1874.] Influence of Brandy on the Bodily Temperature fyc. 183 



In the brandy period the mean pulse was 1*9 per minute slower in the 

 after part of the day, and three beats per minute slower in the morning. 

 The action of the single small dose of brandy in the day was to alter the 

 mode of working of the heart, and not to alter the amount of work done 

 in 24 hours, as far as this was judged of by the frequency of the pulse. 

 As far as frequency was concerned the compensation was perfect, and 

 the temporary quickening was balanced by an equal amount of subsequent 

 retardation. Previous experiments indicated that when large and repeated 

 doses were taken, the acceleration was not thus compensated, and that 

 the heart beat more frequently than was natural throughout the whole 

 day. It was certainly very interesting to see how this healthy heart 

 maintained its balance, and, in spite of the alteration in action forced 

 upon it, accomplished in the day the same amount of work under different 

 conditions of diet. "Whether other healthy, and especially whether 

 diseased, hearts would do the same is an interesting question, as is also 

 the point whether the temporary acceleration was, in this man, useful, or 

 hurtful, or indifferent, to the heart. 



Respiration. 



The respirations were taken at the same time as the pulse, and there 

 were twenty-three daily observations. To save space I give only the 

 mean numbers. 



R/espirations. 



Mean number per minute. 

 Before Brandy. 



