The evening times., 1896-08-25
WHAT CAUSES sUNsTR0kE
Result Of Heat Upon Chemistry
Of the Body.
POISON IS IN TIE BLOOD
Scientific Experiments Conducted by
the New York. Pathological lnsti-
tute-ExplosiOn OF the Theory That
Sunstroke Is Produced by the Di-
rect Action of the Sun.

few days, and the cause or sunstroke,
subject until now obscure, has at length
been definitely discovered.
To the State Pathological Institute OF
New York, aided by the coroners office
ana the statfs Of various city hospitals, Is
due the credit for this discovery.
These Investigations show that instead ot
the c'sun's rays being the direct cause OF the
us has all along bsen believed by
the medical profession, as well as by the
people at large, the fact is that the inter-
nal chemistry OF the body and tssecreiions
is SO modified by atmospheric conditions
or excessive hot weather that some OF tlueSe
secretions become abnormal, either in
quality or quantity, are absorbed by the
blood and act as virulent poisons.
Nothing could be simpler nor more rea-
sonabic than this toxic theory OF sunstrokr,
and now that il is supported by the well
esta blished results OF various careful ex-
perimcnts there will doubtless be many 10
say that the same idea had occurred 10
them. The truth, however, is that all III
the best known authorities on the subject
ignore the toxic theory In their writings
upon s,instroke, its causes anu treatment,
although, strangely enough, the whole c!iDi-
cal history OF sunstroke gives the most
dramatic evidence OF the action OF poison
throughout its whole course OF duration
WORKED UNDER FAVORABLE CoNDI-
TONS.
on the first day OF the recent heat plague
DR.. Ira T. Van Gieson, director OF the
State Pathological Institute, assisted by
DR. Alexander Lambert and Dr. levin, be-
Tons xv..r..
peculiarly fortunate for the successful pros
ecufion CT their work.
In European countries the medical profess
sion do not have such opportunities for IN
vestigation, for upon the advent OF such
hot spell the people stop work and do
not resume it until cooler weather prevails.
But the hustling nature OF the American
keeps him active Irrespective of the rise
or fall OF thermometers, and so Ii happened
that Dr. Van Gieson and his cola borators
soon had all the material they needed
upon which 10 work.
The investigations Were handicapped at
the outset by their inability to secure
proper chemical apparatus, but this obs'a-
Gle was at length overcome, and after hav-
Ing lost forty weight hours they started upon
their WORK. From that time until the close
of The hot spell they worked, sometimes
day and nj ght.
The labor was divided among Drs. Van
Gieson, Lambert and Levin DR.. Lam
bert's province was to attend to the clint
cal history OF the plague. He made a
record of all the cases and the complete
history OF each. These records will show
the research work OF the department under
demo. Auto-iptoxicants, it may be cx-
planned. are intoxicants that are gotten up
within the system itself
WITH BRAIN FLUIDS.
The second department had TO do with
animal experiments and was in charge of
Drs. Van Gieson and Levin. These ex-
periments were to demonstrate the ma
tUre of sunstroke as autointoxicatiun.
First. secretion from acute living cases in
Bellevue Hospital was obtained and 1t was
injected into rabbits. 1t proved to be less
poisonous than it would have been under or
dinary conditions, thus showing that the
poison of sunstroke had to be retained in
the human body and absorbed in the blood.
second set OF experiments was then
made with the brain fluids, the oereb.o-
spinal fluid and the brain ventricular fluids.
These were OF acute cases, immediately
after death. The subjects had died in the
hospital few hours after being received
there. Four rabbits died from the in jec
ton OF these fluids within twelve hours.
The symptoms unfortunately were not OBJ
served, as their death occurred between
midnight and daybreak, when no one was
observing them. Their bodies were discoy-
cred by the janitor of the building.
The third set OF eXperime ents was the most
Interesting and most decisive OF the lot.
This Injection was OF the blood of living
cases just after they had been stricken by
the sun. Four animals received the iDjec-
ton through the ear vein.
They all showed uniform results. In fif-
teen minutes after the in Injection the tempera-
ture rose from two to three degrees, and
within forty-five minutes to one hour and a
half the animals had severe commissions.
There were clonic, or momcntary, convul-
sions of all four extremities. and these were
SO severe that tie animals usually died in
one OF these attacks.
POISON is DEADLY.
in the majority OF cases one convulsion
was enough TO produce death. The poison
was intense and acted promptly. There
was no omistaking the fact that it was deadly.
Tie fourth set of experiments was with
an injection of secretion taken, not III the
first stages of the attack, but some hours
afterward. This injection acted just as the
blood serum had done. II showed that
after certain number of hours the poison
was again eliminated,
II is safe, therefore, to say that cases of
sunstroke which have normal eliminative
organs may get rid of the poison after a
certain lapse OF time-tbat is, all the way
from six to forty-eight hours.
at was apparent thus far from our in
vestigatiODs, says DR.. Van Gleson, that
the reason why SO many cases do not
convalesce is because the kidneys or the
liver is-damaged or diseased. aud can't,
| therefore. get rid OF the poison. Several
of the autcpsies of cases which did not
convalesce in various periods of from three
to six days, showed a bad condition
the kidney or liver. These cases were all
or persons addicted to alcoholic drinks.
They were drivers OF beer wagons or la
lorers who had damaged their organs
by alcohol. Other men who had normal
n f1,fy ynf vol1