512 
CENTRAL VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
[official report.] 
The usual monthly meeting of this Society was held on 
Thursday, June 6th, E. J. Mavor, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 
The further discussion of Mr. Mavor’s paper, which had been 
adjourned from the last meeting, was entered upon. Mr. Hunt¬ 
ing answered Mr. Mayor's reply, in doing which he said that he 
understood that equal temperature depended on nerve force alone; 
that blood was hotter in some parts, as in the hepatic vein, and 
where chemical changes occurred; that the further from the 
centre of circulation the cooler the blood, which was due to 
radiation from the surface of the body. 
Referring to the operation of neurotomy in conjunction with an 
increase of temperature, he observed that our thoughts naturally 
refer to the division of the metacarpal nerve, a motory, sensitive, 
and sympathetic nerve, which is accompanied by an enlargement 
of the blood-vessels, which, in his opinion, accounted for the in¬ 
crease of heat, the bulk of blood being greater, asserting that had 
the artery been tied at the time coldness would have ensued. If 
nerve force preserved the fluidity of the blood, as Mr. Mavor 
stated, then the division of the metacarpal nerve should be the 
cause of coagulation of the blood in the foot that had lost that 
power. 
Mr. Burrell , speaking of different nerves and their functions, 
wished to ask Mr. Mavor where the correlation takes place,—was 
it where heat was formed, or in the nerve centres ? If not in the 
latter, of what use was the brain ? and whether heat, as heat, had 
no action in rendering the blood fluid ? observing that its fluidity 
did not depend on the so-called nervous ether. 
Mr. Mavor } in reply to Mr. Hunting, said that surface radia¬ 
tion in animals was small, owing to the great quantity of hair, 
and that if the skin were to evolve the surplus heat, nature would 
scarcely have given animals such a non-conductor. If a thermo¬ 
meter be introduced beneath the surface, as in wounds, no greater 
temperature was found; greater heat he considered due to more 
rapid circulation. Also that the functions of the body depended 
upon the existence of nerve force, and that the secretions and ex¬ 
cretions did not regulate the temperature of the body. To Mr. 
Burrell he replied that the brain is a director and not an 
eliminator, neither did it secrete. 
Mr. Hunting wished to introduce the subject of local anses- 
thsesia. He was induced to do so from having read a statement 
in the Animal World that reflected upon the little use made of 
such means in the performance of operations. Whether ice or 
