NERVOUS CONTROL OF TEMPERATURE. 
859 
increased, and if the augmentation of the latter was not excessive, the 
temperature of the body rose. On the other hand, Kiegel 1 found that 
the production of heat was diminished, and he explains the rise or 
temperature in Xaunvn and Quincke's cas-s a- due to absence of the 
rapid breathing whereby normal dogs regulate their temperature. 
Further, Schroff- found a rise in the temperature of dogs when they 
were kept in a warm chamber after opening of the spinal canal, without 
damage to the spinal cord. 
Rosenthal 3 repeated Xaunvn and Quincke's experiments, but never 
found any rise of temperature, unless the animals were kept m a 
chamber warmed to 32°. If the section was made lower down 111 the 
cord, more muscles remained under the control of the animal, and by 
the contraction of these muscles more heat was produced, and the 
temperature raised when the external air was warm. Eosenthal further 
points out that it is probable that septic fever was the cause of the rise 
of temperature in some of Xaunvn and Quincke's dogs. 
Pfliiger's 4 experiments upon the respiratory exchange of rabbits, after 
section of the spinal cord in the lower cervical region, show that such 
an animal is comparable to a cold-blooded animal ; a rise 111 external 
temperature increases, a fall diminishes, the metabolism and the 
temperature of the animal. The same result is even more markedly 
shown in the case of a smaller animal. Thus the following figures 
show the effect of sudden changes in the external temperature upon the 
output of carbon dioxide of a mouse before and after section of the spinal 
cord in the lower cervical region : 5 - 
Before Section of Cord. Consecutive 
Periods of 15 Minutes. 
Three Hours after Section of Cord. Con- 
secutive Periods of 15 Minutes. 
CO, in 
Decimilli- 
grammes. 
Tempera- 
ture of 
Water Bath. 
Remarks. 
CO., in 
Decimilli- 
grammes. 
Tempera- 
ture of 
Water Bath. 
Remarks. 
391 
372 
558 
572 
25' -0 
24 : '-0 
12"- -5 
12°-5 
Mouse very quiet. 
Mouse active. 
222 
229 
250 
158 
22 3 -0 
22°-0 
ir-75 
ll -75 
Mouse quiet. 
Mouse moves its fore- 
limbs very actively. 
Mouse quiet. 
We may conclude, therefore, that in animals the general effect of 
section of the spinal cord in the lower cervical region is a fall in the 
temperature of the body, due to a reduction in the metabolism of the 
paralysed muscles, and to excessive loss of heat consequent upon the 
vasomotor paralysis. The exceptional cases appear to be due to a high 
external temperature, and to interference with the rate of respiration, 
which in dogs plays an important part in the cooling of the body. 
1 Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol., Bomi, 1872, Bd. v. S. 629. ... 
3 Sitziuirjsh. d. I: Akad. d. Wissensch. Math.-naturw. CI., Wien, Bd. lxxm. Abtli. 6, 
» ' ' Zur Kenntniss d. Warmeregulierung bei den warmbliitigen Thieren," S. 35 ; Hermann s 
" Handhucb," Bd. iv. Th. 2, S. 437. 
*Arch.f. d. ges. Physiol., Bonn, 1S78, Bd. xvm. S. 321. 
speinbrey, " Proc. Physiol. Soc," Journ. Physiol, Cambridge and London, 1894- 
1895, vol. xvii. 
