734 
N. R. MACAULAY 
imminent if it should, remain long at that height, but to sub¬ 
stantiate this we must prove it to be correct by reasoning. 
Let us picture before us the horse with pneumonia and a high 
temperature: on putting our hand to his body we find the 
surface hot and dry ; let a blanket be wrung out of cold water 
and applied to the body, more particularly I would say over 
the chest, and over this put a dry blanket. To many this will 
seem very unorthodox treatment, but let us see what the ac¬ 
tion of this cold will be. Its first action will be on the terminal 
nerves, and we know that when the action of cold is not pro¬ 
longed long enough to do evil it always does good. The 
nerves are aroused into action as formerly, the first of which 
is constriction of blood vessels, but when the reaction comes 
they still have control because the shock has not been too 
severe and we have them dilated and filled with blood, but 
not to engorgement. Thus we see that the action of the cold 
application is two-fold. There is the mechanical action by 
drawing off the heat from the system to warm the blanket, 
and as the blanket warms we find the capillaries filling with 
blood, givingus the great action of the counter-irritant without 
the intense pain. I do not think there is any possible chance 
of the cold blanket “ chilling ” the animal if the wet blanket is 
properly covered with the dry, because the bulk of the patient’s 
body is too great and the heat given off is too much in com¬ 
parison with the cold held by the water in the folds of the 
blanket. As the blanket would heat take it off and apply an¬ 
other as quickly as possible, and we would again have the 
same changes—the thermometer being the guide which would 
direct when to stop. 
Let us study for a moment and see what must be the ac¬ 
tion of this drawing of heat from the overheated system. It 
is bound to lower the temperature. In all inflammation we 
find certain phenomena existing. Heat, pain, redness and 
swelling, each of these depends on the others for its own ex¬ 
istence, and this being the fact it should be manifestly plain to 
all of us that if any of these essential qualifications be done 
away with or reduced, the inflamed state itself must either 
cease to be or must be greatly modified. 
