The Cooling Power of the Air in Trains, Trams, and Buses

Abstract

THE body resembles a motor-car engine in that it is producing heat by the combustion, not of petrol but of food, and, just as the car has a radiator, so has the body-namely, the skin-in order to lose heat and keep at body temperature, that is, the temperature at which the living tissues have to live. During muscular exercise, about four times as much heat is produced as work, and when hard exercise is taken, such as climbing, the heat production of the body may be five times as great as when sitting at rest. The loss of heat is controlled, just as the production, by bodily mechanisms. To accelerate heat loss, the skin flushes with blood and perspires; clothes are thrown off and the body fanned. Over-warm stagnant atmospheres and over-clothing check the production of body heat and lead to disinclination to exertion, loss of appetite, and, in time, to debility. Cool surroundings and light clothing, on the other hand, increase the production of body heat, tone up the body, stimulate appetite, impel to activity, and generally improve health.