THE KINETIC SYSTEM 165 



changes are the result of the activating stimuli causing 

 the reactions, or of the effort to reestablish the normal 

 standard of chemical purity after the reactions ; and 

 that the generation of heat and motion does not pro- 

 duce equivalent changes in other organs and tissues of 

 the body. If our premise be sound, these changes in 

 the organs of the kinetic system would accompany the 

 transformation of energy necessary for the routine con- 

 duct of the body, as well as for the additional drafts of 

 energy required for " emergency" reactions. That is, 

 the transformation of energy is necessary for the rnere 

 maintenance of consciousness and a normal body tem- 

 perature, as well as for the production of motor activity 

 in physical exertion, in fighting and in combating in- 

 fection. 



To test these points we planned an experiment whose 

 purpose was to apprehend as in a net the active partici- 

 pants in the process of energy transformation as far as 

 histologic changes could show them. Groups of rabbits 

 were kept awake continuously from 90 to 112 hours by 

 relays of students. They were given abundant food and 

 water and were subjected to no physical violence, 

 fear, drugs or infection. Their external and their in- 

 ternal environments were normal excepting that they 

 were not allowed to sleep. At the end of the periods 

 of insomnia all the animals were exhausted, some to 

 the point of death. All were killed, some immediately, 

 others after varying periods of rest ; and every organ 

 and tissue in the body was examined for histologic changes. 

 In some cases observations of the H-ion concentration 

 of the blood were made. Some animals were given 

 nitrous oxid anesthesia as a substitute for sleep. To 



