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Cambridge University Press
978-1-107-16239-6 — A Course in Finite Group Representation Theory
Peter Webb
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CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN ADVANCED MATHEMATICS
Editorial Board
B . B O L L O BÁS , W . F U L T O N , A . K A T O K , F . K I R W A N ,
P. SARNAK, B. SIMON, B. TOTARO
A COURSE IN FINITE GROUP

REPRESENTATION THEORY
This graduate-level text provides a thorough grounding in the representation theory of
inite groups over ields and rings. The book provides a balanced and comprehensive
account of the subject, detailing the methods needed to analyze representations that arise
in many areas of mathematics. Key topics include the construction and use of character
tables, the role of induction and restriction, projective and simple modules for group
algebras, indecomposable representations, Brauer characters, and block theory.
This classroom-tested text provides motivation through a large number of worked
examples, with exercises at the end of each chapter that test the reader’s knowledge,
provide further examples and practice, and include results not proven in the text. Prereq-
uisites include a graduate course in abstract algebra and familiarity with the properties
of groups, rings, ield extensions, and linear algebra.
Peter Webb is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota. His research

interests focus on the interactions between group theory and other areas of algebra,
combinatorics, and topology.
© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Peter Webb
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CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN ADVANCED MATHEMATICS
Editorial Board:
B. Bollobás, W. Fulton, A. Katok, F. Kirwan, P. Sarnak, B. Simon, B. Totaro
All the titles listed below can be obtained from good booksellers or from Cambridge University Press.
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124 K. Lux & H. Pahlings Representations of groups
125 K. S. Kedlaya p-adic differential equations
126 R. Beals & R. Wong Special functions
127 E. de Faria & W. de Melo Mathematical aspects of quantum ield theory
128 A. Terras Zeta functions of graphs
129 D. Goldfeld & J. Hundley Automorphic representations and L-functions for the general linear group, I
130 D. Goldfeld & J. Hundley Automorphic representations and L-functions for the general linear group, II
131 D. A. Craven The theory of fusion systems
132 J. Väänänen Models and games
133 G. Malle & D. Testerman Linear algebraic groups and inite groups of Lie type
134 P. Li Geometric analysis
135 F. Maggi Sets of inite perimeter and geometric variational problems
136 M. Brodmann & R. Y. Sharp Local cohomology (2nd Edition)
137 C. Muscalu & W. Schlag Classical and multilinear harmonic analysis, I
138 C. Muscalu & W. Schlag Classical and multilinear harmonic analysis, II
139 B. Helffer Spectral theory and its applications
140 R. Pemantle & M. C. Wilson Analytic combinatorics in several variables
141 B. Branner & N. Fagella Quasiconformal surgery in holomorphic dynamics
142 R. M. Dudley Uniform central limit theorems (2nd Edition)
143 T. Leinster Basic category theory
144 I. Arzhantsev, U. Derenthal, J. Hausen & A. Laface Cox rings
145 M. Viana Lectures on Lyapunov exponents
146 J.-H. Evertse & K. Győry Unit equations in Diophantine number theory
147 A. Prasad Representation theory
148 S. R. Garcia, J. Mashreghi & W. T. Ross Introduction to model spaces and their operators
149 C. Godsil & K. Meagher Erdős–Ko–Rado theorems: Algebraic approaches
150 P. Mattila Fourier analysis and Hausdorff dimension
151 M. Viana & K. Oliveira Foundations of ergodic theory
152 V. I. Paulsen & M. Raghupathi An introduction to the theory of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces
153 R. Beals & R. Wong Special functions and orthogonal polynomials
154 V. Jurdjevic Optimal control and geometry: Integrable systems
155 G. Pisier Martingales in Banach spaces
156 C. T. C. Wall Differential topology
157 J. C. Robinson, J. L. Rodrigo & W. Sadowski The three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations
158 D. Huybrechts Lectures on K3 surfaces
159 H. Matsumoto & S. Taniguchi Stochastic analysis
160 A. Borodin & G. Olshanski Representations of the ininite symmetric group
161 P. Webb A course in inite group representation theory
162 C. J. Bishop & Y. Peres Fractals in probability and analysis
163 A. Bovier Gaussian processes on trees

Peter Webb
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A Course in Finite Group

Representation Theory
P E T E R WE B B
University of Minnesota

Peter Webb
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University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of

education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107162396
© Peter Webb 2016

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2016
Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books, Inc.
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Webb, Peter, 1954–
Title: A course in inite group representation theory / Peter Webb, University of Minnesota.
Description: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, [2016] | Series: Cambridge studies in
advanced mathematics | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identiiers: LCCN 2016013913 | ISBN 9781107162396 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Finite groups – Textbooks. | Group theory – Textbooks. | Modules (Algebra) –
Textbooks. | Representations of groups – Textbooks. | Rings (Algebra) – Textbooks.
Classiication: LCC QA177 .W43 2016 | DDC 512/.23–dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016013913
ISBN 978-1-107-16239-6 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy

of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

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Contents
Preface page ix
1 Representations, Maschke’s Theorem, and Semisimplicity 1

1.1 Deinitions and Examples 1
1.2 Semisimple Representations 7
1.3 Summary of Chapter 1 11
1.4 Exercises for Chapter 1 11
2 The Structure of Algebras for Which Every Module Is
Semisimple 15
2.1 Schur’s Lemma and Wedderburn’s Theorem 15
3 Characters 24
3.1 The Character Table 24
3.2 Orthogonality Relations and Bilinear Forms 30
3.3 Consequences of the Orthogonality Relations 33
3.4 The Number of Simple Characters 38
3.5 Algebraic Integers and Divisibility of Character
Degrees 42
3.6 The Matrix Summands of the Complex Group Algebra 45
3.7 Burnside’s pa qb Theorem 48
4 The Construction of Modules and Characters 56
4.1 Cyclic Groups and Direct Products 56

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vi Contents
4.2 Lifting (or Inlating) from a Quotient Group 59

4.3 Induction and Restriction 60
4.4 Symmetric and Exterior Powers 70
4.5 The Construction of Character Tables 75
5 More on Induction and Restriction: Theorems of Mackey
and Clifford 82
5.1 Double Cosets 82
5.2 Mackey’s Theorem 84
5.3 Clifford’s Theorem 87
6 Representations of p-Groups in Characteristic p and the
Radical 95
6.1 Cyclic p-Groups 95
6.2 Simple Modules for Groups with Normal p-Subgroups 98
6.3 Radicals, Socles, and the Augmentation Ideal 100
6.4 Jennings’s Theorem 106
7 Projective Modules for Finite-Dimensional Algebras 115
7.1 Characterizations of Projective and Injective Modules 115
7.2 Projectives by Means of Idempotents 119
7.3 Projective Covers, Nakayama’s Lemma, and Lifting of
Idempotents 122
7.4 The Cartan Matrix 130
8 Projective Modules for Group Algebras 135
8.1 The Behavior of Projective Modules under Induction,
Restriction, and Tensor Product 135
8.2 Projective and Simple Modules for Direct Products
of a p-Group and a p′ -Group 138
8.3 Projective Modules for Groups with a Normal Sylow
p-Subgroup 140
8.4 Projective Modules for Groups with a Normal
p-Complement 145

Peter Webb
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Contents vii
8.5 Symmetry of the Group Algebra 147

9 Changing the Ground Ring: Splitting Fields
and the Decomposition Map 158
9.1 Some Deinitions 159
9.2 Splitting Fields 159
9.3 The Number of Simple Representations in
Positive Characteristic 163
9.4 Reduction Modulo p and the Decomposition Map 167
9.5 The cde Triangle 177
9.6 Blocks of Defect Zero 182
10 Brauer Characters 192
10.1 The Deinition of Brauer Characters 192
10.2 Orthogonality Relations and Grothendieck Groups 198
10.3 The cde Triangle in Terms of Brauer Characters 205
11 Indecomposable Modules 213
11.1 Indecomposable Modules, Local Rings, and the
Krull–Schmidt Theorem 214
11.2 Groups with a Normal Cyclic Sylow p-Subgroup 218
11.3 Relative Projectivity 219
11.4 Finite Representation Type 228
11.5 Ininite Representation Type and the Representations
of C2 × C2 232
11.6 Vertices, Sources, and Green Correspondence 237
11.7 The Heller Operator 245
11.8 Some Further Techniques with Indecomposable
Modules 248
12 Blocks 257
12.1 Blocks of Rings in General 258
12.2 p-Blocks of Groups 262
12.3 The Defect of a Block: Module Theoretic Methods 266

Peter Webb
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viii Contents
12.4 The Defect of a Block: Ring Theoretic Methods 270

12.5 The Brauer Morphism 276
12.6 Brauer Correspondence 282
12.7 Further Reading 286
Appendix A: Discrete Valuation Rings 291
Appendix B: Character Tables 297
Bibliography 321
Index 323

