156 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



CLXXIII. Individuals exposed to cold are 

 very frequently induced to take a liberal quan- 

 tity of spirits, to protect them, as they imagine, 

 from the depressing effects of this agent ; but it 

 very frequently occurs, that even a slight excess 

 of these ultimately augments, rather than dimi- 

 nishes, its influence. 



CLXXIV. No satisfactory explanation has 

 yet been given of these phenomena : but the fol- 

 lowing, founded on the principles which have 

 preceded, will probably make an approximation 

 towards a rationale. Spirits, of what kind so- 

 ever, excite the action of the heart, and whenever 

 this takes place, the respirations must become 

 either deeper or more frequent, in order to main- 

 tain the essential relations subsisting between 

 the lungs and this organ. The results of these 

 changes are, an agreeable internal feeling of 

 warmth, and diminished sensibility to cold ; the 

 blood, that had before become rather internal 

 than external in its circulation, is now, from the 

 functions of the thoracic viscera being excited, 

 propelled with energy to the surface of the body, 

 and is more equally diffused throughout the 

 capillary vessels, presenting a distribution simi- 

 lar to that which predominates in the child, and 

 in all animal nature, during the heat of summer. 



CLXXV. In the two preceding chapters it 

 was fully stated, how the system of the child, 



