82 EXTERNAL CONDITIONS OF VITAL ACTIVITY. 



whose death seemed impending (death actually taking place in many 

 instances, whilst the preliminary processes of weighing, the application 

 of the thermometer, &c., were being performed), were subjected to artifi- 

 cial heat, they were almost uniformly restored, from a state of insensi- 

 bility and want of muscular power, to a condition of comparative activity. 

 Their temperature rose, their muscular power returned, they took food 

 when it was presented to them, and their secretions were renewed ; and, if 

 this artificial assistance was sufficiently prolonged, and they were supplied 

 with food, they recovered. If the heat was withdrawn, however, before 

 the time when the digested food was ready, in sufficient amount, to 

 supply the combustive process, they still sank for want of it. 



118. Various important practical hints may be derived from the con- 

 sideration of these facts. There can be no doubt that, in many diseases 

 of exhaustion, the want of power to sustain the requisite temperature, 

 is the immediate cause of death ; the whole combustible material of the 

 body having been exhausted, and the digestive apparatus not being able 

 to supply what is required. Now where this is the case, there is no 

 doubt that life may be prolonged, and that recovery may be favoured, 

 by the judicious sustentation of the temperature of the body. This may 

 be effected either by internal or by external means. Of the internal, the 

 most efficient is undoubtedly the administration of Alcoholic fluids; 

 which, for reasons hereafter to be given .( 495), will be absorbed into 

 the circulating system, when no other alimentary substance can be taken 

 in ; and which, moreover, exert a favourable influence by their specific 

 stimulating effect upon the nervous system. It is a matter of familiar 

 experience, that, in such conditions of the body, the quantity of alcohol 

 which may be administered with positive and evident benefit, is such as 

 would in ordinary circumstances be productive of the most injurious 

 results ; and this is fully accounted for by the reflection, that it is but 

 off as fast as it is taken in. But a most important adjunct in all sucl 

 cases, and in many instances a substitute for alcohol when the latt< 

 would be inadmissible, will be found in the application of external heat 

 and especially in the subjection of the whole surface to its influence, 

 means of the hot-air bath. This is a valuable portion of the treatment 

 in the recovering of persons who have been reduced to insensibility 

 suffocation of any kind ; and especially in cases of drowning, since the 

 heat of the body is rapidly withdrawn by the conducting power of the 

 water. Indeed it may be stated as a general rule, that, where the tem- 

 perature of the body is lowered from any cause, external heat may be 

 advantageously applied ; and much evidence has lately been produced to 

 show, that the reparative processes by which extensive wounds are healed, 

 go on more favourably under the contact of warm dry air, than with 

 any other application. 



119. On the other hand, where the object is to keep down a tendency 

 to a too violent action, the local application of moderate cold is found 

 to be of the greatest value ; all surgeons of eminence being now agreed 

 upon the efficacy of water-dressing in restraining the inflammatory pro- 

 cess, especially in cases of wounds of the joints, in which this action is 

 most to be apprehended. The general application of cold to the surface, 

 by means of continued exposure to cool air, or by a short immersion in 





