ANIMAL HEAT. 599 



directly upon efferent thermogenic impulses. (2) That injury or excitation of 

 certain parts of the brain is followed by an increase of heat-production. (3) 

 That injury or excitation of certain other parts of the brain is followed by 

 diminished heat-production. (4) That injury of the spinal cord may be fol- 

 lowed by an increase or decrease of heat-production which cannot be entirely 

 accounted for by vaso-motor and other attendant alterations. (5) That after 

 operations upon certain parts of the cerebro-spiual axis there follows an increase 

 or decrease in the quantity of CO 2 formed, indicating a corresponding effect on 

 the heat-producing processes. 



The results of recent calorimetric work show that there are definite regions 

 of the cerebro-spinal axis which are apparently specifically concerned in ther- 

 mogenesis ; that the effects of excitation or destruction of each region are more 

 or less characteristic ; and that the different regions seem to be so intimately 

 related to one another as to constitute a co-ordinate mechanism. Certain of these 

 regions when irritated give rise, as a direct result, to increased thermogenesis, 

 hence they are of the nature of thermo-accelerator centres ; and others to 

 diminished thermogenesis, hence are thermo-inhibitory centres. Both kinds of 

 centres seem to be associated with and to govern a third kind which is dis- 

 tinguished as the general or automatic thermogenic centres. The mechanism 

 may be theoretically expressed in this form : The general thermogeuic centres 

 may be regarded as maintaining by virtue of independent activity a fairly con- 

 stant standard of thermogenesis, and as being influenced to increased activity by 

 the thermo-accelerator centres and to diminished activity by the thermo-inhib- 

 itory centres. The finer or smaller variations in thermogenesis are presumably 

 effected by the general centres, whereas the grosser variations are probably ef- 

 fected by the influences of the thermo-accelerator and thermo-inhibitory centres. 



Specific heat-centres (thermogenic and thermolytic) have by various ob- 

 servers been held to exist in certain regions of the brain cortex, in the base of 

 the brain just in front of and beneath the corpus striatum, in the corpus stri- 

 attim, in the septum lucidum and the tuber cinereum, in the optic thalamus, 

 in the corpora quadrigemina, in the pons and medulla .oblongata, and in the 

 spinal cord. Some of these centres have been regarded as being thermogenic 

 and others as being thermolytic. Many errors in deduction have, however, 

 been made because of the many inherent difficulties attending experimenta- 

 tion upon the cerebro-spinal axis, and because almost all the methods used 

 necessarily involve injury or excitation of contiguous parts. The methods 

 adopted of studying these various regions have been chiefly destruction or 

 injury by means of a probe, actual cautery, excision, and the injection of 

 cauterants ; by transverse incisions across the cerebro-spinal axis so as to sepa- 

 rate higher from lower portions of the cerebro-spinal axis ; and by excitation 

 by small punctures, electricity, etc. 



In classifying these centres we are governed by the results which follow 

 excitation and destruction. When irritation or destruction directly affects 

 thermogenesis, the centre is regarded as being thermogenic, but if heat-dissi- 

 pation is the process directly affected, the centre is regarded as being thermo- 



