ANIMAL HEAT. 



Gaymard l and Gavarret 2 show that toads and fishes may be frozen 

 perfectly stiff and yet revive when gradually thawed ; according to the 

 former observer, the freezing must be gradual, otherwise the animals are 

 killed. During Franklin's 3 explorations in the Arctic regions, it was 

 observed that fish frozen completely hard recovered when they were 

 thawed ; a carp, which had been frozen for thirty-six hours, was able 

 after it was thawed to leap about with much vigour. 



The influence of baths. A warm or cold bath has a greater effect 

 upon the temperature of the body than exposure to air at the same 

 temperature, for the power of conduction of water is greater than that 

 of air. The first important experiments upon this subject were made 

 by Currie in 1797. 4 He found that the immediate effect of a cold bath 

 might be a slight rise in the temperature of the mouth, but the per- 

 manent effect was a fall. The following are some of his results : 



The temperature was taken in the mouth, and therefore the depres- 

 sion was greater than it would have been in the rectum. 



Fleury 5 found the temperature in the mouth sink to 34, 32 0< 9, and 

 even to 29 during a cold bath; Virchow 6 observed a fall to 34; 

 Speck 7 found that the immediate effect of a shower bath at 22 was 

 to raise the temperature of the mouth, but after ten minutes' exposure 

 the temperature fell 1 0> 23. 



Numerous observations have been made by Liebermeister, 8 who 

 selected the temperature of the closed axilla as representing more 

 exactly the temperature of the body. He concludes that the immediate 

 effect of a cold bath is to slightly raise the temperature, and that a bath 

 of moderate cold and duration does not lower the temperature below 

 the normal, for an increase in the heat production compensates for the 

 increased loss. Liebermeister, as Currie had previously done, used the 

 bath as a water calorimeter, and calculated that in a bath of from 20 

 to 30 the heat production was three or four times greater than the 

 normal. Jlirgensen 9 confirmed many of these results ; he found that 

 the rectal temperature of men did not fall more than 1, often less, after 

 remaining twenty-five minutes in a cold bath at 11 to 9. Eecently 

 Lefevre 10 has given excellent proofs of the power of regulation of 



1 Biblioth. univ., Geneve, 1840, tome xxvi. p. 207. 

 " De la chaleur produite par les etres vivants," Paris, 185n, p. 502. 



3 Franklin, "Journey to the Polar Sea," 1819-1822, 2nd edition, vol. ii. p. 17. 



4 "Medical Reports on the Effect of Water, Cold and Warm, as a Remedy in Fever and 

 other Diseases." 



5 Progres med., Paris, 1858, p. 337. G Virchow's Archiv, 1858, Bd. xv. S. 70. 



7 Arch. d. Ver. f. gemcinsch. Arb. z. Ford. d. wissensch. Ifeilk., Gottingen, 1861, Bd. 

 v. S. 422. 



8 Arch. f. Anat. Physiol. u. wissensch. Med., Leipzig, 1860, S. 520, 589 ; " Handbuch 

 d. Path. u/Therap. des Fiebers," 1875, S. 102. 



9 Deutsches Arch. f. klin. Med., Leipzig, 1867, Bd. iii. S. 165 ; Bd. iv. S. 110, 323. 

 10 Compt. rend. Soc. de biol., Paris, 1895, p. 559 ; 1896, pp. 492, 564. 



