[To the above correction of Mr. Rose we most readily assign a place in our columns; the error of which he complains having originated with ourselves. His former "note," which we altered, and incorporated in our text, to prevent it from being an advertisement, was misunderstood. We now find, on referring to it, that while it pays a high compliment to Mr. Garbett's talents, and also to those of the engraver of his elegant plate, it makes no pretensions to have taken from it the sketch which appeared in our columns.-EDITOR.] ESSAYS ON PHYSIOLOGY, OR THE LAWS OF ORGANIC LIFE. (Continued from col. 447.) ESSAY VIII.-On Animal Temperature. FROM the views which our previous essays exhibit, we are led to conclude, that the animal machine is at once furnished with two modes of existence,-the one vegetative or organic; the other animal or sensitive ;the one essential and necessary to constitute an organized being, and comprehending in itself all that relates to nutrition, and absolute life; the other, establishing a connexion between organic living bodies and external objects; thus constituting a strong line of separation between the animal and the plant. The vegetative organic life, comprehending the functions by which the preservation of the frame is effected, may be said to belong exclusively to the interior of the system, for there all its operations are carried on,-all concurring to one great end, by the appropriation and assimilation of extraneous matter, which the peculiar and inexplicable powers possessed by the organs it presides over, enable them to effect. But the animal or sensitive life relates to objects around us,-it presides over organs affected by external things, and its functions may be said to take place outwardly. With respect, however, to these two classes of functions, namely, those relating to the nutrition of the body, and those connecting us with surrounding objects, it must be observed, that although we have treated them as two distinct and independent modes of vitality, such is not really the case; no independent action can occur in the animal frame; this division, therefore, is purely hypothetical. In fact, the functions are all links of one chain, the extremities of which are united to form a circle; all depend upon each other; and every operation is carried on in harmony and conjunction with the rest. When, therefore, the action of one organ becomes deranged, the others suffer in proportion, according to their more or less intimate connexion. This effect we witness as old age approaches. As the latter stage of existence draws near, every operation in the body becomes languid and feeble; the digestive and assimilating organs perform their task imperfectly-the secretions fail, and are scantily deposited-the nerves too suffer, and the vivid sensibility which animated them, begins to be extinguished; the organs of the senses no longer receive their wonted impressions; the eye loses its power, the tongue its taste, and the touch its accuracy--the hearing becomes dull and indistinct, and the voice weak and tremumusic is heard with indifference, and nalous. The avenues of delight are closed, ture unfolds her beauties in vain. Memory, the understanding, and judgment fail; in short, the intellectual faculties become enfeebled and puerile; and this stage continues with increasing infirmities, the vital spark faintly quivering in the frame, till at last the "silver cord is loosed-the golden bowl broken-the pitcher broken at the fountain-the wheel broken at the cisternthe dust returning to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it." In accordance with the plan of our subject, we shall now proceed to point the attention of our readers to a phenomenon singular and curious, on which much light yet remains to be thrown, and to account for which no complete and satisfactory theory has yet been offered. We allude to the temperature of animal bodies. That all classes of animals are not of the same, or nearly the same temperature, we have noticed before, stating their division into two great families, viz. those possessing warm blood; and those having cold blood, or blood little differing from the temperature of the medium in which they live. Among warm-blooded animals, however, there is considerable variation; and it will, we think, be observed, that this variation is, to a certain extent, connected with the rate of the pulsation of the arterial system, the temperature of the blood increasing (in the different species) according to its increased rapidity. The temperature of the human body is, on the average, between 96° and 98° of Fahrenheit; and it has been asserted, that from this standard it does not vary from exposure either to heat or cold. This is, however, a mistaken opinion; for the human temperature, as well as that of all animals, is found, within certain limits, to be susceptible of great variation, accord 547 Essays on Physiology: Essay VIII. ing to the operation of external causes. We shall, perhaps, be better understood by the following detail: In a course of experiments preferred by Dr. Currie, it was found, that the temperature of a man