Abstract
Is a paper on this subject, by Mr. A. H. Garrod, in NATURE, vol. viii. p. 265, the author states that in cold-blooded animals, nerve-force must be generated by the difference between their own temperatures and that of the medium by which they are surrounded. Now, to take the case of a frog as a common example of a “so-called” cold-blooded animal: A few days ago, when the thermometer was standing at 71°, I took the temperature of two frogs, one was 69°, and the other 67°; the difference between their temperature and that of the surrounding air was practically nil. Now, on a day of this Sort of temperature, it would seem that the pervious integument of the frog is continually exhaling moisture, and that in consequence the temperature falls, and would continue to fall below that of the surrounding air, were it not that it was raised by the heat generated. “by the destruction of tissue that is continually going on within the body of the animal;” so between these two contending forces a state of equilibrium results, and the temperature of the animal and the surrounding air are the same. But, if this be true, it follows that the whole of the heat from the animal is used up in keeping up its temperature, and therefore none can be spared for conversion into nerve-force. Therefore, a frog at rest on a summer's day ought to have no nervous energy. Now, suppose our frog takes to leaping vigorously, he will develop a certain amount of heat, and then he ought to have a great deal of nerve-force; but it is not found that an active frog is more “nervous” than a quiescent one.
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LYDEKKER, R. On the Origin of Nerve-Force. Nature 8, 465 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/008465a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/008465a0
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