The Temperature of Acutely Inflamed Peripheral Tissue

The experiments set forth here establish the fact that the heat of the inflamed part has its origin primarily in the local biochemical activity of the cellular elements which participate in the inflammatory process. The inflammatory hyperemia, instead of being the necessary and constant source of the inflammation must be considered a natural physiological compensation for the abnormal local calorification. The rapid circulation of the blood in the inflamed part tends to moderate the increase in local temperature and to equalize the temperature with that of other parts of the body.