242 THE HOUSE I LIVE IN. 



should the living body of a man ? Why does 

 not the cold air rob it of its spare heat, just as 

 it would a mass of straw. or iron? Yet nothing 

 is better proved than that it does not. 



The skin, and outside of the hands, face, 

 &c., may be cold, and sometimes frozen, but 

 the blood and flesh will generally remain about 

 as warm as ever, unless a person actually 

 freezes to death. In that case, the heat 

 escapes very soon ; and hence the dead, as 

 you know, soon become cold. 



CURIOUS QUESTION. But why the heat 

 does not escape from everybody, so that they 

 freeze to death, is the point in question. You 

 will not suppose there is a fire somewhere in 

 the inside of us, which keeps up the heat. 

 For if so, what supplies the fuel ? Did you 

 ever know of any wood or coal being used for 

 the purpose ? Spirits will burn, it is true, but 

 some people do not pour any of this into their 

 bodies to make fire of, and yet they are just as 

 warm as other people; nay, even warmer ; for 

 the blood of the dram drinker is a little colder 

 than the blood of the man who drinks nothing 

 but water. 



