328 EQ U A LIZ A TION OF TEMPERA TURE. 



step in the inquiry, we shall find that the multiplica- 

 tion of the masses of germinal matter or bioplasm is 

 due to the rapid appropriation of excess of pabulum. 

 If, therefore, this pabulum were removed, or its con- 

 stitution changed, or its formation prevented, there is 

 1 reason to think that the increase of the bioplasm 

 would be stopped, in which case the feverish state 

 could not be established. Or, if the blood could be 

 urged more quickly through the capillaries, the heat 

 developed would be carried off, and pass away latent 

 in vapour from the skin and lungs. The rise in tem- 

 perature would not take place so long as the increased 

 rate of the circulation compensated in this manner for 

 the undue development of heat. This remark will ap- 

 pear strange to many readers who attribute increased 

 body-heat to increased oxidation ; but there can be no 

 doubt that the conclusion I have drawn is correct, for 

 does not the temperature invariably rise as the capil- 

 lary circulation becomes more feeble, and, as already 

 remarked, often obtain its maximum some time after 

 the blood has ceased to circulate at all when, in fact, 

 the functions of respiration and circulation, which are 

 specially concerned in oxidation, have ceased ? 



Of the Mechanism concerned in equalizing the Tem- 

 perature. In health any disturbing influences are 

 compensated with remarkable rapidity. Thus, expo- 

 sure to degrees of heat or cold differing considerably 

 from the body-temperature will produce very slight 

 change in the internal temperature. The same thing 



