290 HEAT AS A REMEDIAL AGENT IN DISEASE. 



all powerful for evil. But in this paper I shall condne myself to the effects 

 of hot air, all steam and hot water baths being nothing more than lavatories. 

 Hot air then requires for its successful application, when used as a rem- 

 edial agent, a complete knowledge of the process of life, and the wonderful 

 part played in biology by heat. 



We are in the habit of speaking of the Hydro-Carbons as the heat pro- 

 ducing agents in the body, and I suppose if I should ask every member of 

 this audience the question "What are the heat-producing agents in the pro- 

 cess of life?" I would get for answer, "The Hydro-Carbons." But is this 

 true? You all know this is an age of investigation and thought. Theories 

 that at one time passed unchallenged are now closely examined, and if at 

 fault, corrected or cast aside. Nothing in science is accepted on faith. 

 Proof and demonstration are always called for. What then is the part played 

 in this wonderful process that we call vital by the Hydro-Carbons, and why 

 is the theory at fault that takes them to be heat-producing agents ? The 

 soft parts of the body may be divided into two great classes — one contain- 

 ing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen; and the other in addition to these, nitro- 

 gen and some other substances of less import. The first are known as the 

 Hydro-Carbons, and last as the Nitrogenized elements of the tissues. 



Of all the chemical elements known, none show such a persistency in cut- 

 tin o- loose from their combinations. There is no compound that has nitrogen 

 as one of its constituents that will for any considerable length of time resist 

 the ordinary forces of nature that are productng disassimilation. The Hydro- 

 Carbons will. The Nitrogenized compounds are always found performing 

 more or less active vital functions, as for instance in muscles and albumi- 

 noids in the blood. The Hydro-Carbons, as tissues, are never found per- 

 forming vital functions in any department of life. 



We might go through the whole range of both animal and vegetable 

 life, and we should only find them occupying a negative or passive posi- 

 tion in either, while the nitrogenized are always the positive and active. 

 The reason for this will be found in this very unstability. In order to 

 have vital manifestations it is requisite that there should be a great celer- 

 ity of movement possible among the atoms of which it is composed, or in 

 other words, it should be mobile, for it is only in mobile compounds we 

 find vital manifestations. But molecular change is only one of the factors 

 in this wonderful process we call life, for not only is it necessary to have 

 this change, but it must go on according to physiological law and also 

 according to the special physiological law of the organism in which it is 

 taking place both as to quantity and quality, as well as to the thermal and 

 hygroscopic conditions. When the whole process comes to be investi- 

 gated we find so many things imperfectly known or not known at all that 

 we are at times tempted to despond of ever knowing the whole process 

 completely. Some few things, however, we do know, and while investi- 

 gating these we may be enabled to discover more. The changes that take 

 place in the animal tissues in the process of life have to some extent been 



