FIXATION OF HEAT REGULATION 629 



central regulatory apparatus in which the latter works 

 somewhat like a harp, in which by pedalling a modulation 

 into a different key is brought about; by fixing the whole 

 rhythm the tune is changed from one key to another. ' ' 52 Ac- 

 cording to Schwenkenbecher in febrile subjects as in healthy 

 individuals a rise in heat production is compensated by a 

 rise in heat elimination. 53 



This does not say, however, that the heat-regulatory 

 apparatus in fever functionates as efficiently as in normal 

 conditions. The experiences of physicians indicate rather 

 that the temperature of febrile subjects is more variable 

 than that of healthy individuals, and that the former, for 

 example, are more easily chilled by withdrawal of heat. 



It may be said in a general way that the body tempera- 

 ture of the febrile subject, in spite of the fact that heat 

 regulation is by no means excluded, rises because the heat 

 elimination lags behind the heat production. "The process 

 of temperature regulation," says Krehl, 54 "cannot by any 

 means be thought of as a simple one. Under all circum- 

 stances there exist influences which act in an appreciably 

 separate manner upon heat production and upon heat elim- 

 ination. Each of the two processes acts under different 

 circumstances through different physiological agencies, the 

 elimination of heat by conduction, radiation and evapora- 

 tion of water, the production of heat by the decomposition 

 of nutrient material or body substance. In my opinion in 

 fever the whole group of these mechanisms is changed, and 

 as a matter of fact the functional disturbances in different 

 cases are surely not the same in their individual details. 

 By and large the ability to regulate is retained. Almost 

 always, or, as I believe, always, there prevails a state of 

 excitation of the parts by which the heat production is 



82 Fr. Kraus, 1. c., p. 644. 



53 Schwenkenbecher and Tuteur (Med. Clinic, Strassburg), Arch. f. exper. 

 Pathol., 57, 285, 1907. 

 "Krehl, 1. c. 



