Paper on self-regulating mechanisms of the human body, with especial reference to temperature / by W.M. Bayliss.

  • William Bayliss
Date:
[1922?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Paper on self-regulating mechanisms of the human body, with especial reference to temperature / by W.M. Bayliss. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of oxygen. The skin is red, not white, as it would be if the arteries were closed. But there is an interesting abnormal response to cold, in which the skin contains blood, but is cold. Its colour is blue, not red. This is due to a narrowing of the arteries, along with widening of the capillary channels. The current is very slow, so that the blood becomes cold and at the same time loses its oxy- gen, and becomes venous. It is of interest that such a state of the circulation has been found to play an important part in the production of the state of shock after injuries or surgical opera- tions. I have spoken of two great systems of integration, the nervous and the circulatory. But there is still another, to which much attention is being given at the present time. It will probably occur to many readers that no mention has been made of a common mode of inter-communication in cities, namely, the postal system. In this, actual material letters are conveyed, as in mechanical trans- port, but these letters are not themselves used as fuel, or in any way other than as messages, instructing certain things to be done. Thus, they partake of the characters of both the other systems. In the human organism, the internal secretions, chemical messen- gers, or hormones play the part of letters. They are actual chemical compounds produced in some organ or tissue, passed into the blood and thus carried to all parts of the body, but produce an effect only in particular places adjusted to respond to them. Letters also are only received at the address to which they are directed, although they pass many other houses. It is thought by some investigators that all the various kinds of cells produce each its own particular ‘‘ chemical messenger,’ which has its action on other parts of the body, but up to the present we know of the definite existence of such substances in the case of special organs, such as the thyroid, the pancreas, and so on. The problem is a large and complex one and space does not permit of further discussion here.
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