Preface
The representation theory of finite groups has a long history, going back to the
nineteenth century and earlier. A milestone in the subject was the definition of
characters of finite groups by Frobenius in 1896. Prior to this there was some
use of the ideas that we can now identify as representation theory (characters of
cyclic groups as used by number theorists, the work of Schönflies, Fedorov, and
others on crystallographic groups, invariant theory, for instance), and during the
twentieth century, there was continuously active development of the subject.
Nevertheless, the theory of complex characters of finite groups, with its theorem
of semisimplicity and the orthogonality relations, is a stunning achievement
that remains a cornerstone of the subject. It is probably what many people think
of first when they think of finite group representation theory.
This book is about character theory, and it is also about other things: the char-
acter theory of Frobenius occupies less than one-third of the text. The rest of
the book comes about because we allow representations over rings other than
fields of characteristic zero. The theory becomes more complicated, and also
extremely interesting, when we consider representations over fields of charac-
teristic dividing the group order. It becomes still more complicated over rings of
higher Krull-dimension, such as rings of integers. An important case is the the-
ory over a discrete valuation ring, because this provides the connection between
representations in characteristic zero and in positive characteristic. We describe
these things in this text.
Why should we want to know about representations over rings that are not
fields of characteristic zero? It is because they arise in many parts of mathe-
matics. Group representations appear any time we have a group of symmetries
where there is some linear structure present, over some commutative ring. That
ring need not be a field of characteristic zero. Here are some examples:
ix
x Preface
r In number theory, groups arise as Galois groups of field extensions, giving

rise not only to representations over the ground field but also to integral rep-
resentations over rings of integers (in case the fields are number fields). It is
natural to reduce these representations modulo a prime ideal, at which point
we have modular representations.
r In the theory of error-correcting codes, many important codes have a nontriv-
ial symmetry group and are vector spaces over a finite field, thereby providing
a representation of the group over that field.
r In combinatorics, an active topic is to obtain “q-analogs” of enumerative
results, exemplified by replacing binomial coefficients (which count subsets
of a set) by q-binomial coefficients (which count subspaces of vector spaces
over Fq ). Structures permuted by a symmetric group are replaced by linear
structures acted on by a general linear group, thereby giving representations
in positive characteristic.
r In topology, a group may act as a group of self-equivalences of a topological
space. Thereby, giving representations of the group on the homology groups
of the space. If there is torsion in the homology, these representations require
something other than ordinary character theory to be understood.
This book is written for students who are studying finite group representation
theory beyond the level of a first course in abstract algebra. It has arisen out of
notes for courses given at the second-year graduate level at the University of
Minnesota. My aim has been to write the book for the course. It means that the
level of exposition is appropriate for such students, with explanations that are
intended to be full but not overly lengthy.
Most students who attend an advanced course in group representation the-
ory do not go on to be specialists in the subject, for otherwise the class would
be much smaller. Their main interests may be in other areas of mathemat-
ics, such as combinatorics, topology, number theory, or commutative algebra.
These students need a solid, comprehensive grounding in representation theory
that enables them to apply the theory to their own situations as the occasion
demands. They need to be able to work with complex characters, and they also
need to be able to say something about representations over other fields and
rings. While they need the theory to be able to do this, they do not need to be
presented with overly deep material whose main function is to serve the internal
workings of the subject.
With these goals in mind, I have made a choice of material covered. My main
criterion has been to ask whether a topic is useful outside the strict confines of
representation theory and, if it is, to include it. At the same time, if there is a
theorem that fails the test, I have left it out or put it in the exercises. I have
Preface xi
sometimes omitted standard results where they appear not to have sufficiently
compelling applications. For example, the theorem of Frobenius on Frobenius
groups does not appear, because I do not consider that we need this theorem to
understand these groups at the level of this text. I have also omitted Brauer’s
characterization of characters, leading to the determination of a minimal split-
ting field for a group and its subgroups. That result is stated without proof,
and we do prove what is needed, namely that there exists a finite degree field
extension that is a splitting field. For the students who go on to be specialists in
representation theory there is no shortage of more advanced monographs. They
can find these results there—but they may also find it helpful to start with this
book! One of my aims has been to make it possible to read this book from the
beginning without having to wade through chapters full of preliminary techni-
calities, and omitting some results aids in this.
I have included many exercises at the ends of the chapters, and they form an
important part of this book. The benefit of learning actively by having to apply
the theory to calculate with examples and solve problems cannot be overesti-
mated. Some of these exercises are easy, some more challenging. In a number
of instances, I use the exercises as a place to present extensions of results that
appear in the text or as an indication of what can be done further.
I have assumed that the reader is familiar with the first properties of groups,
rings, and field extensions and with linear algebra. More specifically the reader
should know about Sylow subgroups, solvable, and nilpotent groups, as well
as the examples that are introduced in a first group theory course, such as the
dihedral, symmetric, alternating, and quaternion groups. The reader should also
be familiar with tensor products, Noetherian properties of commutative rings,
the structure of modules over a principal ideal domain, and the first properties of
ideals as well as with Jordan and rational canonical forms for matrices. These
topics are covered in a standard graduate-level algebra course. I develop the
properties of algebraic integers, valuation theory, and completions within the
text since they usually fall outside such a course.
Many people have read sections of this book, worked through the exer-
cises, and been very generous with the comments they have made. I wish to
thank them all. They include Cihan Bahran, Dave Benson, Daniel Hess, John
Palmieri, Sverre Smalø, and many others.
1
Representations, Maschke’s Theorem,
and Semisimplicity
In this chapter, we present the basic definitions and examples to do with

group representations. We then prove Maschke’s theorem, which states that
in many circumstances representations are completely reducible. We conclude
by describing the properties of semisimple modules.
1.1 Definitions and Examples

Informally, a representation of a group is a collection of invertible linear trans-
formations of a vector space (or, more generally, of a module for a ring) that
multiply together in the same way as the group elements. The collection of
linear transformations thus establishes a pattern of symmetry of the vector
space, which copies the symmetry encoded by the group. Because symmetry is
observed and understood so widely, and is even one of the fundamental notions
of mathematics, there are applications of representation theory across the whole
of mathematics as well as in other disciplines.
For many applications, especially those having to do with the natural world,
it is appropriate to consider representations over fields of characteristic zero
such as C, R, or Q (the fields of complex numbers, real numbers, or ratio-
nal numbers). In other situations that might arise in topology or combinatorics
or number theory, for instance, we find ourselves considering representations
over fields of positive characteristic, such as the field with p elements F p , or
over rings that are not fields, such as the ring of integers Z. Many aspects of
representation theory do change as the ring varies, but there are also parts of the
theory that are similar regardless of the field characteristic or even if the ring
is not a field. We develop the theory independently of the choice of ring where
possible so as to be able to apply it in all situations and to establish a natural
context for the results.
1
2 Representations, Maschke’s Theorem, and Semisimplicity
Let G denote a finite group, and let R be a commutative ring with a 1. If

V is an R-module, we denote it by GL(V ) the group of all invertible R-module
homomorphisms V → V . In case, V ∼ = Rn is a free module of rank n, this group
is isomorphic to the group of all nonsingular n × n matrices over R, and we
denote it by GL(n, R) or GLn (R), or in case R = Fq is the finite field with q
elements by GL(n, q) or GLn (q). We point out also that unless otherwise stated,
modules will be left modules and morphisms will be composed reading from
right to left so that matrices in GL(n, R) are thought of as acting from the left
on column vectors.
A (linear) representation of G (over R) is a group homomorphism
ρ : G → GL(V ).
In a situation where V is free as an R-module, on taking a basis for V , we may

write each element of GL(V ) as a matrix with entries in R, and we obtain for
each g ∈ G a matrix ρ(g). These matrices multiply together in the manner of
the group, and we have a matrix representation of G. In this situation, the rank
of the free R-module V is called the degree of the representation. Sometimes,
by abuse of terminology, the module V is also called the representation, but it
is more properly called the representation module or representation space (if
R is a field).
To illustrate some of the possibilities that may arise, we consider some
examples.
Example 1.1.1. For any group G and commutative ring R, we can take V =
R and ρ(g) = 1 for all g ∈ G, where 1 denotes the identify map R → R. This
representation is called the trivial representation, and it is often denoted simply
by its representation module R. Although this representation turns out to be
extremely important in the theory, it does not at this point give much insight
into the nature of a representation.
Example 1.1.2. A representation on a space V = R of rank 1 is in general

determined by specifying a homomorphism G → R× . Here R× is the group of
units of R, and it is isomorphic to GL(V ). For example, if G = g is cyclic
of order n and k = C is the field of complex numbers, there are n possible
2rπi
such homomorphisms, determined by g → e n where 0 ≤ r ≤ n − 1. Another
important example of a degree 1 representation is the sign representation of
the symmetric group Sn on n symbols, given by the group homomorphism that
assigns to each permutation its sign, regarded as an element of the arbitrary
ring R.
1.1 Definitions and Examples 3
Example 1.1.3. Let R = R, V = R2 , and G = S3 . This group G is isomorphic

to the group of symmetries of an equilateral triangle. The symmetries are the
three reflections in the lines that bisect the equilateral triangle, together with
three rotations:
2
Positioning the center of the triangle at the origin of V and labeling the three
vertices of the triangle as 1, 2, and 3, we get a representation

