520. These and other analogous facts abundantly establish the relation between the function of respiration and that of calorification, and lead to the general conclusion that the generation of animal heat is in the direct ratio of the quantity of air and blood which are brought into contact, and which act on each other in a given time. Yet an attempt has recently been made by an ingenious physiologist[3] to disturb this induction, and to show that the production of animal heat is not in the direct ratio of the quantity of oxygen inhaled, but in the inverse ratio of the quantity of blood exposed to this principle. This position is maintained on the following grounds:— [3] An Experimental Inquiry into the Laws which regulate the Phenomena of Organic and Animal Life. By George Calvert Holland, M.D. and more complete than the expirations; it is a state of continual sighing. In like manner, in certain diseases, such as asthma, the inspirations greatly preponderate both in frequency and energy over the expirations. In such conditions of the system the blood accumulates in preternatural quantity in all the internal organs; but more especially in the lungs; and two consequences follow: first, there is a remarkable diminution in the energy of all the vital actions; and secondly there is a proportionate diminution in the production of animal heat. 521. Inspiration favours the flow of blood to the lungs; expiration retards it: consequently, if from any causes the inspirations preponderate in number and proportion over the expirations, a greater quantity of blood than usual will be accumulated in the lungs. There are conditions of the system in which this preponderance of the inspirations actually takes place; when the mind is under the influence of certain emotions, for example, as when it is depressed by anxiety and fear. In this state the inspirations are more frequent 522. On the contrary, as it is the effect of inspiration to facilitate the motion of the blood through the lungs, so it is the effect of expiration to retard it; hence, when the expirations preponderate the opposite state of the system is induced; all the vital actions are performed with increased energy; the heart beats with unusual vigor; the pulse becomes quick and strong; a larger quantity of blood is determined to the surface of the body, and this excited state of the system is always attended with an augmentation of the temperature. 523. As in the first state there is a greater and in the second a smaller quantity of blood than natural contained in the lungs, the inference deduced by Dr. Holland is, that the production of animal heat is in the inverse ratio of the quantity of blood exposed to oxygen. But this inference is neither logical nor sound.