The sudden accession of heat has already produced one fatal, and more
than one severe, case of sunstroke in the metropolis. Probably the
affection so designated is not the malady to which the term _coup de
soleil_ can be properly applied. The condition brought about is
an exaggerated form of the disturbance occasioned by entering
too suddenly the "hot" room of a Turkish bath. The skin does not
immediately perform its function as an evaporating and therefore
cooling surface, and an acute febrile state of the organism is
established, with a disturbed balance of circulation, and more or less
cerebral irritation as a prominent feature of the complaint. Death may
suddenly occur at the outset of the complaint, as it has happened in
a Turkish bath, where the subject labors under some predisposition to
apoplexy, or has a weak or diseased heart. It should suffice to point
out the danger and to explain, by way of warning, that although the
degrees of heat registered by the thermometer, or the power of the
sun's rays, do not seem to suggest especial caution, all sudden
changes from a low to a high temperature are attended with danger
to weak organisms. The avoidance of undue exercise--for example,
persistent trotting or cantering up and down the Row--is an obvious
precaution on days marked by a relatively, if not absolutely, high
temperature. We direct attention to this matter because it is obvious
the peculiar peril of overheating the body by exertion on the first
burst of fine weather is not generally realized. It is forgotten that
the increased temperature must be measured by the elevation which has
recently taken place, not the number of degrees of heat at present
recorded. The registered temperature may be more or less than that
which occurred a year ago; but its immediate effects on the organism
will be determined by the conditions which have preceded it and the
violence of the change.--_Lancet_.
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