On the sudoriparous and lymphatic glandular systems; the vital nature of their functions in preparing the conditions necessary to venous absorption, and the effect of their derangement in the production of the various diseases ascribed to malaria / by Robert Willis.

Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the sudoriparous and lymphatic glandular systems; the vital nature of their functions in preparing the conditions necessary to venous absorption, and the effect of their derangement in the production of the various diseases ascribed to malaria / by Robert Willis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    SO much, consequently, must the body be warmed by its in- herent powers, in order to maintain itself at its proper tempera- ture. The heat of the air in intertropical regions, it is true, occasionally mounts to 100^, 106^ and even 110'’ F., but this is never generally, nor for any length of time ; and it is certain that no degree of activity in the function of his skin then suffices to enable man to support for a succession of days such temperatures as these. In countries where the ther- mometer rises occasionally to 100 F. or more, the inhabitants have to betake themselves at such seasons to caves and cellars, where the temperature is much lower, and there remain supine; or they must sit exposed to air in motion, under Punkahs, &c. Forced to show themselves abroad and to use ex- ertion of any kind, they speedily sink exhausted and die— their temperature having undoubtedly risen to a point that was incompatible with the continuance of life, precisely as happened to the animals which were the subjects of Delaroche and Berger’s experiments in the heated chamber. Under such circumstances, the effect which is generally regarded as the essential element in the function of the skin undoubtedly makes itself felt. But the action is then entirely physical, not vital: it is the mere consequence of the cooling that is inseparably connected with evaporation from a moist surface, and is seen taking place from the porous alcaraz or the caraffe in its moistened covering, in the same way as from the living skin. There is, however, no function of the animal body that only comes into play under peculiar external cir- cumstances and over limited portions of the earth’s surface ; so that if a refrigerating faculty of the skin—the consequence of evaporation—might be found useful, as it would, within the tropics, and under other accidental circumstances, it is certain that whenever man feels the necessity of clothing him- self, it would be useless. In temperate and cold climates a refrigerating faculty connected with the body in man, mam^r malla, and birds, is not only not required, but is even sedul- ously guarded against. Nevertheless, the action of the skin
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