. 35) and other observers, binding an animal upon a table is 

 sufficient to provoke a very decided fall of temperature. When 

 the animal is seriously wounded this fall is more pronounced ; 

 and during the late Franco-Prussian war P. Redard (Archives 

 Generates, vi. serie, t. xix.) determined that serious gunshot 

 wounds are always in man followed bj^ a very decided abate- 

 ment of the bodily heat. Out of fifty-one observations made 



