Antiseptic surgery : its principles, practice, history and results / by W. Watson Cheyne.
- Watson Cheyne
- Date:
- 1882
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Antiseptic surgery : its principles, practice, history and results / by W. Watson Cheyne. Source: Wellcome Collection.
615/656 page 579
![FEVER DUE TO TENSION. 57U constant disturbance of the parts. At the same time, it must be observed that the pulse rate had not increased m rapidity in proportion, and the patient did not feel out of sorts ; with the exception of the elevated temperature there was no other symptom of fever. Here there was no fermentation m the wound and no retention of discharges, and therefore it seems probable that it was a nervous phenomenon. On the other hand, there are cases in which there may be great tension, as after subcutaneous bruises, or local disturbance of the^ parts as in some forms of joint disease, without an elevation of temperature at all corresponding to that which occurs when the discharges of wounds are retained. And also, the weight of evidence derived from experiments on animals seems to go against the view, that mere disturbance of the nerves of a part is a frequent or probable cause of the marked elevation of temperature which sometimes occurs in cases where there is retention of discharge. Indeed, according to Wunderlich,i ^]^q application of external irritants has the effect of lowering the general temperature rather than of raising it, and the same author states that Heidenhain has found that irritation of sensory nerves constantly and suddenly lowers the temperature, except after division of the medulla oblongata from the spinal cord or when fever is present. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that the products of inflammation (the serum of pus, &c.), when introduced into a healthy animal, cause a rapid rise of temperature, which soon passes off if no further injections are made.^ It is thus quite possible, that when discharges are retained by the blocking of a drainage tube or for any other reason, the fever which follows is due, at least in part, to absorp- tion into the circulation of the retained materials. (In most cases of elevation of temperature from tension the pulse is ' On Temjjerature in Disease. ^ That the products of inflammation should cause fever is not surprising. For, in inflammation, not only do liquor sanguinus and corpuscles pass out of the blood-vessels, but the tissue cells, which are constantly taking material from the blood and altering its constitution—in fact acting as ferments—are, I think there can be no doubt, stimulated to increased activity ; their func- tion is also probably perverte^, and the changes which they produce in the nutritive materials with which they are supplied may be different from those which occur in health, and may lead to the formation of substances which, when absorbed into the circulation, cause fever.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20409928_0617.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