immersed in cold salt water at 44o, sunk in a minute and a half from 98o to 87°; in other trials it decreased as low at 850 and 83°. A corresponding change took place in the pulse also, which decreased in frequency from 70 beats in a minute, its natural state, to 68° and 65°; the breathing, as soon as the shock from immersion had subsided, becoming regular, and remarkably slow. On the contrary, if the body be subjected to an increased external heat, it experiences an increase of temperature accordingly. From a series of experiments upon the subject by Dr. Fordyce, it was found, that upon confining the body in a close room, the air of which was heated to 120o, or even 211o, its temperature rose to -100o, the pulse at the same time becoming accelerated to the rate of 145 beats in a minute; yet, as he states, the breathing was neither quickened nor laborious. The same law extends to the inferior animals, cold as well as warm-blooded; for example, the temperature of a common mouse, Dr. Hunter ascertained to be 99o, the atmosphere being 60°, but upon exposing the same animal to a cold atmosphere of 15o, for the space of an hour, its temperature had fallen to 83°. In experiments upon the dog, whose natural temperature is about 101, it was found by Dr. Crawford, that upon exposure to water at the temperature of 112o, the heat of the animal was raised to 108 or 109o, but that if exposed to air at 130°, his temperature was raised only to 106°. 548 human body to be between 96° and 98° of F. This however, is to be understood as relating to the heat of internal parts; for in consequence of changes in the temperature of the atmosphere around us, the natural evaporation from the surface of our bodies, and incidental causes, the heat of the skin is liable to variation, and in general is one or two degrees lower than that of the internal organs; hence, the sensations of heat and cold which accompany the changes of atmospheric temperature, or the contact of different conductors of carbonic to which we are perpetually exposed. As results of that power termed vital principle, there are two laws, with which the all-wise Author of nature has invested the animal frame, intended to protect it, to a certain point, against the effects of heat and cold; for we are not to forget, that to a certain point only, can the system struggle against their influence, and life continue. And although perhaps, from the natural temperature of the globe, even at its highest, we do not so frequently witness the effects of extreme heat as of extreme cold, yet not a few have fallen immediate victims to a burning clime,-not a few have left their bones to whiten in the sultry desert, where death marks the track of the simoom. But few winters, even in our own country, pass without some unguarded individuals fatally experiencing the influence of cold. In reading Captain Parry's journal, and Captain Franklin's narrative, we were much struck with the accounts there given, of the effects produced from exposure to the intense cold of an arctic winter. Not only did the unprotected parts of the body suffer, but the mind also participated in the derangement under which the system was labouring. The sufferers are described as liquors-wild and haggard in their looks— incoherent in their answers-incapable of understanding questions or directions, and bereft of reason;-as the circulation became gradually restored, they returned to themselves, nor, as it would seem, experienced any consequent inconvenience. If, however, the body be subjected for a certain time to extreme cold, the vital energies fail under its benumbing influence; a strange and stupid apathy to life, a wish to be left alone, an irresistible desire to sleep, come The temperature of the viper (a cold-appearing under the stupifying influence of blooded animal) when exposed to a degree of heat amounting to 108o, was found by Dr. Hunter to rise to 924o, but when subjected to severe cold, the thermometer ranging from 10° to 20°, the temperature of the animal decreased as low as 310. It would appear, then, that the animal body, from the agency of external temperature, admits of increase or decrease within certain limits, its organization remaining uninjured. The temperature of the human frame we see capable of increase, four degrees above, and of decrease, 15 degrees below, its natural standard. In the example of the mouse, its temperature was found to admit of diminution 16 degrees below, and in that of the dog, an increase of seven above, the natural standard. on. This overpowering propensity is soon yielded to, and a heavy stupor creeps upon the victim, from which he is destined never to awaken. The two laws to which we have alluded, are these ;-1st. That under exposure to a We have stated the temperature of the temperature greatly above the ordinary standard of the animal, the body is capable, by an innate power, of generating cold, and so exerting a counteracting influence. 