Metabolism in Fever and in 

 Certain Infections 



EUGENE F. DU BOIS 



NEW YOEK 



Metabolism in Fever 

 Introduction 



Recent advances in technic have directed the attention of all who are 

 interested in the study of metabolism towards the respiratory exchanges, 

 the chemistry of the blood and the function of the kidneys. As a result 

 of this there have been great advances in our knowledge of the pathological 

 physiology of fever. The picture which is now presented is much more 

 comprehensive than it was a few years ago, and somewhat simpler, 

 because modern research has removed many false theories which were 

 based on incorrect data. Fortunately we are no longer dependent on the 

 results of animal experimentation, since most of the methods of investiga- 

 tion have been successfully applied in the clinic. This is a great step in 

 advance because there is no comparison between the relative value of 

 results obtained on laboratory animals with artificial fevers and similar 

 results on men with the common infectious diseases. 



It has seemed advisable in this review of the metabolism in fever to 

 lay the chief emphasis on the findings of those who have worked with 

 human subjects. The older experiments with animals have been well 

 reviewed in the literature and have performed their function in showing 

 the way to clinical investigators. In similar fashion the older experi- 

 ments on man have been discussed so often and so well that most of them 

 may be omitted and attention directed to more recent workers who have 

 repeated the investigations. The latter may not have changed the general 

 conclusions to any great extent but they have, as a rule, used better methods 

 and proved their points more conclusively than the pioneers. 



The usual method of exposition of the subject has been to show one 

 phase of metabolism in all the various infections and hyperthermias of 

 man and the lower animals before passing on to the next subject. For 



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