1 0
() → ,
0 1

0 1
(1, 2) → ,
1 0

−1 0
(1, 3) → ,
−1 1

1 −1
(2, 3) → ,
0 −1

0 −1
(1, 2, 3) → ,
1 −1

−1 1
(1, 3, 2) → ,
−1 0
where we have taken basis vectors in the directions of vertices 1 and 2, making
an angle of 2π3
to each other. In fact these matrices define a representation of
degree 2 over any ring R, because although the representation was initially con-
structed over R the matrices have integer entries, and these may be interpreted
in every ring. No matter what the ring is, the matrices always multiply together
to give a copy of S3 .
At this point, we have constructed three representations of S3 : the trivial rep-
resentation, the sign representation, and one of dimension 2.
Example 1.1.4. Let R = F p , V = R2 , and let G = Cp = g be cyclic of order

p generated by an element g. We see that the assignment

1 0
ρ(g ) =
r
r 1
is a representation. In this case, the fact that we have a representation is very
much dependent on the choice of R as the field F p : in any other characteristic
it would not work, because the matrix shown would no longer have order p.
We can think of representations in various ways. One of them is that a rep-

resentation is the specification of an action of a group on an R-module, as we
now explain. Given a representation ρ : G → GL(V ), an element v ∈ V , and a
group element g ∈ G, we get another module element ρ(g)(v). Sometimes we
write just g · v or gv for this element. This rule for multiplication satisfies
g · (λv + μw) = λg · v + μg · w,
(gh) · v = g · (h · v),
1·v =v
for all g ∈ G, v, w ∈ V , and λ, μ ∈ R. A rule for multiplication G × V → V
satisfying these conditions is called a linear action of G on V . To specify a
linear action of G on V is the same thing as specifying a representation of G on
V , since given a representation, we obtain a linear action as indicated earlier,
and evidently, given a linear action, we may recover the representation.
Another way to define a representation of a group is in terms of the group
algebra. We define the group algebra RG (or R[G]) of G over R to be the free
R-module with the elements of G as an R-basis and with multiplication given on
the basis elements by group multiplication. The elements of RG are the (formal)
R-linear combinations of group elements, and the multiplication of the basis
elements is extended to arbitrary elements using bilinearity of the operation.

What this means is that a typical element of RG is an expression g∈G agg
where ag ∈ R, and the multiplication of these elements is given symbolically by
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞

⎝ agg⎠ bh h = ⎝ agbh ⎠ k.
g∈G h∈G k∈G gh=k
More concretely, we exemplify this definition by listing some elements of the

group algebra QS3 . We write elements of S3 in cycle notation, such as (1, 2).
This group element gives rise to a basis element of the group algebra which we
write either as 1 · (1, 2) or simply as (1, 2) again. The group identity element ()
also serves as the identity element of QS3 . In general, elements of QS3 may look
1.1 Definitions and Examples 5
like (1, 2) − (2, 3) or 15 (1, 2, 3) + 6(1, 2) − 17 (2, 3). Here is a computation:
(3(1, 2, 3) + (1, 2))(() − 2(2, 3)) = 3(1, 2, 3) + (1, 2) − 6(1, 2) − 2(1, 2, 3)

= (1, 2, 3) − 5(1, 2).
An (associative) R-algebra is defined to be a (not necessarily commutative)

ring A with a 1, equipped with a (unital) ring homomorphism R → A whose
image lies in the center of A. The group algebra RG is indeed an example of
an R-algebra.
Having defined the group algebra, we may now define a representation of G
over R to be a unital RG-module. The fact that this definition coincides with
the previous ones is the content of the next proposition. Throughout this text,
we may refer to group representations as modules (for the group algebra).
Proposition 1.1.5. A representation of G over R has the structure of a unital

RG-module. Conversely, every unital RG-module provides a representation of
G over R.
Proof. Given a representation ρ : G → GL(V ), we define a module action of

RG on V by ( agg)v = agρ(g)(v).
Given an RG-module V , the linear map ρ(g) : v → gv is an automorphism
of V and ρ(g1 )ρ(g2 ) = ρ(g1 g2 ) so ρ : G → GL(V ) is a representation.
The group algebra gives another example of a representation, called the reg-
ular representation. In fact, for any ring A, we may regard A itself as a left
A-module with the action of A on itself given by multiplication of the elements.
We denote this left A-module by A A when we wish to emphasize the module
structure, and this is the (left) regular representation of A. When A = RG, we
may describe the action on RG RG by observing that each element g ∈ G acts
on RG RG by permuting the basis elements in the fashion g · h = gh. Thus, each
g acts by a permutation matrix, namely a matrix in which, in every row and
column, there is precisely one nonzero entry, and that nonzero entry is 1. The
regular representation is an example of a permutation representation, namely
one in which every group element acts by a permutation matrix.
Regarding representations of G as RG-modules has the advantage that many
definitions, we wish to make may be borrowed from module theory. Thus, we
may study RG-submodules of an RG-module V , and if we wish, we may call
them subrepresentations of the representation afforded by V . To specify an RG-
submodule of V , it is necessary to specify an R-submodule W of V that is closed
under the action of RG. This is equivalent to requiring that ρ(g)w ∈ W for
all g ∈ G and w ∈ W . We say that a submodule W satisfying this condition is
stable under G or that it is an invariant submodule or invariant subspace (if

R happens to be a field). Such an invariant submodule W gives rise to a homo-
morphism ρW : G → GL(W ) that is the subrepresentation afforded by W .
Example 1.1.6. 1. Let C2 = {1, −1} be cyclic of order 2 and consider the rep-
resentation
ρ : C2 → GL(R2 ),

1 0
1 → ,
0 1

1 0
−1 → .
0 −1
There are just four invariant subspaces, namely {0}, 10 , 01 , R2 , and no

others. The representation space R2 = 10 ⊕ 01 is the direct sum of two
invariant subspaces.
Example 1.1.7. In Example 1.1.4, an elementary calculation shows that 01 is

the only 1-dimensional invariant subspace, and so it is not possible to write the
representation space V as the direct sum of two nonzero invariant subspaces.
We make use of the notions of a homomorphism and an isomorphism of RG-

modules. Since RG has as a basis the elements of G, to check that an R-linear
homomorphism f : V → W is in fact a homomorphism of RG-modules, it suf-
fices to check that f (gv) = g f (v) for all g ∈ G—we do not need to check for
every x ∈ RG. By means of the identification of RG-modules with representa-
tions of G (in the first definition given here) we may refer to homomorphisms
and isomorphisms of group representations. In many books the algebraic con-
dition on the representations that these notions entail is written out explicitly,
and two representations that are isomorphic are also said to be equivalent.
If V and W are RG-modules then we may form their (external) direct sum
V ⊕ W , which is the same as the direct sum of V and W as R-modules together
with an action of G given by g(v, w) = (gv, gw). We also have the notion of
the internal direct sum of RG-modules and write U = V ⊕ W to mean that U
has RG-submodules V and W satisfying U = V + W and V ∩ W = 0. In this
situation, we also say that V and W are direct summands of U. We just met this
property in Example 1.1.6, which gives a representation that is a direct sum of
two nonzero subspaces; by contrast, Example 1.1.7 provides an example of a
subrepresentation that is not a direct summand.
1.2 Semisimple Representations

We come now to our first nontrivial result, one that is fundamental to the
study of representations over fields of characteristic zero, or characteristic not
dividing the group order. This surprising result says that in this situation repre-
sentations always break apart as direct sums of smaller representations. We do
now require the ring R to be a field, and in this situation, we will often use the
symbols F or k instead of R.
Theorem 1.2.1 (Maschke). Let V be a representation of the finite group G

over a field F in which |G| is invertible. Let W be an invariant subspace of
V . Then there exists an invariant subspace W1 of V such that V = W ⊕ W1 as
representations.
Proof. Let π : V → W be any projection of V onto W as vector spaces, that is, a

linear transformation such that π (w) = w for all w ∈ W . Since F is a field, we
may always find such a projection by finding a vector space complement to W in
V and projecting off the complementary factor. Then V = W ⊕ Ker(π ) as vec-
tor spaces, but Ker(π ) is not necessarily invariant under G. Consider the map
1
π = gπg−1 : V → V.
|G| g∈G
Then π is linear, and if w ∈ W then