2d. That under exposure to a temperature greatly lower than its ordinary standard, the body is capable of generating heat, and so also exerting a counteracting influence. With regard, then, to the first rule, we have to observe, that when the animal frame, on exposure to great heat, has attained the maximum of elevation of which it is capable, an increase of external heat to a still higher degree does not occasion a corresponding increase in the temperature of the body; under such circumstances it remains stationary, and hence, by thus resisting the increase of heat, demonstrates its power of counteraction. Thus in the experiments of Dr. Fordyce, although the human body attained, under exposure to a high heat, the temperature of 100o, yet it could not be raised a degree higher when the external heat was increased to 211°. The same effects were observed in the dog and the viper: an increase of heat to a very high degree only raises the temperature of the one, as before stated, to 109o, and of the other to 9210. If then the body (under these circumstances) be capable of maintaining a certain temperature, far below that of a medium greatly higher than its own standard, it may be asked, what is the modus operandi by which this is effected? On a first view, one would be ready to imagine, that in the experiments performed to ascertain this phenomenon, the production of cold might result as a natural consequence of evaporation from the body. In Dr. Fordyce's experiment, the surface of his body while exposed to the air of the heated apartment, was streaming with water; but this was only the vapour of the heated room, condensed on the colder skin, as was very evident, from the circumstance of a Florence flask filled with water, at the then temperature of his body, (viz. 100o) having its surface covered with vapour, which he observed to be condensed upon, and trickle in streams down the sides. Besides, as experiments by Dr. Crawford prove, the body exerts the same power of generating cold when immersed in heated water, in which case no evaporation can of course take place from its surface. We must ascribe, then, this operation only to the energy of that principle by which all the parts and organs of the system are maintained in their natural state and order, and enabled to execute their respective functions. Over this power of the body, as over many others, habit appears to exert much influence; this is evident among glassblowers and others; and we have often ourselves remarked, with astonishment, the indifference which the firemen in chinamanufactories exhibit, upon entering ovens not fully cold, for the purpose of removing the ware; the heat they are thus exposed to is often intense, and it is endured (so much are we the creatures of habit) for a long time with perfect impunity. In all cases however of exposure to intense heat, there is a great expenditure of vital energy; and the system, in struggling thus against a high temperature, becomes speedily exhausted. If heat be applied to a part only of the body, it appears, from experiments, that the temperature of such part cannot be increased above that degree to which the whole body admits of being raised, a counteracting influence being exerted. With regard to the second law, viz. that the animal frame is endued with the power of generating a counteracting heat, we have to observe, that experiments demonstrate, that although the body is capable of being reduced in temperature to a certain limit, below which it does not fall, (except when cold is applied in such extreme severity, and so long, as to extinguish life, and, with the extinction of life, freeze the body,) yet that, by an exertion of vital energy, it does not remain at the grade to which it sinks from the first effects of cold, but in a short time rises to a higher degree; and this, according to the powers of life enjoyed by the animal, it is enabled to preserve for a longer or shorter period during its continuance in the same cold medium. We have seen, in the experiments referred to, that in one example the heat of the human body sunk rapidly from 98° to 87o, when placed in water as cold as 44°. At this degree, however, the temperature of the body did not continue; but in the course of twelve minutes it rose to 934o. In another experiment, when immersed in water at the same temperature, the body fell in two minutes from 98° to 88°; but at the end of thirteen minutes it had risen to 96o. Dr. Hunter performed the following experiment upon a dormouse, the temperature of which animal he found to be 810 in an atmosphere of 64°. He placed it in a vessel containing air at 20o, and in the course of half an hour the temperature of the animal was raised to 93°; an hour after, the air being 30o, its temperature was still 93°; in another hour, the air being reduced to 19o, its temperature decreased to 551 Essays on Physiology: Essay VIII. 83o, the animal appearing less lively, and the energies of the system beginning to be exhausted. In this experiment, however, we see the animal maintaining a temperature of about 70 degrees higher than the surrounding medium for the space of two hours and a half. The same laws of generating heat, under similar circumstances, are extended to cold-blooded animals also. We stated, that heat applied to a part could not (without destroying