VIII. B, 6 Gibson: Proteoses and Fever 481 



hot 95 per cent alcohol. On standing in the cold the proteoses 

 separate out as semicrystalline bodies, resembling the spherules 

 which are intermediate stages in the change of the amorphous 

 ovalbumin or serum albumin to the crystalline form. An oval- 

 bumin alcohol-soluble proteose, so prepared, produced the typical 

 fall in blood pressure, etc., when injected intravenously into 

 a puppy; there was, however, no inhibition of blood clot- 

 ting. (The experiment was not repeated for lack of sufficient 

 material.) 



Rabbits and guinea pigs were used as experimental animals.^ ^ 

 The experiments were so conducted that the animals should 

 receive the least possible handling during the series of obser- 

 vations. They were amply fed. Temperature readings (rectal) 

 on a series of animals were always taken in the same order; in 

 this way the time of the observation could be noted in the pro- 

 tocols under a single hour. In the guinea pig experiments, the 

 proteoses (always dissolved in about 4 to 5 cubic centimeters of 

 physiological saline) were sterilized at 100° ; while for the sub- 

 sequent observations the proteose solutions (injected dissolved 

 in 10 cubic centimeters of saline) were passed through a Berke- 

 feld filter. The subcutaneous injections were made with aseptic 

 precautions. 



Control observ^ations were made on all the animals. The tem- 

 perature regulatory mechanism in the guinea pig and rabbit is 

 somewhat uncertain and unstable. The animals are heavily 

 coated with fur; sweat glands are lacking or are few or rudi- 

 mentary; and the cutaneous circulation, in the rabbit, at least 

 so far as temperature regulation is concerned, is practically nil. 

 Their small size offers relatively a greater body surface for loss 

 of heat by radiation and conduction than obtains for the larger 

 animals. Furthermore, the animals are timid and easily excit- 

 able, and environmental influences or handling may be reflected 

 in the temperature readings. Individual variations are consider- 

 able, and diurnal changes are much greater and less constant 

 than for man.^^ 



" The experiments on guinea pigs were carried on in the Sheffield Labor- 

 atory of Physiological Chemistry, Yale University, in 1904. The observa- 

 tions on rabbits given here were made in 1906 in the Research Laboratory 

 of the Department of Health of the City of New York with proteoses pre- 

 pared at the Sheffield Laboratory. 



" Cf. Pembrey, Shafer's Text-book of Physiology. Young J. Pentland, 

 Edinburgh & London (1898), 1, 790; also Simpson and Galbraith, Journ. 

 Physiol. (1905), 33, 225. 



