Temperature Changes Induced by Gum Acacia. 209 



per c.c). At the height of the ensuing fever (i.e., after three or 

 four hours) was injected the standard dose of pilocarpine. In both 

 cases the secretion curves exhibited an unusually slow onset and a 

 much diminished maximum as well as total secretion. The 

 saliva was of a much thicker consistency than normal. 



These experiments were made at a stage of fever in which 

 Barbour and Howard 1 have demonstrated a thickening of the 

 blood. It is suggested that the latter is the chief causative factor 

 in numerous cases of diminished secretion which have been reported 

 in fevers. 



114 (1574) 



Temperature changes induced by gum acacia injections in 

 normal and fevered animals. 



By H. G. Barbour and L. H. Baretz. 



[From the Department of Pharmacology, Yale University School of 



Medicine.] 



The effects of gum acacia upon the body temperature have 

 been studied in both normal and fevered rabbits and dogs. Solu- 

 tions were made in water redistilled from glass and given intra- 

 venously. In the following experiments upon rabbits 20 c.c. of 

 fluid per kilo were injected unless otherwise stated. 



Intravenous injections of control fluids (Locke's solution or 

 physiological saline) gave an increase in temperature of i° C. or 

 more, subsequent to a brief depression of 0.2 0 C. This temperature 

 increase could be superimposed upon the rise induced by bacto- 

 peptone injections. 



Similar amounts of 7 per cent, acacia (also 10 c.c. of 20 per 

 cent.) gave a slight depression in normal rabbits by a few tenths 

 of a degree centigrade, never an increase. 



In five bactopeptone rabbits in which the temperature had 

 reached a level of about i° C. or more above normal within 4 or 5 

 hours, an injection of acacia (7-10 per cent, or 10 c.c. per kilo of 

 20 per cent.) brought the temperature back to approximately 



1 Barbour, H. G. and Howard, A. J., Proceedings of the Society for Experi- 

 mental Biology and Medicine 1920 XVII. 



