ANIMAL HEAT. 119 



process might be carried so far as even to 

 occasion the death of the animal. Supposing 

 that the loss of heat under these circumstances 

 must be connected with a diminished consumption 

 of oxygen in respiration, he repeated the experi- 

 ments, having placed the animals in an apparatus 

 in which the respired air might be preserved and 

 examined. The result, however, did not corre- 

 spond with his anticipations ; the amount of oxy- 

 gen consumed being found to vary in different 

 instances, so that it was sometimes much less, 

 and at other times much greater, than under 

 ordinary circumstances. M. Le Gallois attributes 

 the loss of heat in these experiments, partly to 

 the greater effort required for breathing in the 

 position in which the animals were placed, and 

 partly to the exertions of the muscular system 

 generally made to obtain relief from the restraint. 

 Neither of these, however, can be regarded as a 

 satisfactory explanation. The respiration of a 

 man, or a horse, in rapidly ascending a hill, is 

 carried on with much greater effort than when 

 moving on a plain surface ; but the result is not 

 a diminution but an increase of temperature; 

 and the very curious researches of Messrs. Bec- 

 querel and Breschet have demonstrated that there 

 is actually a development of heat during muscular 

 contraction. The more probable explanation 

 seems to be that the loss of heat is the conse- 

 quence of the state of alarm in which the animal 

 is placed, operating on him in the same manner 



