BODY HEAT 63 



capacity for rapidly developing heat; we are not all 

 blessed with the same activity of the circulation. Yet 

 each is apt to make himself the standard. B. shivers, 

 and complains of the cold ; thinks he must have the fire 

 lighted though it be June. C. is amazed that anyone 

 can possibly be cold on such a day ; C. is quite warm. . . . 

 The difference may arise from two causes : the heat- 

 producing capacity may be less, or the circulation 

 feebler. The stimulus of the external cold increases 

 the activity of the organic processes in one man, and 

 depresses it in another. That this is the real cause will 

 appear on examining the influence of cold on the various 

 classes of warm-blooded animals. One class the hyber- 

 naters is so incapable of resisting cold by an adequate 

 increase of its own temperature, that it falls into a 

 torpor ; other classes are forced to seek external warmth 

 in nests and holes, as we seek it in warm clothing and 

 heated rooms; others, again, need nothing but their 

 own temperature. In spite of the active respiration of 

 a mouse, it needs a warm nest, and unless in active 

 exercise will perish if exposed to a temperature which 

 we should consider moderate ; we, again, should perish 

 in a temperature which the cat or dog could endure 

 without uneasiness. 



' Among men there are some who resemble the mouse, 

 and others who resemble the cat. The slightest fall of 

 temperature causes the first to put on warmer clothing 

 or to light the fire, at which their robuster friends are 

 liberal in sarcastic allusions, spoken or thought, and are 

 somewhat impatient of this "coddling." These sarcastic 

 friends are the cats. 



