24 



THE TONER LECTURES. 



Experiment 5. 



A stout female cat. The bulb of one thermometer intro- 

 duced through an opening in the linea alba into the peritoneal 

 cavit}', that of the other thrust under the skin to a considerable 

 distance. 



Remarks. 



Cord cut in the extreme upper dorsal region. 



Cat just dead. 



It is in truth very difficult to determine exactly- to what 

 the primary fall of temperature after section of tlie spinal cord 

 is due. The fact that after the secondary fever has been 

 developed the temperature will fall, if the animal be exposed 

 to a cool air, certainly shows that the body throws off heat 

 more rapidly than normal. The dilatation of the vessels in 

 the lungs, and on the surface, and the slowh' moving blood 

 current are certainly well calcidated to produce an al)normal 

 loss of animal heat. Since, however, Naunyn and C^uincke 

 have found that the fall occurs even when an animal is ope- 

 rated upon in an atmosphere at 8G° F., it is jorobable that 

 there is immediatelj^ following division of the cord dimininhed 

 heat production as well as increased heat evolution. The influ- 

 ence of atropia upon the temperature, the effects of nerve sections, 

 and various facts which it is not necessarj- here to reiterate, seem 

 to me to indicate that vaso-motor paralysis, i. e., lessened arte- 

 rial pressure and dilatation of the vessel.s, alwaj's tends towards 

 the production of these phenomena. Be this as it may, facts 

 which it would be premature to bring forward at this time, 



