SECT. II. PHYSIOLOGY. 17 
rises to 100°. Animal heat being subject to such 
variations, cannot be said, with accuracy, to have 
a fixed natural standard. 
xvi. Infants born before the expiration of 
nine months from the time of conception, fre- 
quently die, owing to the inability of their nervous 
system to support caloricity. 
xvi. The blood being the grand exciter of the 
nervous system, any considerable determination 
of it to one part, necessarily occasions a local or 
general augmentation of caloric. If the afflux of 
blood to a part. be local, as in’ phlegmon, the 
increased heat is also local; if it be to the 
brain, and the other viscera, as in agues, the 
temperature of the whole body is augmented ; 
but if the cold fit of an ague be prevented by a 
lunar caustic eschar on the ‘spine, the hot fit does 
not ensue. The blood may, however, be accumu- 
lated in one part to such a degree as to entirely 
annihilate its vitality; thus, severe inflammation 
often terminates in gangrene; and violent deter- 
mination to the ere in spasm, coma, and 
death. 
“xix. It has been argued, and with every ap- 
pearance of truth, that the decomposition and 
reproduction of solids and fluids, which is ever 
going forward in all living -organized matter, 
should contribute to the generation of caloric. It 
is indeed true, that most chemical combinations 
Cc 