1
π (w) = gπ (g−1 w)
|G| g∈G
1 −1
= gg w
|G| g∈G
1
= |G|w
|G|
= w.
Since furthermore π (v) ∈ W for all v ∈ V , π is a projection onto W and so
V = W ⊕ Ker(π ). We show finally that Ker(π ) is an invariant subspace by
verifying that π is an FG-module homomorphism: if h ∈ G and v ∈ V then
1
π (hv) = gπ (g−1 hv)
|G| g∈G
1
= h(h−1 g)π ((h−1 g)−1 v)
|G| g∈G
= hπ (v)
because as g ranges over the elements of G, so does h−1 g. Now if v ∈ Ker(π )

then hv ∈ Ker(π ) also (since π (hv) = hπ (v) = 0) and so Ker(π ) is an
invariant subspace.
Because the next results apply more generally than to group representations,
we let A be a ring with a 1 and consider its modules. A nonzero A-module V is
said to be simple or irreducible if V has no A-submodules other than 0 and V .
Example 1.2.2. When A is an algebra over a field, every module of dimension 1

is simple. In Example 1.1.3, we have constructed three representations of RS3 ,
and they are all simple. The trivial and sign representations are simple because
they have dimension 1, and the 2-dimensional representation is simple because,
visibly, no 1-dimensional subspace is invariant under the group action. We will
see in Example 2.1.6 that this is a complete list of the simple representations of
S3 over R.
We see immediately that a nonzero module is simple if and only if it is gen-

erated by each of its nonzero elements. Furthermore, the simple A-modules are
exactly those of the form A/I for some maximal left ideal I of A: every such
module is simple, and given a simple module S with a nonzero element x ∈ S
the A-module homomorphism A → S specified by a → ax is surjective with
kernel a maximal ideal I, so that S ∼
= A/I. Because all simple modules appear
inside A in this way, we may deduce that if A is a finite-dimensional algebra
over a field there are only finitely many isomorphism types of simple mod-
ules, these appearing among the composition factors of A when regarded as a
module. As a consequence, the simple A-modules are all finite-dimensional.
A module that is the direct sum of simple submodules is said to be semisim-
ple or completely reducible. We saw in Examples 1.1.6 and 1.1.7 two examples
of modules, one of which was semisimple and the other of which was not. Every
module of finite composition length is somehow built up out of its composition
factors, which are simple modules, and we know from the Jordan–Hölder theo-
rem that these composition factors are determined up to isomorphism, although
there may be many composition series. The most rudimentary way these com-
position factors may be fitted together is as a direct sum, giving a semisim-
ple module. In this case, the simple summands are the composition factors of
the module, and their isomorphism types and multiplicities are uniquely deter-
mined. There may, however, be many ways to find simple submodules of a
semisimple module so that the module is their direct sum.
We will now relate the property of semisimplicity to the property that
appears in Maschke’s theorem, namely that every submodule of a module is
a direct summand. Our immediate application of this will be an interpretation
of Maschke’s theorem, but the results have application in greater generality in

situations where R is not a field, or when |G| is not invertible in R. To sim-
plify the exposition, we have imposed a finiteness condition in the statement of
each result, thereby avoiding arguments that use Zorn’s lemma. These finite-
ness conditions can be removed, and we leave the details to Exercise 14 at the
end of this chapter.
In the special case when the ring A is a field and A-modules are vector spaces,
the next result is familiar from linear algebra.
Lemma 1.2.3. Let A be a ring with a 1, and suppose that U = S1 + · · · + Sn

is an A-module that can be written as the sum of finitely many simple modules
S1 , . . . , Sn . If V is any submodule of U, there is a subset I = {i1 , . . . , ir } of
{1, . . . , n} such that U = V ⊕ Si1 ⊕ · · · Sir . In particular,
(1) V is a direct summand of U, and

(2) (taking V = 0), U is the direct sum of some subset of the Si and hence
is necessarily semisimple.
Proof. Choose a subset I of {1, . . . , n} maximal subject to the condition that the

sum W = V ⊕ ( i∈I Si ) is a direct sum. Note that I = ∅ has this property, so we
are indeed taking a maximal element of a nonempty collection of subsets. We
show that W = U. If W = U then S j ⊆ W for some j. Now S j ∩ W = 0, being
a proper submodule of S j , so S j + W = S j ⊕ W , and we obtain a contradiction
to the maximality of I. Therefore, W = U. The consequences (1) and (2) are
immediate.
Proposition 1.2.4. Let A be a ring with a 1 and let U be an A-module. The

following are equivalent:
(1) U can be expressed as a direct sum of finitely many simple A-

submodules.
(2) U can be expressed as a sum of finitely many simple A-submodules.
(3) U has finite composition length and has the property that every sub-
module of U is a direct summand of U.
When these three conditions hold, every submodule of U and every factor
module of U may also be expressed as the direct sum of finitely many simple
modules.
Proof. The implication (1) ⇒ (2) is immediate and the implications (2) ⇒ (1)
and (2) ⇒ (3) follow from Lemma 1.2.3. To show that (3) ⇒ (1), we argue by
induction on the composition length of U and first observe that hypothesis (3)
passes to submodules of U. For if V is a submodule of U and W is a submodule
of V then U = W ⊕ X for some submodule X, and now V = W ⊕ (X ∩ V ) by

the modular law (Exercise 2 at the end of this chapter). Proceeding with the
induction argument, when U has length 1 it is a simple module, and so the
induction starts. If U has length greater than 1, it has a submodule V and by
condition (3), U = V ⊕ W for some submodule W . Now both V and W inherit
condition (3) and are of shorter length, so by induction they are direct sums of
simple modules and hence so is U.
We have already observed that every submodule of U inherits condition (3)
and so satisfies condition (1) also. Every factor module of U has the form U/V
for some submodule V of U. If condition (3) holds then U = V ⊕ W for some
submodule W that we have just observed satisfies condition (1), and hence so
does U/V , because U/V ∼ = W.
We now present a different version of Maschke’s theorem. The assertion

remains correct if the words “finite-dimensional” are removed from it, but we
leave the proof of this to the exercises.
Corollary 1.2.5. Let F be a field in which |G| is invertible. Then every finite-
dimensional FG-module is semisimple.
Proof. This combines Theorem 1.2.1 with the equivalence of the statements of
Proposition 1.2.4.
This result puts us in very good shape if we want to know about the repre-
sentations of a finite group over a field in which |G| is invertible—for example
any field of characteristic zero. To obtain a description of all possible finite-
dimensional representations, we need only describe the simple ones, and then
arbitrary ones are direct sums of these.
The following corollaries to Lemma 1.2.3 will be used on many occasions
when we are considering modules that are not semisimple.
Corollary 1.2.6. Let A be a ring with a 1, and let U be an A-module of finite

composition length.
(1) The sum of all the simple submodules of U is a semisimple module, that
is the unique largest semisimple submodule of U.
(2) The sum of all submodules of U isomorphic to some given simple mod-
ule S is a submodule isomorphic to a direct sum of copies of S. It is the
unique largest submodule of U with this property.
Proof. The submodules described can be expressed as the sum of finitely many
submodules by the finiteness condition on U. They are the unique largest
submodules with their respective properties since they contain all simple sub-
modules (in case (1)), and all submodules isomorphic to S (in case (2)).
The largest semisimple submodule of a module U is called the socle of U, and
is denoted Soc(U ). There is a dual construction called the radical of U, denoted
Rad U, that we will study in Chapter 6. It is defined to be the intersection of
all the maximal submodules of U, and has the property that it is the smallest
submodule of U with semisimple quotient.
Corollary 1.2.7. Let U = S1a1 ⊕ · · · ⊕ Srar be a semisimple module over a ring
A with a 1, where the Si are nonisomorphic simple A-modules and the ai are
their multiplicities as summands of U. Then each submodule Siai is uniquely
determined and is characterized as the unique largest submodule of U express-
ible as a direct sum of copies of Si .
Proof. It suffices to show that Siai contains every submodule of U isomorphic to
Si . If T is any nonzero submodule of U not contained in Siai then for some j = i,
its projection to a summand S j must be nonzero. If we assume that T is simple,
this projection will be an isomorphism T ∼ = S j . Thus, all simple submodules
isomorphic to Si are contained in the summand Siai .
1.3 Summary of Chapter 1

r Representations of G over R are the same thing as RG-modules.
r Semisimple modules may be characterized in several different ways. They
are modules that are the direct sum of simple modules, or equivalently the
sum of simple modules, or equivalently modules for which every submodule
is a direct summand.
r If F is a field in which G is invertible, FG-modules are semisimple.
r The sum of all simple submodules of a module is the unique largest semisim-
ple submodule of that module: the socle.
1.4 Exercises for Chapter 1

1. In Example 1.1.6, prove that there are no invariant subspaces other than the
ones listed.
2. (The modular law.) Let A be a ring and U = V ⊕ W an A-module that is the
direct sum of A-modules V and W . Show by example that if X is any submodule
of U then it need not be the case that X = (V ∩ X ) ⊕ (W ∩ X ). Show that if we
make the assumption that V ⊆ X then it is true that X = (V ∩ X ) ⊕ (W ∩ X ).
3. Suppose that ρ is a finite-dimensional representation of a finite group G over
C. Show that for each g ∈ G the matrix ρ(g) is diagonalizable.
4. Let φ : U → V be a homomorphism of A-modules. Show that φ(Soc U ) ⊆

Soc V , and that if φ is an isomorphism then φ restricts to an isomorphism
Soc U → Soc V .
5. Let U = S1 ⊕ · · · ⊕ Sr be an A-module that is the direct sum of finitely many
simple modules S1 , . . . , Sr . Show that if T is any simple submodule of U then
T ∼= Si for some i.
6. Let V be an A-module for some ring A and suppose that V is a sum V =
V1 + · · · + Vn of simple submodules. Assume further that the Vi are pairwise
nonisomorphic. Show that the Vi are the only simple submodules of V and that
V = V1 ⊕ · · · ⊕ Vn is their direct sum.