the organization of such part) elevate its temperature above the maximum to which the whole body will attain; but with respect to a minimum of cold, the parallel does not hold good, for if parts be subjected to the agency of a cooling cause, their temperature sinks far below the minimum of the depressed temperature of the body. Thus in experiments, parts incapable of being elevated a degree above the maximum of the elevated temperature of the body, have been cooled 29 degrees below the minimum of the depressed, viz. as far as 58o. The ears of rabbits, and the comb and wattles of the cock, have been cooled down until frozen, and yet, upon thawing, have recovered their natural temperature and circulation. In the late northern expeditions, it was not uncommon for individuals to have their hands and feet frozen, and again restored; in Russia, and other cold climates, similar occurrences also are well known. 552 the body suffers exposure to unusual heat or cold, great exhaustion in the protection (if we may so express it) of itself is produced, and if the exposure be persevered in, death is the result. Hence an uniform temperature of body, according to the natural standard allotted the animal, with cer tain restrictions, is requisite for the continuance of its healthy and perfect organie existence. But where the atmospheric changes are very considerable, and where the medium in which the individual may exist, is of a temperature very far below that of the body, (supposing, of course, the animal to be warm-blooded,) as is the case with the whale, walrus, seal, &c. which inhabit the arctic seas, how is the natural standard of temperature perpetually kept from sinking, without an exhaustion of vital energy; or what are the means furnished for resisting the influence of cold? To obviate the changes to which animals in a natural state are exposed, and to preserve them in their due temperature, without an immediate expenditure of vital energy, the great Author of the universe has expressly arranged a plan, which obtains, under certain regulations, throughout the animal creation. To this end the cutaneous, the mus cular, the nervous, and the digestive systems concur-each in a manner peculiar to itself, and connected with its natural action. With regard to the cutaneous system, we may observe, that the skin itself, a bad conductor of caloric, is morever generally furnished with additions according to the need of the animal, man only providing for his body an artificial protection. Warmblooded animals seem alone, from their constitutions, to require these coverings, which are among the worst conductors of caloric in nature. Animals inhabiting the warmer climates of the earth, are, if we except birds, (and of these we shall presently speak,) less furnished in this respect than those of colder regions, which inhabit a cold medium. The appendices of the skin, to which we especially allude, are feathers, fur or hair, and the layer of fat between the skin and muscles. These laws, it would seem, are not confined in their influence solely to animals in a complete or perfect state; but wherever the vital principle exists, wherever there are organic rudiments capable of unfolding to maturity, however dormant other powers may be, there we may expect their operation. We are borne out in this assertion by the experiments of Dr. Hunter on the egg of the common fowl. An egg, which had been frozen and thawed, (the embryo of course being killed,) was put into a freezing mixture with one newly laid; and the fresh one was seven minutes and a half longer in freezing than the other. The same experiment was again tried with a freezing mixture at 15o, and the egg, the vitality of which was destroyed, soon came down to 32o, and congealed, but the fresh egg sunk to 291o, and in fifteen minutes rose to 32o, and began to swell and freeze, thus resisting the influence of the mixture for twenty-five minutes, during which time it must have generated much heat, in strug-perature. It is true, that these animals are gling against the low temperature, to which it finally yielded. In all these experiments, and whenever In many animals peculiar to the north, as winter comes on, this layer of fat becomes much increased; and although one of its uses is, to serve as a magazine for the supply of nutriment to the system when other supplies fail, yet, as it is a bad conductor, it must necessarily tend, in no small degree, to the preservation of a due tem well provided with fur also, (as the white bear, the seal, the ermine, &c.) which may constitute the chief defence, yet as tending to confirm our opinion, there is one remarkable exception, viz. the whale; in this huge creature, (of the class mammalia,) the layers of fat are of extraordinary thickness, and, being totally deficient of hair, are indeed its sole protection-enabling the animal to withstand the intense cold, as well as fitting its body to sustain the immense pressure of water in the profound depths of the ocean. With regard to Birds, although it may seem, at a first view, that in all climates they are alike furnished with a downy garment, we shall