Fever, Heat Regulation, Climate, and the Thyroid-Adrenal Apparatus.

This is a serious although not entirely successful attempt to demonstrate that aseptic fevers are caused by hyperactivity of the suprarenal medulla and the thyroid gland, and that toxic fevers are due to hyperactivity of these glands induced by direct action of bacterial toxins on these glands. The evidence is largely histologic, structural changes in the thyroid and suprarenal medulla following bacterial intoxication and fever by external heat. The author assumes that virtually all regulation of heat production and heat loss takes place through the sympathetic nervous system. Thus, he rejects the "heat center" theory and in the same breath also seems to ignore the large contribution to heat production in the skeletal muscle system, known to be under control of the voluntary nervous system and not yet proved to be under sympathetic control. The last chapter contains observations and speculations on the influence of climate on the functions of