Animal Heat. 241 



considerably ; 106° Fahr. is no uncommon temperature in 

 the horse ; a post-mortem rise in temperature has also been 

 frequently observed. I once found the thermometer 

 register 108^ Fahr. placed between the liver and diaphragm 

 of a horse which died from an affection of the liver. 



The Distribution of Temperature throughout the body has 

 been made the subject of close observation by Colin. He 

 observed that it was common to find the temperature of the 

 blood in the left heart to be higher than in that of the 

 right. He drew particular attention to the fact that the 

 surface temperature of animals presents considerable differ- 

 ences. He found in a horse with a long winter coat (the 

 thermometer standing at freezing-point) that a difference of 

 44° Fahr. existed between the temperature of the pasterns 

 and that in the rectum, a difference of 35-1° Fahr. between 

 the knee and the rectum, and 5 "4° Fahr. between the 

 temperature of the skin covering the chest and that of the 

 rectum. 



As we might naturally expect, Colin found from direct 

 experiment that in extremely cold weather those horses 

 with the longest coat had the warmest skins, the difference 

 being as great as 9° or 10 - 8° Fahr. 



The power of resisting cold depends not only on the con- 

 dition of the skin and the means for preventing loss of 

 heat, but largely on the aptitude of the organism for pro- 

 ducing heat, and this latter depends upon the activity of 

 the digestion, the supply and character of the food ingested, 

 and the intensity of the chemical changes in the system 

 (Colin). 



In the utilization of animal heat the expenditure must 

 not exceed the income. The means of regulating the 

 equilibrium of heat, so that no more shall be produced 

 than the food supplies, is through the medium of the 

 nervous system. 



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