7. Let G = x, y x2 = y2 = 1 = [x, y] be the Klein four-group, R = F2 , and
consider the two representations ρ1 and ρ2 specified on the generators of G by
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
1 1 0 1 0 1
ρ1 (x) = ⎣0 1 0⎦ , ρ1 (y) = ⎣0 1 0⎦
0 0 1 0 0 1
and
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
1 0 0 1 0 1
ρ2 (x) = ⎣0 1 1⎦ , ρ2 (y) = ⎣0 1 0⎦ .
0 0 1 0 0 1
Calculate the socles of these two representations. Show that neither represen-
tation is semisimple.
8. Let G = Cp = x and R = F p for some prime p ≥ 3. Consider the two rep-
resentations ρ1 and ρ2 specified by
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
1 1 0 1 1 1
ρ1 (x) = ⎣0 1 1⎦ and ρ2 (x) = ⎣0 1 0⎦ .
0 0 1 0 0 1
Calculate the socles of these two representations and show that neither repre-
sentation is semisimple. Show that the second representation is nevertheless the
direct sum of two nonzero subrepresentations.
9. Let k be an infinite field of characteristic 2, and G = x, y ∼
= C2 × C2 be the
noncyclic group of order 4. For each λ ∈ k, let ρλ (x), ρλ (y) be the matrices

1 0 1 0
ρλ (x) = , ρλ (y) = ,
1 1 λ 1
regarded as linear maps Uλ → Uλ where Uλ is a k-vector space of dimension 2

with basis {e1 , e2 }.
(a) Show that ρλ defines a representations of G with representation space

Uλ .
(b) Find a basis for Soc Uλ .
(c) By considering the effect on Soc Uλ , show that any kG-module
homo-
morphism α : Uλ → Uμ has a triangular matrix α = a 0 with respect
b c
to the given bases.
(d) Show that if Uλ ∼= Uμ as kG-modules then λ = μ. Deduce that kG has
infinitely many nonisomorphic 2-dimensional representations.
10. Let
ρ1 : G → GL(V )
ρ2 : G → GL(V )
be two representations of G on the same R-module V that are injective as homo-
morphisms. (We say that such a representation is faithful.) Consider the three
properties that
(1) the RG-modules given by ρ1 and ρ2 are isomorphic,

(2) the subgroups ρ1 (G) and ρ2 (G) are conjugate in GL(V ),
(3) for some automorphism α ∈ Aut(G), the representations ρ1 and ρ2 α are
isomorphic.
Show that (1) ⇒ (2) and that (2) ⇒ (3). Show also that if α ∈ Aut(G) is an
inner automorphism (i.e., one of the form “conjugation by g” for some g ∈ G)
then ρ1 and ρ1 α are isomorphic.
11. One form of the Jordan–Zassenhaus Theorem asserts that for each n,
GL(n, Z) (i.e., Aut(Zn )) has only finitely many conjugacy classes of subgroups
of finite order. Assuming this, show that for each finite group G and each inte-
ger n there are only finitely many isomorphism classes of representations of G
on Zn .
12. (a) Write out a proof of Maschke’s Theorem in the case of representations
over C along the following lines.
Given a representation ρ : G → GL(V ) where V is a vector space over C, let
( , ) be any positive definite Hermitian form on V . Define a new form ( , )1
on V by
1
(v, w)1 = (gv, gw).
|G| g∈G
Show that ( , )1 is a positive definite Hermitian form, preserved under the

action of G; that is, (v, w)1 = (gv, gw)1 always.
If W is a subrepresentation of V , show that V = W ⊕ W ⊥ as representations.
(b) Show that any finite subgroup of GL(n, C) is conjugate to a subgroup of
U (n, C) (the unitary group, consisting of n × n complex matrices A satisfying
AĀT = I). Show that any finite subgroup of GL(n, R) is conjugate to a subgroup
of O(n, R) (the orthogonal group consisting of n × n real matrices A satisfying
AAT = I).
13. (a) Using Proposition 1.2.4, show that if A is a ring for which the regu-
lar representation A A is semisimple, then every finitely generated A-module is
semisimple.
(b) Extend the result of part (a), using Zorn’s Lemm, to show that if A is a ring
for which the regular representation A A is semisimple, then every A-module is
semisimple.
14. Let U be a module for a ring A with a 1. Show that the following three
statements are equivalent:
(1) U is a direct sum of simple A-submodules.
(2) U is a sum of simple A-submodules.
(3) Every submodule of U is a direct summand of U.
[Use Zorn’s Lemma to prove a version of Lemma 1.2.3 that has no finiteness
hypothesis and then copy Proposition 1.2.4. This deals with all implications
except (3) ⇒ (2). For that, use the fact that A has a 1 and hence every (left)
ideal is contained in a maximal (left) ideal, combined with condition (3), to
show that every submodule of U has a simple submodule. Consider the sum of
all simple submodules of U and show that it equals U.]
15. Let RG be the group algebra of a finite group G over a commutative ring
R with 1. Let S be a simple RG-module and let I be the anihilator in R of S,
that is

I = {r ∈ R rx = 0 for all x ∈ S}.
Show that I is a maximal ideal in R.
[This question requires some familiarity with standard commutative algebra.
We conclude from this result that when considering simple RG modules we
may reasonably assume that R is a field, since S may naturally be regarded as
an (R/I)G-module and R/I is a field.]
2
The Structure of Algebras for Which Every
Module Is Semisimple
In this chapter, we present the Artin–Wedderburn structure theorem for

semisimple algebras and its immediate consequences. This theorem is the ring-
theoretic manifestation of the module theoretic hypothesis of semisimplicity
that was introduced in Chapter 1, and it shows that the kind of algebras that can
arise when all modules are semisimple is very restricted. The theorem applies
to group algebras over a field in which the group order is invertible (as a con-
sequence of Maschke’s Theorem), but since the result holds in greater general-
ity we will assume we are working with a finite-dimensional algebra A over a
field k.
2.1 Schur’s Lemma and Wedderburn’s Theorem

Possibly the most important single technique in representation theory is to con-
sider endomorphism rings. It is the main technique of this chapter, and we will
see it in use throughout this book. The first result is basic and will be used time
and time again.
Theorem 2.1.1 (Schur’s Lemma). Let A be a ring with a 1 and let S1 and S2
be simple A-modules. Then HomA (S1 , S2 ) = 0 unless S1 ∼ = S2 , in which case
the endomorphism ring EndA (S1 ) is a division ring. If A is a finite-dimensional
algebra over an algebraically closed field k, then every A-module endomor-
phism of S1 is multiplication by some scalar. Thus, EndA (S1 ) ∼ = k in this case.
Proof. Suppose θ : S1 → S2 is a nonzero homomorphism. Then 0 = θ (S1 ) ⊆

