138 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



observer, and remarks that the focus of heat lias 

 its faculty lessened, without informing us of the 

 precise nature and conditions of this power, 

 whose office it is to distribute warmth through- 

 out the system. , 



In the case which he brings forward, we have 

 to consider the operation of two causes, the ap- 

 plication of cold, and the impression of fear upon 

 the mind ; the former is an external depressing- 

 power, the latter an internal The tendency of 

 both is to disorder the functions of the heart and 

 lungs, by deranging the equal distribution of the 

 blood submitted to their influence. After the 

 system appears to possess the. usual degree of 

 sensible heat, the ordinary state of the circulation 

 is not julhj developed ; and it is therefore at this 

 time, and from this cause, that the sensation of cold 

 is felt, and that the power of resisting this agent is 

 diminished. 



CXLVII. In corroboration of these principles 

 it is found, if an animal has its temperature re- 

 duced by the application of cold, that the dimi- 

 nution is successive without any additional severity 

 being added to the uniform cause to account for 

 the gradual increase of the effects. 



If we suppose the agency of cold to be esti- 

 mated by 20, and the immediate reduction of 

 the temperature by 30, in considering the in- 

 fluence of the first we shall be enabled to give 

 reasons for the increase of the latter. The im- 



