430 



ANIMAL HEAT. 



[CHAP. xxx. 



Whatever may be the exact order and nature of the changes which 

 ensue, they may be looked upon as a more active manifestation 

 of the ordinary phenomena of animal heat. 



This increase of temperature, which is found generally to accom- 

 pany the abstraction of nervous influence, has been accounted for 

 by the supposition that the tissues were more readily acted upon 

 by the oxygen of the air when deprived of the protective agency 

 of the nervous system ; but although this increased action of the 

 oxygen, or more rapid combustion, may, perhaps, have considerable 

 weight in the production of these phenomena, it must, by no 

 means, be regarded as the sole cause, nor can the chemical theory 

 of animal heat, as it at present stands, be considered as giving an 

 explanation of the whole of the facts observed in connection with 

 this highly interesting but abstruse subject. 



Upon the subject of Animal Heat, the following works may be consulted : 

 Dr. Crawford's " Experiments and Observations on Animal Heat," 1788 ; Dr. 

 J.Davy's Memoirs in the Philosophical Transactions, 1814; "Recherches 

 Experimentales sur 1'Inanition," M. Chossat, Paris, 1843; Liebig's Animal 

 Chemistry, 3rd edition ; Sir Benjamin Brodie's Physiological Researches, 

 and also papers in the Phil. Trans., 1811 12 ; the article Animal Heat, by 

 Dr. Edwards, in the Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. ii. ; 

 Lehmann's Physiological Chemistry ; Mr. Newport on the Temperature of 

 Insects, in the Phil. Trans., 1837 ; Mem. " Sur la Chaleur Animale," par 

 MM. Becquerel and Breschet, in Ann. des Sciences Nat. Seconde Serie, torn. 3, 

 4, et 9 ; M. Bernard, " Recherches Experimentales sur la Grand Sympathique," 

 Paris, 1853. 