S2 , so θ (S1 ) = S2 by simplicity of S2 , and we see that θ is surjective. Thus,
Ker θ = S1 , so Ker θ = 0 by simplicity of S1 , and θ is injective. Therefore, θ is
invertible, S1 ∼= S2 , and EndA (S1 ) is a division ring.
15
16 The Structure of Algebras for Which Every Module Is Semisimple
If A is a finite-dimensional k-algebra and k is algebraically closed then S1 is

a finite-dimensional vector space. Let θ be an A-module endomorphism of S1
and let λ be an eigenvalue of θ . Now (θ − λI) : S1 → S1 is a singular endo-
morphism of A-modules, so θ − λI = 0 and θ = λI.
We have just seen that requiring k to be algebraically closed guarantees that
the division rings EndA (S) are no larger than k, and this is often a significant
simplifying condition. In what follows we sometimes make this requirement,
also indicating how the results go more generally. At other times requiring k to
be algebraically closed is too strong, but we still want k to have the property
that EndA (S) = k for all simple A-modules S. In this case, we call k a splitting
field for the k-algebra A. The theory of splitting fields will be developed in
Chapter 9; for the moment it suffices know that algebraically closed fields are
always splitting fields.
The next result is the main tool in recovering the structure of an algebra
from its representations. We use the notation Aop to denote the opposite ring of
A, namely, the ring that has the same set and the same addition as A, but with a
new multiplication given by a · b = ba.
Lemma 2.1.2. For any ring A with a 1, EndA (A A) ∼
= Aop .
Proof. We prove the result by writing down homomorphisms in both directions
that are inverse to each other. The inverse isomorphisms are
φ → φ(1)
(a → ax) ← x.
There are several things here that need to be checked: that the second assign-
ment does take values in EndA (A A), that the morphisms are ring homomor-
phisms, and that they are mutually inverse. We leave most of this to the reader,
observing only that under the first homomorphism a composite θ φ is sent to
(θ φ)(1) = θ (φ(1)) = θ (φ(1)1) = φ(1)θ (1), so that it is indeed a homomor-
phism to Aop .
Observe that the proof of Lemma 2.1.2 establishes that every endomor-
phism of the regular representation is of the form “right multiplication by some
element.”
A ring A with 1 all of whose modules are semisimple is itself called semisim-
ple. By Exercise 13 of Chapter 1, it is equivalent to suppose that the regular rep-
resentation A A is semisimple. It is also equivalent, if A is a finite-dimensional
algebra over a field, to suppose that the Jacobson radical of the ring is zero, but
the Jacobson radical has not yet been defined, and we will not deal with this
point of view until Chapter 6.
2.1 Schur’s Lemma and Wedderburn’s Theorem 17
Theorem 2.1.3 (Artin–Wedderburn). Let A be a finite-dimensional algebra

over a field k with the property that every finite-dimensional module is semisim-
ple. Then A is a direct sum of matrix algebras over division rings. Specifically,
if
AA
∼
= S11 ⊕ · · · ⊕ Srnr ,
n
where the S1 , . . . , Sr are nonisomorphic simple modules occuring with multi-

plicities n1 , . . . , nr in the regular representation, then
A∼
= Mn1 (D1 ) ⊕ · · · ⊕ Mnr (Dr ),
where Di = EndA (Si )op . Furthermore, if k is algebraically closed then Di = k
for all i.
More is true: every such direct sum of matrix algebras is a semisimple alge-
bra. Each matrix algebra over a division ring is a simple algebra (namely, one
that has no 2-sided ideals apart from the zero ideal and the whole ring), and
it has up to isomorphism a unique simple module (see the exercises). Fur-
thermore, the matrix algebra summands are uniquely determined as subsets
of A (although the module decomposition of A A is usually only determined
up to isomorphism). The uniqueness of the summands will be established in
Proposition 3.6.1.
Proof. We first observe that if we have a direct sum decomposition
U = U1 ⊕ · · · ⊕ Ur
of a module U then EndA (U ) is isomorphic to the algebra of r × r matrices in
which the i, j entries lie in HomA (U j , Ui ). This is because any endomorphism
φ : U → U may be writen as a matrix of components φ = (φi j ) where φi j :
U j → Ui , and when viewed in this way endomorphisms compose in the manner
n
of matrix multiplication. Since HomA (S j j , Sini ) = 0 if i = j by Schur’s Lemma,
the decomposition of A A shows that
EndA (A A) ∼
= EndA (S1n1 ) ⊕ · · · ⊕ EndA (Srnr )
and furthermore EndA (Sini ) ∼
= Mni (Di ). Evidently, Mni (Di )op ∼
op op
= Mni (Di ) and
op
by Lemma 2.1.2, we identify EndA (A A) as A . Putting these pieces together
gives the matrix algebra decomposition. Finally, if k is algebraically closed, it
is part of Schur’s Lemma that Di = k for all i.
Corollary 2.1.4. Let A be a finite-dimensional semisimple algebra over a field
k. In any decomposition,
AA = S1n1 ⊕ · · · ⊕ Srnr
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28 Brain, vol. i. p. 126.
Coma.
Turning now to the other extreme, we find a class of cases in which

the disorder consists not in wakefulness, but in an excess of sleep.
Excluding those exceptional cases in which healthy individuals, as a
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Between natural sleep and this condition may be placed the
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the presence of inflammatory exudations. Intracranial tumors,
embolisms, thrombi, degeneration of tissue, diseases of the arteries
of the brain—in short, every morbid change of which the liquids and
the solids within the cranium are capable—may become the causes
of coma. So also the blood and lymph, contaminated with the
products of internal disintegration, may benumb the brain with
comatose sleep. Again, the tissues of the brain may be overwhelmed
with poisons introduced from without the body, and thus a condition
of coma may result. Few diseases, therefore, exist without the
possibility of coma as one of their consequences—a coma which,
however, must not be confounded with the genuine sleep which
sometimes occupies the larger part of certain stages of
convalescence from acute illness. During such convalescence there
is a reversion to the infantile type of nutrition, with all its need of
prolonged and frequent periods of repose. Like normal sleep, the
comatose condition admits of considerable variation of intensity. The
patient may sometimes be partially roused, as from the coma of
alcoholic intoxication, and he may finally recover complete
consciousness, but very often the reverse is the fact. The coma
deepens into paralysis, and death terminates the scene without the
slightest manifestation of sensibility or intelligence.
Sleeping Dropsy (Maladie du Sommeil).
A singular disorder, characterized by daily paroxysms of

somnolence, tending to become more and more continuous and
profound until merged in fatal coma, is encountered among the
negro inhabitants of the Atlantic coast of tropical Africa. Similar
cases have been occasionally reported in other regions of the world,
but it is among the Africans that they have been principally observed.
For our knowledge of this disease we are chiefly indebted to the
writings of Clark,29 an English surgeon residing at Sierra Leone, and
of Guérin,30 a surgeon in the French navy, who enjoyed unusual
opportunities for its study among the laborers recently brought from
Africa to the island of Martinique. According to these observers, the
onset of the malady is gradual, commencing with a slight frontal
headache. Very soon a disposition to sleep after meals is remarked.
This becomes increasingly urgent, and the paroxysms of sleep are
prolonged, until at length the patient becomes continually soperose.
The wakeful intervals are marked by a sluggish state of the
intellectual faculties. The pulse is not accelerated, but remains full
and soft. The veins of the sclerotic become turgid and the eyeball
seems unusually prominent. The temperature does not increase, but
rather tends to diminish its figure. The skin becomes dry and
moderately cool. The tongue continues moist, and is covered with a
white fur. The contents of the bowels and of the bladder are regularly
voided, and the appetite persists with considerable vigor. Finally, the
patient becomes completely comatose and dies quietly. Sometimes,
however, the evolution of the disease is less tranquil. Epileptiform
convulsions, followed by progressively deepening paroxysms of
coma, interrupt its course, until a continuous muscular tremor marks
the closing period. At the same time the pulse grows weaker and
more frequent, until its movements cease in death. Recovery is
almost unknown, though the duration of the disease often varies
from three months to a year or longer. Examination of the body after
death has thus far yielded very negative results: the sinuses and
larger vessels of the brain are engorged with blood, but no evidence
of inflammation is anywhere apparent. The other organs present no
pathological alterations whatever. These observations seem to
indicate that the disease originates in some form of general blood-
poisoning rather than in any local inflammation or degeneration, and
Clark has called attention to an enlargement of the cervical glands
as a feature of the malady. According to G. H. Bachelder,31 the native
physicians cure the disease by extirpation of the affected glands. He
has also observed an initial lesion in the nasal mucous membrane. If
this be confirmed, the malady will take its place among the forms of
coma produced by septic poisoning.
29 Transactions of the London Epidemiological Society, vol. i. p. 116.
30 De la Maladies du Sommeil, 1869.
31 The Medical Record, July 1, 1882, p. 23.
Lethargy.
A pathological variety of sleep, in which the repose of the body is
even more complete than in coma. The victim of coma often
presents a countenance suffused with blood; the pulse beats
vigorously, and respiration may become stertorous. But in lethargy
the abolition of bodily movements is almost total. In the milder forms
of this disorder the patient may be partially roused, so as to attempt
an answer when addressed, appearing like a person in very
profound sleep; but in the majority of cases he remains insensible,
unconscious, and utterly irresponsive to ordinary forms of irritation.
Respiration and circulation are reduced to a minimum, even
becoming for a time imperceptible. Uncomplicated with hysteria, the
disorder is rapidly fatal, but according to Rosenthal32 hysterical
lethargy is never mortal.
32 Real Encyc. der ges. Heilkunde, vol. viii. p. 276.
Many examples of this disorder have been furnished by the records