find, that, independent of the difference in closeness and softness which really exists in the plumage of the feathered race, there is another circumstance constituting a general distinguishing mark between birds of a cold and of a sultry clime, and so ordered as to assist in protecting the one race from cold, the other from heat; we allude to colour. The birds of the torrid zone are remarkable for their brilliant plumage,-art tries in vain to imitate the splendid richness of their colours,-while, on the contrary, the swarms which inhabit the frigid zone and the desert climes of ice, are principally white, or become so as the severity of winter commences; which, we may add, is also the case with many quadrupeds. Coloured bodies are better conductors of caloric than white; and hence we see how this simple law becomes subservient to the welfare of the animal. Thus, while the inhabitants of the frigid zone are so wisely and kindly protected against the severity of cold, the burning sun incommodes not the winged dwellers in his sultry lands, whose beauty is at once their ornament and protection. THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT CRISIS OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. MR. EDITOR, SIR,-The affairs of Turkey at the present crisis, must awaken and excite the attention of every miud alive to the fulfilment of ancient record respecting the fulness and accomplishment of the latter-day glory. That in the nineteenth century, a nation should exist in the midst of the civilized world, which has no feelings or thoughts in common with the other nations of Europe, is indeed a matter of astonishment. A nation that bitterly despises the name, the rites, and the institutions of the Christian world; and which has always 114.-VOL. X. manifested the most rancorous enmity to the religion of Christ. For ever since, like locust, it issued out of the hellish smoke of the bottomless pit, it has not ceased to persecute the children of the Cross; and, under pretence of destroying idol worship, deluged the whole East with rivers of Christian blood. For judicial and mysterions reasons, (perhaps to scourge the fallen churches of that day,) "there was given to them power, such as the scorpions of the earth possess, to slay the third part of men." In the tenth verse of the ninth chapter of Revelation, it is said, they had tails like scorpions, and in them stings, with which they might hurt; and how long they have afflicted with grievous torments, both Christians and Jews, I have no need to say. Does any nation upon earth, besides the Ottoman, so fight against "the truth as it is in Jesus," as to put a man to death if he but profess it; but this is a standing law of the vast Turkish empire; and no Mussulman dare become Christian on pain of death. With regard to their treatment of Christians, even the ambassadors of Christian princes, it is well known how they despise them from their hearts; and are not Dog and Infidel the best names they can afford a follower of the blessed Jesus? It is computed, that in the different nations where this pestiferous delusion has spread, there are 176 millions of Mahommedans, about one-fifth part of the entire inhabitants of the globe. Alas, sir, we speak of the approach of the millennium! but what prospect is there of that golden period, so long as the Arab imposture covers so many regions of the earth? In no part of the world where Mahommedanism is the established religion, can a Christian Missionary publish the glad tidings of salvation: the Missionaries in Palestine have access only to Armenians, to Europeans, or British sailors; preaching to the Turks being a thing altogether out of the question. Hence, sir, nothing less than the entire overthrow of the Turkish empire, will afford facilities to the publishing of the Cross of Christ; and would any but a blinded and infatuated politician, smitten with the golden gains of commerce, or that nondescript thing called the balance of power, prevent its overthrow? There is such a thing as standing in the way of God's providence, and making ourselves prominent butts for the arrows of his quiver; but I hope God will defend this nation from throwing away another one hundred millions of the public money, to uphold Turkey our ancient ally. I will yield to no man in loyalty to my king, and attachment to my beloved country, but I shall rue the day, and blush to be a Briton, when the English nation shall become a buttress to prop up that sinking country, the abhorred of the Lord. If Austria does not like the Russians at the gates of Constantinople, as too near her own dominions, why not let the two emperors settle the matter between themselves? I have no sympathy for the Koran, and I regard the Moslem in no other light than an "abomination that maketh desolate." It is one of that triple alliance, the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, which JehovahJesus shall consume by the spirit of his mouth, and by the brightness of his appearing; and he who does not sincerely pray for the conversion or downfall of the Ottoman empire, breathes but little of the spirit of the Gospel, 2 M |