132 EXCKETTON. 



subject by Fourcault, 1 Bouley and Bernard, 2 and others, are 

 very interesting. In these observations, cutaneous exhalation 

 was entirely suppressed in horses, rabbits, and other animals, 

 by covering the surface with an impermeable coating of 

 varnish or pitch ; and the animals died at periods varying 

 from a few hours to ten days, the gravity of the symptoms 

 depending upon the thoroughness with which the coating 

 had been applied. The experiments of Bernard, particularly, 

 were most curious and interesting. He confirmed the ob- 

 servations of Fourcault and Bouley on the effects of covering 

 the entire surface, in horses, with an impermeable coating, 

 but he found that when a space of even a few inches was 

 left uncovered, the animals survived ; and in animals that 

 were suffering from the effects of a complete coating, if a 

 small portion were removed, the symptoms were ameliorated 

 and recovery took place. 3 These experiments led Bernard 

 to the conclusion that death does not take place, after com- 

 plete suppression of the functions of the skin, from retention 

 of carbonic acid alone. 



One of the well-known objects of cutaneous exhalation 

 is to keep down the animal temperature by evaporation, 

 when there is a tendency to too great development of heat 

 by exercise or from other causes ; and it might be supposed 

 that the suppression of this function would be one of the 

 chief causes of the fatal result. It is curious, however, that 

 in the early experiments of Fourcault, 4 and in the later obser- 

 vations of Bernard, the animals suffered a great diminution 

 in temperature. Bernard found that death occurred when 

 the temperature was between 68 and 72 Fahr., always 



1 FOURCAULT, Experiences demontrant P 'influence de la suppression mtchanigue 

 de la transpiration cutanee sur I alteration du sang. Comptes rendus, Paris, 

 1838, tome vi., p. 369, and Ibid., 1843, tome xvi., p. 139. 



2 BERNARD, Lecons sur Us propriety etc., des li guides de ^organisme^ Paris, 

 1859, tome ii., p. 177. 



3 Op. cit, p. 178. 



4 FOURCAULT, loc. cit. 