of apparent death.33 I am well acquainted with a lady who in early
childhood was laid out for burial at the supposed termination of some
infantile disease. Her mother alone insisted that the child was still
alive. After some time spent in weeping and expostulation, she
applied a blister to the thorax of the babe, who at length began to
exhibit signs of consequent irritation, followed by a complete
recovery. Still more instructive is the case related by Rosenthal34 of a
young woman twenty-four years of age who in consequence of
violent emotional excitement became unconscious and presented no
sign of life, though tested with a mirror before the mouth and by
dropping melted sealing-wax upon the skin. On raising her eyelids
the pupils gave no response to light; the limbs remained perfectly
placid and the radial arteries were motionless. Careful auscultation,
however, detected a very feeble and intermittent sound in the cardiac
region. The thorax exhibited no movement, but the lateral surfaces of
the abdomen presented a slow and almost imperceptible oscillation.
Gentle faradization of the muscles and nerves of the face and hand
aroused definite muscular contractions. By these observations
Rosenthal became satisfied that, although the patient had remained
for thirty-two hours in this condition, she was only apparently dead.
In fact, after continuing forty-four hours in a state of suspended
animation she awoke spontaneously, made a rapid recovery, and
enjoyed as tolerable health as an excitable nervous temperament
would permit.
33 See article “Mort apparente,” Dic. Encyc. Sci. méd., 2d Series, vol. ix. p. 598.
34 Loc. cit., p. 272.
Apparent Death.
Certain authors make a distinction between lethargy and apparent

death. But, leaving out of view the cases of so-called lucid lethargy, a
variety of the trance state, the difference is rather one of degree than
of kind. The movements of respiration and of circulation, though
greatly diminished, are readily observed in ordinary forms of
lethargy, while in apparent death the pulse can no longer be
discovered, and only the faintest sound can be distinguished in the
region of the heart. It therefore becomes imperative to have within
reach a crucial test of the persistence of general vitality. Such a test,
according to Rosenthal, exists in the faradic current. Within two or
three hours after genuine death the muscles cease to be excitable
by the induced current, but in a case of apparent death this form of
electro-muscular contractility never disappears. Every other test that
has been proposed has failed under certain circumstances. This
alone gives uniformly positive indications.
Lucid Lethargy.
In certain cases of apparent death the patient presents the external

phenomena of suspended animation, but the power of conscious
perception does not cease. The senses of sight and hearing remain,
and are perhaps intensified by inhibition of the power of projecting
cerebral volitions into space. The sufferer hears and sees;
perception, memory, reasoning, judgment, emotion, volition, all
persist. The possibility of centrifugal projection from the sphere of
consciousness into the realm of space seems to be the only thing
that is wanting.
The victims of this form of apparent death are usually women, or

men who are characterized by a feminine nervous organization.
Great mental excitement, fatigue, semi-starvation, and exhausting
diseases are the principal proximate causes of the event. The
following case, which was observed by my friend P. S. Hayes of
Chicago, illustrates all these facts: A female physician, about thirty
years of age and consumptively inclined, after a long and wearisome
hospital service was attacked with typhoid fever. After a period of
great prostration the hour of death seemed to have arrived. In the
presence of her physician and surrounded by her relatives she
ceased to breathe and the pulse stopped. Bottles of hot water were
applied to the limbs, and other methods of restoration were
employed, but a number of hours elapsed before these efforts
yielded any result. At last she began to breathe once more; life was
resumed and a gradual recovery followed. During all this time of
apparent death consciousness had been preserved. She seemed to
be looking down from above her bed, by the side of which she could
see the physician holding her wrist, and she felt grief at witnessing
the sorrow of her friends. Ordinary sensation was suspended, for
she did not feel the scalding heat of the bottles that were applied to
her limbs. Borne upon the wings of a liberated imagination, she
thought she beheld the celestial city, but might not enter within its
gates. In this exaltation the reasoning faculties also shared, so that
certain philosophical problems which had long baffled her intellect
were now perfectly comprehensible, and the memory of their
interpretation persisted after recovery.
Many similar narratives have been duly authenticated, but the limits
of the present article will not permit a discussion which properly
belongs to an investigation of the phenomena of trance. The
important fact for present consideration is the persistence of
conscious life despite the appearance of death. In this preservation
of consciousness, notwithstanding temporary suspension of certain
forms of sensibility, together with loss of the power of voluntary
motion, may be discovered a relationship between the events of
lucid lethargy and various somnambulic modifications of sleep which
have been previously passed in review.
ACUTE AFFECTIONS PRODUCED BY EXPOSURE

TO HEAT.
BY H. C. WOOD, M.D., LL.D.
There are two distinct diseases—or, more correctly, conditions—of

the human body which are produced by exposure to heat, and which
have a certain similarity in their symptoms, but are very different in
their immediate pathology and require directly opposite methods of
treatment. Although their individuality was pointed out as long ago as
1851 by the late D. F. Condie of this city,1 yet they have been
frequently confounded by writers upon the subject, and the terms
heat-exhaustion and sunstroke have not rarely been used as strictly
synonymous. In the present article it is proposed to consider them as
separate affections under the respective names of heat-exhaustion
and thermic fever.
1 Amer. Journ. Med. Sci., Jan., 1852.
Heat-Exhaustion.
Any one who has been long exposed to a high temperature under
circumstances requiring physical exertion must have noticed the
feeling of general weakness and relaxation which results. Thus far
reaches our every-day experience, but cases in which acute
symptoms are severe enough to cause alarm occur, although
somewhat infrequently. The attack may come on slowly, but may be
as abrupt as that of true sunstroke, and the severest cases may
happen in those who have been in robust health as well as in the
weak and feeble. The mind is usually clear, the pulse rapid and
feeble, the surface cool, the voice very weak, muscular strength
greatly lessened, and the feeling of exhaustion extreme. If this
condition be intensified, syncope may be developed with its usual
symptoms. In all this there is nothing peculiar and little that is
necessary to notice here; but there is a form of heat-exhaustion in
which the heart does not seem to suffer principally, but in which there
is collapse with palsy of the vaso-motor system, great fall of the
bodily temperature, and marked general nervous symptoms. At the
International Exhibition of 1876 a very powerful man, whilst working
in an intensely hot, confined space, fell down without giving warning,
and was brought into the hospital. He was in a state of restless,
delirious unconsciousness, incessantly muttering to himself, and
when shaken and shouted at responding only by a momentary grunt.
The pulse was rapid, fluttering and feeble. The surface was covered
with a very heavy sweat and exceedingly cold. The muscular
relaxation was extreme. The facies was that of collapse, and the
temperature, as taken in the mouth, 95.25° F.
The PATHOLOGY of heat-exhaustion is best discussed in conjunction
with that of thermic fever, and will therefore be for the present
postponed.
The TREATMENT of heat-exhaustion is a very obvious one. The

indications are to stimulate the circulation and warm the body by
external heat with an energy proportionate to the severity of the
attack. In mild cases the exhibition of a whiskey punch or similar
beverage may suffice, but in severer attacks alcohol acts too slowly
and is not capable of filling all the indications. It may re-excite the
flagging heart, but it is probably not a vaso-motor stimulant, and if
given too freely may even increase the vaso-motor depression.
Digitalis is an excellent stimulant of the heart, and probably also of
the vessels. It acts, however, comparatively slowly even when
hypodermically injected, but in severe cases it should always be
employed. The tincture is the most eligible preparation, and when
injected under the skin in doses of fifteen drops causes no local
irritation. Ammonia would be a very valuable remedy did not its use
offer so many difficulties of administration: injected into the cellular
tissue, it causes great pain and usually sloughing, and its
intravenous use is by no means always easy. As a vaso-motor
stimulant atropia is an excellent remedy, and, as it has also a very
powerful influence in arresting the secretion from the skin and in
raising the animal temperature, it should produce very good results
in the peculiar form of collapse under consideration.
When the bodily temperature is below normal the most important

measure of treatment is the use of the hot bath: the water should be
from 100° to 120° F.—i.e. as hot as can be borne—and the whole
body should be immersed in it until the mouth temperature becomes
normal.
Thermic Fever.
SYNONYMS.—Coup de soleil, Sunstroke, Heat apoplexy, Heat
asphyxia, Heat fever, Sun fever, Thermohæmia, Erethismus tropicus,
Insolation.
The immediate cause of thermic fever is always exposure to

