VARIATIONS IN THE HEAT OF THE BODY. 449 



well marked, even when no food is taken. Biirensprung and Ladame have 

 observed that the fall in temperature during the night takes place sleeping 

 or waking ; and that when sleep is taken during the day, it does not dis- 

 turb the period of the maximum, which occurs at about four p. M. Accord- 

 ing to these experiments, at eleven in the morning, the animal heat is at one 

 of its periods of maximum ; it gradually diminishes for two or three hours 

 and is raised again to the maximum at about four in the afternoon, when 

 it again undergoes diminution until the next morning. The variations 

 amount to between 1 and 2-16 Fahr. (0-55 and 1-19 C.). The minimum 

 is always during the night. 



The influence of defective nutrition or of inanition upon the heat of the 

 body is very marked. In pigeons the extreme variation in temperature during 

 the day, under normal conditions, was found by Chossat to be 1'3 Fahr. 

 (0-7 C.). During the progress of inanition this variation was increased to 

 5'9 Fahr. (3'25 C.). with a slight diminution in the absolute temperature, 

 and the periods of minimum temperature were unusually prolonged. Imme- 

 diately preceding death from starvation, the diminution in temperature 

 became very rapid, the rate being 7 to 11 Fahr. (3'85 to 6 C.) per hour. 

 Death usually occurred when the diminution had amounted to about 30 

 Fahr. (16-5 C.). 



When the surrounding conditions call for the development of an unusual 

 quantity of heat, the diet is always modified, both as regards the quantity 

 and kind of food ; but when food is taken in sufficient quantity and is of a 

 kind capable of maintaining proper nutrition, its composition does not affect 

 the general temperature. The temperature of the body, indeed, seems to be 

 uniform in the same climate, even in persons living upon entirely different 

 kinds of food (Davy). Nevertheless, the conditions of external temperature 

 have a remarkable influence upon the diet. It is well known that in the 

 heat of summer, the quantity of meats and fat taken is relatively small, 

 and of the succulent, fresh vegetables and fruits, large, as compared with the 

 diet in the winter ; but although the proportion of carbohydrates in many 

 of the fresh vegetables used during a short season of the year is not great, 

 these articles are also deficient in nitrogenized matters. During the winter 

 the ordinary diet, composed of meat, fat, bread, potatoes etc., contains a 

 large proportion of nitrogenized substances as well as a considerable propor- 

 tion of carbohydrates ; and in the summer the proportion of both of these 

 varieties of food is reduced, the more succulent articles taking their place. 

 This is farther illustrated by a comparison of the diet in the torrid or tem- 

 perate and in the frigid zones. It is stated that the daily ration of the Es- 

 quimaux is twelve to fifteen pounds (5*433 to , 6-804 kilos.) of meat, about 

 one-third of which is fat. Hayes noted that with a temperature of 60 

 to 70 Fahr. (about 51 to 57 C.), there was a continual craving for 

 a strong, animal diet, particularly fatty substances. . 



The influence of alcoholic beverages upon the animal temperature has 

 been studied chiefly with reference to the question of their use in enabling 

 the system to resist excessive cold. The universal testimony of scientific 



