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

William Bayliss

Date:: [1922?]

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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${ COPYRIGHT. | THE INSTITUTION OF HEATING AND VENTILATING ENGINEERS (INCORPORATED. ) -O.; PAPER ON SELF-REGULATING MECHANISMS OF THE HUMAN BODY, WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE | TO TEMPERATURE BY W. M. BAYLISS, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S., ete. (Professor of General Physiology in University College, London). SUMMER MEETING, OxForRD, JULY 4TH, 1922. Everyone is familiar with the fact that there are animals whose temperature is very little if at all above that of their surroundings, cold-blooded animals; and that there are others like ourselves which keep their temperature constantly several degrees above their surroundings. It is also a matter of common knowledge that any particular warm-blooded animal has the power of regulating his temperature so that it does not vary more than a fraction of a degree, while he is in health. Our first task is to enquire how this is effected. To put the matter briefly, we have fires in our bodies. Perhaps one of the most significant data of physiological science is that our food is burned up in such a way as to give the same chemical products as if it were burned in an ordinary furnace. Oil and sugar, for instance, become carbon dioxide and water. It is easy to show that sugar when eaten soon causes the giving off of an increased amount of carbon dioxide in the expired air. These facts were first clearly realised by Lavoisier, although Boyle and Mayow had come very near to the truth.$

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

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