HYPERTHERMIA DUE TO LESIONS IN THE HYPOTHALAMUS

There is good evidence that the hypothalamus is an important area for the maintenance of normal body temperature and that it contains probably important nerve centers concerned with the regulation of temperature. The importance of this region in general for this particular function was shown by the experiments of Isenschmid and Krehl,1who found that when the brain stem of rabbits was divided at the junction of the diencephalon and the mesencephalon, all power of temperature control was lost. On the other hand, they found that when the cerebrum and the corpus striatum were removed, no loss of temperature regulation resulted. These observations were carried further by Isenschmid and Schnitzler,2who found that the tuber cinereum was the most important part of the brain for the regulation of temperature. They observed that an injury at the junction of the diencephalon and the mesencephalon caused a disturbance of temperature