Conversations on Chemistry, V. 1-2 / In Which the Elements of that Science Are Familiarly Explained and Illustrated by Experiments

by Mrs. Marcet

CAROLINE.

True; after running very fast, I gasp for breath, my respiration is quick and hard, and it is just then that I begin to feel hot.

EMILY.

It would seem, then, that violent exercise should produce fever.

MRS. B.

Not if the person is in a good state of health; for the additional caloric is then carried off by the perspiration which succeeds.

EMILY.

What admirable resources nature has provided for us! By the production of animal heat she has enabled us to keep up the temperature of our bodies above that of inanimate objects; and whenever this source becomes too abundant, the excess is carried off by perspiration.

MRS. B.

It is by the same law of nature that we are enabled, in all climates, and in all seasons, to preserve our bodies of an equal temperature, or at least very nearly so.