190 MAN --AN ADAPTIVE MECHANISM 



the parathyroid, the spleen, the intestines, the thymus, 

 the lymphatic gland or the bones can, per se, cause 

 a rise in the general body temperature comparable to 

 the rise that may be occasioned by activity of the brain 

 or the muscles or by the injection of adrenin or of 

 thyroid extract. On the other hand, when the activity 

 of the brain, the thyroid, the adrenals, the liver or the 

 muscles is eliminated by excision, by narcosis or by 

 anesthesia the power of the body to convert latent 

 into kinetic energy is impaired or lost entirely. 



Brain: In certain pathologfcal conditions of the 

 brain, such as cerebral softening, one frequently finds 

 that all the other organs of the body are comparatively 

 healthy. Being physically injured, the brain cannot 

 stimulate the other organs in the kinetic chain to 

 perform their normal roles ; hence the whole process 

 of energy conversion is slowed down. In certain 

 cases of cardio-vascular disease apparently due to an 

 excessive driving of the kinetic system, the condition 

 is cured after the inception of cerebral softening. The 

 brains of the senile show histologic deterioration and 

 the senile exhibit a low range of muscular power and 

 of fever production. 



Adrenals: In such destructive lesions of the adrenals 

 as Addison's disease, two of the cardinal symptoms 

 are a subnormal temperature and impaired muscular 

 power. Animals upon which double adrenalectomy 

 has been performed show a striking fall in tempera- 

 ture, muscular weakness and progressive chromatolysis 

 of the brain-cells. (Fig. 41.) 



Liver : When the function of the liver is impaired by 

 tumors, by cirrhosis or by degeneration, the energy of 



