THE KINETIC SYSTEM 163 



mechanism for heat elimination (sweating) is stimulated 

 simultaneously with the initiation of muscular or emo- 

 tional activation. Heat as a by-product of muscular 

 action, therefore, does not concern us, but rather heat 

 as an adaptive defense against foreign proteins and 

 infection. Vaughn has shown that the presence in the 

 body of any alien protein causes an increased produc- 

 tion of heat, and that there is no difference between the 

 production of fever by foreign proteins and by infection. 

 Before the day of the hypodermic needle and of experi- 

 mental medicine, the foreign proteins found in the body 

 outside of the alimentary tract were brought in by in- 

 vading microorganisms. Such organisms interfered 

 with life and often destroyed the host. To attain 

 survival, therefore, the body was forced to evolve a 

 defense against these menaces. 



That the production of fever is a protective adaptive 

 response is rendered probable by the following facts : 

 First, and of minor importance, bacteriologists have 

 shown that pathogenic bacteria grow best at the nor- 

 mal temperature of the human body, and that any 

 increase in temperature has a tendency to hinder the 

 growth and in some instances to kill the invading 

 organisms. Second, either living or dead foreign pro- 

 teins may be split up and cast off, just as excessive 

 protein food is broken down and cast off from the 

 body. The organism is protected against self-destruc- 

 tion in this splitting-up process by its specific adapta- 

 tion for withstanding the agency (excessive metabolism) 

 which accomplishes this chemical purification. That 

 chemical purification is facilitated by the production 

 of fever is suggested by the fact that with each rise in 



