1060 INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE ON 



about the same time of day, at intervals of twenty- 

 four, forty-eight, or seventy-two hours, according 

 to the intensity of the remote cause, the degree of 

 exposure, constitution of the individual, &c. And 

 as the preternatural temperature of continued 

 fever is always diminished for a time, if not per- 

 manently, by cold ablutions, so does it abate 

 during the coldest part of the twenty-four hours, as 

 in the morning remission, which is promoted by 

 the stillness and darkness of the night, and repose 

 of the patient, who is still more relieved if he ob- 

 tain a little sleep, however imperfect it may be. 

 The predisposing and exciting causes of apo- 

 plexy and paralysis are generally the same as 

 those which produce fever ; with this exception, 

 that in the former, they operate more immediately 

 on the brain.* For example, it was long ago 

 observed by Dr. Heberden, that apoplexy is far 

 more prevalent during either excessively hot or 

 cold weather than at any other time, ceteris pari- 



* According to the best writers on pathology, the predisposing 

 and exciting causes of apoplexy and paralysis are, whatever tends 

 to diminish the energy of the brain ; such as the depressing emo- 

 tions of grief and anxiety, intense and long continued study, 

 intemperance in the use of fermented liquors, the fumes of lead, 

 the long use of mercury, exposure to fatigue, impure air, excessive 

 loss of blood, disease of the heart, congestion of the lungs and 

 abdominal viscera, the narcotic poisons, and concussion of the 

 brain, all of which diminish respiration, impair the vital proper- 

 ties of the blood, and weaken its circulation through the brain. 

 It is also worthy of special notice, that the symptoms of apoplexy 

 correspond very nearly with those which mark the cold stage of 



