An Experimental Inquiry Into the Laws Which Regulate the Phenomena of Organic and Animal Life

An Experimental Inquiry Into The Laws Which Regulate The Phenomena Of Organic And Animal Life by George Calvert Holland. This volume presents a rigorous physiological examination of the laws governing organic and animal life, with a central focus on the generation and regulation of animal heat. Holland argues that animal heat is not simply tied to oxygen intake but depends on the circulation and distribution of blood through the lungs and other organs, and he critiques rival theories that attribute heat to nervous secretion or to purely respiratory changes. The work systematically explores how respiration, circulation, and the nervous system interact, and how external factors such as age, season, cold, heat, disease, and even psychological states influence these processes. Drawing on extensive experiments with animals (notably rabbits and pigeons), galvanism, and emetics, the author develops a comprehensive framework of “sanguineous sympathy” and other principles to explain fever, inflammation, secretion, digestion, and related phenomena. The treatise stands as an important early 19th-century contribution to physiology, oscillating between experimental data and broader philosophical reflections on life itself.