HEAT AS A REMEDIAL AGENT IN DISEASES. 291 



investigated and some facts elicited. We know the change must be gradu- 

 al, and while slow must at the same time be complete. It must be gradual 

 in order that force may be produced indue amount, and at proper time. 

 That time, in order to be normal must be at the bidding of the will, else 

 we have a fit of epilepsy. It must be slow in order as much as possible to 

 conserve tissue, prevent waste and relieve excretory organs of the great 

 amount of excreta that would be cast on them for elimination. 



]N"ow, while we have been considering the changes that go on, the move- 

 ments that take place among the elements of tissues, we must remember 

 that Heat is .duly one of the modes of motion, that those changes of form 

 and combinations, arrangement and re-arrangements among those elements 

 of tissue is only motion, and that motion is only a form of heat, in short, 

 that Heat, Light, Electricity and Motion, if not demonstrably in every po- 

 sition and relation as the same, are so closely allied as to be, in most con- 

 ditions, interchangeable, and that force — all forms of it with which we are 

 acquainted — is but a manifestation of one of the forms of heat. 



But we have shown that the nitrogen compounds are not only the most 

 really changeable tissues but that it is those, and those only, that give vital 

 manifestations, and that those vital manifestations are not only kept ujd 

 and carried on by heat, but that they are themselves from the very nature 

 of things the producers of heat. What purpose then is served by the Hy- 

 dro-Carbons ? 



The terrible explosive compound known as nitro-glycerine is a fluid 

 chemical compound of nitrogen. So also is the chloride of nitrogen, both 

 having the consistency of oil. If nitro-glycerine is mixed with a sub- 

 stance th^t will separate its particles and at the same time destroy it as a 

 fluid, it explodes it is true, but much more slowly though still with great force. 

 It is on this plan the compound known as dynamite is made. If it is chemi- 

 cally united into a compound that is again mechanically mixed with other 

 substances that still farther separate its particles though it is still ex- 

 plosive, it is much more slow, and if the mixture be capable of supporting 

 combustion, as we find m gunpowder, we have more heat generated, for 

 molecular change has been induced in the carbon, with which some of the 

 gases now enter into new and simpler combinations. Now the vital pro- 

 cess is carried on by the same means. But while the nitrogen compounds 

 that give vital manifestations are in a fluid form they are very thoroughly 

 mixed and chemically combined with otlier substances, notably the hydro- 

 carbons. This would then appear to place them simply as dilutants, and 

 sustainers of the combustion in vital process. It has long since been de- 

 monstrated that the heat producing process is not in the Inngs but in the 

 muscular and other nitrogenized tissues of the body. In intense febrile 

 conditions it is not the fats or hydro-carbons that waste, but the muscles, 

 blood and other nitrogen tissues. So well is the fact now determined that 

 with a given fever heat the skilled physician can predict almost to an 

 hour how long his patient will live. But each animal organism has its own 



