FEVERS. 601 



1. Impressions on the external senses, as being stimulant 

 to the system, and a chief support of its activity, should be 

 avoided as much as possible ; those especially of more constant 

 application, those of a stronger kind, and those which give pain 

 and uneasiness. 



No impression is to be more carefully guarded against than 

 that of external heat ; while, at the same time, every other means 

 of increasing the heat of the body is to be shunned. Both these 

 precautions are to be observed as soon as a hot stage is fully 

 formed, and to be attended to during its continuance ; except- 

 ing in certain cases, where a determination to sweating is ne- 

 cessary, or where the stimulant effects of heat may be compen- 

 sated by circumstances which determine it to produce a relaxa- 

 tion and revulsion. 



" Heat is the fundamental stimulus of our system ; it is 

 certainly the first vivifying power applied to it, and is necessary 

 to a certain degree ; and its influence through the whole of life 

 shows its considerable powers, and that it may prove a stimulus 

 indeed in any degree. 



" The animal economy has a power within itself of generating 

 heat to a certain determined degree which it always produces 

 in ordinary circumstances, and which can neither be much di- 

 minished nor increased without some prejudice to the system. 

 But we must always remember that the body unavoidably has 

 a constant relation to the temperature of the atmosphere sur- 

 rounding it. The heat of the body, therefore, is always in the 

 ratio of the generating power within, and the external tempera- 

 ture. We find that in the temperature of 60 to 62 F. the 

 proper heat of the body is preserved, so that one might go naked 

 without feeling cold. But at a temperature lower than this, 

 our heat would fall too low, if not preserved by means of clothes, 

 houses, or other artificial heat. When, on the contrary, the 

 external temperature is raised above that point, we have not so 

 many means of obviating its effects, so that almost unavoidably 

 the heat of the body is increased, especially when the change 

 is made suddenly. But when the external heat is greater, the 

 generating power must be diminished, and thus our due tem- 

 perature is preserved. 



" From all this it appears, that if in any case the power of 



VOL. I. 2 U 



