822 ANIMAL HEAT. 



recovered in a day or two. In other cases, with temperatures 28 0< 4, 

 27, and 26'4, death followed in about twenty-four hours. In a 

 case observed by Nicolaysen * the rectal temperature was 24 '7, but 

 the drunkard, who had been exposed for a whole night to air 6 

 below zero, completely recovered; the temperature of the vagina and 

 axilla was 27'9 in a woman who had had a similar experience, but 

 within six hours the temperature rose to 36'3 under treatment, and the 

 patient completely recovered. 2 In four cases of insanity, Lowenhardt 3 

 has observed temperatures as low as 25, 29 0- 5, 23*75, and 28 ; in one 

 case the range of temperature for several weeks was from 25 to 35. 

 The patients were about 60 years of age ; they often ran about naked 

 in cold weather, and were frequently bathed on account of their dirty 

 habits, and although they were fairly active they did not take much 

 food. The observations were taken sometimes in the axilla, sometimes 

 in the rectum. 



Weiland 4 has recorded two cases of adults with temperatures 

 reduced to 28'4 and 26 '6 from exposure to cold ; the observations were 

 taken in the rectum several hours before death ; in a third case, that of 

 a drunkard who had been exposed to cold, the rectal temperature was 

 30*4, and recovery took place. The rectal temperature of a man suffer- 

 ing from bronchi-ectasis was found by Liebermeister 5 to be 32 0- 6, and 

 that of a child five days old, suffering from sclerema and icterus, 

 32*15 ; the readings were taken a day or two before death, and several 

 thermometers were used and tested. Kohler 6 observed a temperature 

 of 28'2 in the rectum of a drunkard, and found that, notwithstanding 

 treatment, it remained low until shortly before the man's death a month 

 later; two cases, with rectal temperatures 26'8 and 26'7, were observed 

 by Quincke ; 7 the subnormal temperature was due to exposure to cold, 

 but both of the patients recovered. Numerous records of subnormal 

 temperatures will be found in papers by Janssen, 7 Lemcke, 8 and Glaser. 9 



In the case of non-hibernating mammals an artificial cooling of the 

 body to 18 is in a few hours followed by death, unless artificial respira- 

 tion and heat be applied. Babbits cooled to 18 are perfectly helpless 

 and paralysed ; the heart-beat is feeble, 16 to 20 per minute ; the respira- 

 tion is either exceedingly slow or rapid and shallow; the nerves and 

 muscles long remain irritable, and during operative procedures there is 

 very little bleeding, owing to the low blood pressure. 10 



It was shown by Edwards n that newly-born pups and kittens would 

 live for two or three days with their temperature reduced as low as 17 

 or 20, and that the application of artificial warmth would restore the 

 young animals, if this low temperature had not persisted too long. 

 Adult animals, however, when cooled to 18 or 20, generally died, even 



1 Jahresb. u. d. Leistung. . . . d. ges. Med., Berlin, 1875, Bd. i. S. 283. 



2 Peter, Gaz. held, de med., Paris, 1872, p. 499. 



:? Allg. Ztschr.f. Psyehiat. , etc. , Berlin, 1868, Bd. xxv. S. 685. 



4 Schrift. d. Univ. zu Kiel, 1869, Bd. xvi. 



5 "Handbuch d. Path. u. Therap. des Fiebers,'' 1875, S. 69. 



6 Schrift. d. Univ. zu Kiel, 1873, Bd. xx. 



7 Quoted from Janssen, Deutsches Arch. f. klin. Mcd., Leipzig, 1894, Bd. liii. S. 249. 



8 Ibid., 1883-84, Bd. xxxiv. S. 90. 



9 "Ueber Vorkommen und Ursachen abnorm niedriger Korperteniperatur," Diss., 

 Bern, 1878. 



10 Walther, Virchow's Archiv, 1862, Bd. xxv. S. 414; ibid., 1865, S. 25; Horvath, 

 Verhandl. d. phys.-med. Gesellsch. in Wiirzburg, 1881, Bd. xv. S. 187 ; Tscheschicliin, 

 Arch. f. Anat., Pliysiol. u. ivissensch. Med. 1866, S. 151. 



11 "De 1'inliuence des agens physiques sur la vie," 1824, p. 237. 



