Evening star., 1903-08-01
THE BRAIN AND HEAT
PART OF CEREBRUM CONTROL
LING BoDY's TEMPERATURE.
Mans Cooling Plant-Medulla Oblon-
gaia Wards Off Influence OF
Surrounding Conditions.
From the Chicago Tribune.

From the Chicago Tribune.
When some one tells you in summer COM
mCnplaces to keep cool' and then foilo"s
it up with other commonplaces as to no"
to do It, did 1t ever occur to you 10 refnaih
that your system already was Worhlhs
overtime to accomplish just that one deslt-
ed thing?
Well it Is; and somewhere in the medulia
obIongata. at the floor of the fourth ven
tricle is the prime seat of that organizer
system by which man who is working II
a furnace room where the standing tenn
perature is 13O degrees may keep his body
temperature at less than degrees above
the normal Of 9Sl2 degrees Fahrenheit.
Did it ever occur to you as you sat IN
the sunshine of a hot August afternoon, pl
no means suffering aSonles from IT, .ia'
while your hands might be even cooi 70
the touch. a piece of iron Whlch you ihslit
have laid beside you as you sat down ls
almost red hot to the same contact with tne
handp The reason for this difference Is
the cooling plant in the human system anu
the lack of it in the IRON ana AGAIN hs
you have sat sometime in sleigh with the
horses steaming in a temperature OF ~
degrees below zero, have you neuced lhat
your hand coming even cold from d glow;
Is inclined to freeze faSt 10 lhe iioii IAN
of the vehicle?
AS a general proposition the human sSs.
TEN in its adaptabiity to the extremes OF
Gated and interesting mechanisms in eX-
istence Five or six degrees of Internal re-
yer almost surely viii burn man TO dea1h
in few hours: twenty-five degrees ABOVE
the normal body temperature may be en-
dured externally, year after year, In some
of the stoke holes and boiler rooms OF 81
gantic machinery plants The endurance
of external heat is because OF the once or
the cerebral matter in the medulla oblon-
gata at the floor of the fourth ventrlcle.
There are five of these ventricles. or cav
tiles, in the brain. This fourth ventricle
lies lust above the roof OF the mouth and
from the meridian line of the hard palate
a stiletto passed right and left toward the
fin of the ears would penetrate it near the
center-for this fourth ventricle is In dupli-
cate. as are other brain divisions 1t is to
reach this fourth ventricle that the man
committing suicide occasionally fires
volyer into the roof Of his mouth, for here
may be said to be the seat Of life.
Seat of Control at Fourth Ventricle.
Just what are the physical functions of
this fourth ventricle in controlling the tenn
peratures Of the body are as unknown to
the physiologist as are the physical func-
tions of the brain in producing thought.
said DR.. j. F. Burkholder. when asked for
an explanation. 1T is known only that
there is the seat of control of the tempera-
lures of the human body, and without its
action man would freeze or burn up in the
extremes of cold and heat"
direct agents of this fourth ventricle is the
aracto pill muscle which lies beneath the
skin ali over the body, and which Is espe-
cially susceptible to the influences of heat
and cold Under stress Of cold this minute
muscle, which finds place and occupation
directly beside the hair follicles. manifests
itself most plainly to the observer. AT the
first promptfngs of severe cold these
muscles contract and the minute hairs
which, under normal temperature, lie over
the body close to the skin are drawn by
this contraction until the pores are closed
and the individual hairs are erect, giving to
the surface of the skin the well known
.'goose flesh recognized by the laity every
where.
To the extent that the cold contracts these
muscles the heat relaxes them, until, under
the influence of a hot day in Chicago, where
there Is an overplus of moisture in the air,
with the sweating at the open pores and the
inability of the moisture laden air to evap-
crate this sweat, the temperature of the
body may rise from its normal of 9SlR to
more than 100 degrees, entailing great suf-
fering.
Internal Heat Causes Distress.
It is not from the outside that much of
the summer heat comes to distress the
body. Within the body every chemical