excessive heat in some form. As the body can cool itself much more
readily in a dry than in a moist atmosphere, it is able to resist the
influence of a dry, overheated air much better than when there is
also moisture. It is for this reason that sunstroke is so much more
infrequent upon the high table-lands of Abyssinia or in the dry belt of
our Texan prairies than in the lowlands of India or upon our own
seacoast. For the same reason it is especially prone to attack indoor
workers in confined, moist factories, and especially in laundries and
sugar-refineries. At one time it was thought that exposure to the
direct rays of the sun was the chief cause of the disease, but there is
now abundant clinical testimony to the fact that such exposure is in
no sense necessary. Without occupying space in giving detailed
references, it suffices, as an illustration of the fact that the most
complete darkness is no protection, to allude to the epidemic upon
the French man-of-war Duquesne, as recorded by M. Boudin, in
which a hundred cases of sunstroke occurred in a short time, most of
them at night when the men were lying in their bunks. Bonniman2
says: “By far the greater number of cases that yearly occur in India
are of men who have not been exposed to the sun. It is not unusual
for men to go to bed in apparent health, and to be seized during the
night; and patients in hospitals who have been confined to bed for
days previously are frequently the subjects of attack.”
2 Edinburgh Med. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 1029, 1864.
Although the immediate cause of the attack is excessive heat, there

are certain conditions which act as predisposing causes by lessening
the power of the system to resist the heat, or, in accordance with the
theory of sunstroke which I believe established, by so weakening the
inhibitory heat-centre that it is readily exhausted. The chief of these
predisposing causes are race, excessive bodily fatigue, and
intemperance. It is true that males are much more frequently
affected than females; thus, in an epidemic occurring in St. Louis,
Missouri, in 1878, there were 115 deaths in males and 39 in females.
This is due, however, not to one sex being predisposed to the
attacks, but to the habitually greater exposure of males than of
females to heat. The much greater frequency of sunstroke in the
laboring than in the upper classes has similar explanation.
Those races which are least accustomed to a tropical climate are

most apt to be attacked; thus, both in this country and in India,
Europeans suffer far more than do the natives. No race is, however,
absolutely exempt. Even the negro and the Hindoo inhabitant of
tropical India are occasionally prostrated.
The general experience in the United States shows that habitual

excess of alcohol very strongly predisposes to attack, but some of
those who have had widest experience in India are inclined to deny
this. It has been especially noted in India that persistent bodily
fatigue greatly weakens the resisting power of the European. As an
instance of this may be cited the case of the Forty-third regiment of
the line during the Sepoy rebellion, as recorded by its surgeon,
Barclay. It had made a most extraordinary march of over eleven
hundred miles, chiefly through the lowlands of India, and at the
hottest season of the year. This march was continuous, with the
exception of a few brief halts. No cases of sunstroke occurred until
nine hundred and sixty-nine miles had been traversed and the men
had become thoroughly exhausted and even markedly emaciated.
Shortly after this the regiment rested some eight days, and then
started again, arriving soon in a narrow ravine in the Bisramgunge
Ghat, with precipitous walls nearly a mile in height. During the day
the thermometer in the tents ranged from 115° to 127°, and on one
occasion was noted 105° at midnight. The number of cases of
insolation now became very great, and, although most of them
recovered, 2 officers and 11 men were lost in the four days during
which the regiment remained encamped. The air became cooler as
the command emerged from the hills, yet 7 more fatal cases
occurred in three days.
SYMPTOMS.—Under the name of ardent continued fever, or febris
continuis communis, has been described in India an affection which
may be considered as representing a mild form of thermic fever. In
C. Morehead's clinical work On the Diseases of India the following
account of the symptoms is given: “The attack is generally sudden,
often without much chilliness. The face becomes flushed; there are
giddiness and much headache, intolerance of light and sound. The
heat of skin is great; the pulse frequent, full, and firm. There is pain
of limbs and of loins. The respiration is anxious. There is a sense of
oppression at the epigastrium, with nausea and frequent vomiting of
bilious matters. The bowels are sometimes confined; at others
vitiated discharges take place. The tongue is white, often with florid
edges. The urine is scanty and high-colored. If the excitement
continues unabated, the headache increases, and is often
accompanied with delirium. If symptoms such as these persist for
from forty-eight to sixty hours, then the febrile phenomena may
subside, the skin may become cold, and there will be risk of death
from exhaustion and sudden collapse. In most cases the cerebral
disturbance is greater in degree, and in these death may take place
at an earlier period in the way of coma.”
Until very recently the existence within the United States of this class
of cases has not been recognized. But in a very able article in the
Therapeutic Gazette of March 16, 1885, John Guiteras shows that
the so-called typhoid fever of Key West is the disease described by
Morehead.
In the Philadelphia Medical Times, vol. v. p. 664, C. Comegys calls

attention to the cases of entero-colitis which are so abundant in the
young children of our cities during the hot months. The immediate
enormous rise of the mortality-rate among children which always
accompanies a marked rise of temperature during July or August
indicates very strongly that excessive heat is the chief factor in the
production of the disorder. The symptoms may be summed up as
high fever, dry tongue and mouth, rapid pulse and respiration,
intense thirst, vomiting, purging of greenish, watery, fecal or serous
matters with undigested particles of food, and more or less
pronounced evidences of cerebral disturbance, such as insomnia,
headache, contracted pupils, delirium, and finally coma. In some
cases the bodily temperature rises before death to a point
comparable with that it reaches in sunstroke of the adult. As pointed
out first by Comegys, these cases are almost uniformly relieved by
cold water used either, as Comegys himself employs it, in the form of
cold affusions practised until the temperature of the child becomes
normal, or, as, according to my own experience, is preferable, simple
cold baths administered every two to three hours, with just sufficient
vigor to produce the desired effect.
Thermic fever in the adult and in this latitude is usually first seen by
the physician after the stage of insensibility has been reached. In
many cases this condition comes on with great suddenness, but in
other instances there are distinct prodromata, such as inaptitude and
disinclination to exertion, vertigo, headache, confusion of ideas,
great oppression or distress at the præcordia or epigastrium, and
disturbances of the special senses. Swift has noticed a peculiar
chromatopsia, the sufferer seeing everything of a uniform color, in
most cases blue or purple, but in others red, green, or even white,
and W. H. Kesteven3 has reported a case in which a man, after
exposure to an excessively hot sun, was seized with severe
headache, saw everything red or green, and had for some days a
distinctly impaired color-sense.
3 Trans. Clin. Soc. of London, 1882, xv. 101.
At one period I saw a large number of advanced cases of sunstroke

in the hospital, and the symptoms were quite constant. Total
insensibility was always present, with, in rare instances, delirium of
the talkative form, and still more rarely the capability of being roused
by shaking or shouting. The breathing was always affected,
sometimes rapid, sometimes deep and labored, often stertorous, and
not rarely accompanied by the rattle of mucus in the trachea. The
face was usually suffused, sometimes, with the whole surface,
deeply cyanosed. The conjunctiva was often injected, the pupils
various, sometimes dilated, sometimes nearly normal, sometimes
contracted. The skin was always intensely hot, and generally, but not
always, dry; when not dry it was bathed in a profuse perspiration.
The intense burning heat of the skin, both as felt by the hand and
measured by the thermometer, was one of the most marked features
of the cases. The degree of heat reached during life was, in my
cases, mostly 108°–109° F., but it sometimes reaches 112° F. The
pulse was always exceedingly rapid, and early in the disease often
not wanting in force and volume; later it became irregular,
intermittent, and thready. The motor nervous system was profoundly
affected: subsultus tendinum was a very common symptom; great
restlessness was also very often present, and sometimes partial
spasms or even violent general convulsions. The latter were at times
epileptiform, occurring spontaneously, or they were tetanoid and
excited by the slightest irritation. Sometimes the motor system
suffered paralysis, the patient moving neither hand nor foot.
This extreme motor relaxation, which in my observation is rare,

seems to have been very common in the epidemic described by
Barclay,4 as he states that in a large proportion of the cases, from
the commencement of the attack until its termination in death, the
patient never moved a limb or even an eyelid. Petechiæ and
ecchymoses, the evidences of broken-down blood, were present in
some of my cases, and there was in one or two instances a fetid
hemorrhagic exudation from the nostrils during life. A symptom
which has almost escaped the attention of authors was a peculiar
odor, which was most marked in patients who had involuntary
passages, but was very distinct from any fecal odor. The stools
emitted it very strongly, but so did the skin and breath. It was so
distinctive as to render possible the recognition of a case by the
sense of smell alone. The discharges from the bowels were liquid
and very often involuntary. None of my cases passed urine whilst
under observation.
4 Madras Quarterly Journal, 1860, 364.
It is plain that the symptoms of coup de soleil, as usually seen, may

be summed up as those of intense fever, accompanied by profound
nervous disturbance (as manifested by insensibility with or without
delirium, and by motor symptoms, such as convulsions or paralysis),
by arrest of glandular action, and by changes in the blood. In this
ordinary form of sunstroke death takes place by asphyxia or by a
slow consentaneous failure of both respiration and cardiac action. It
very rarely occurs in less than half an hour after the first decided
symptoms, and usually is postponed for a much longer period.
There is a form of coup de soleil in which death results almost at

once, and probably always by cardiac arrest, and to which the name
of the cardiac variety may well be given. It is very rarely, if ever, met
with in civil life, and among soldiers is especially seen during battle
or at other times when great exertion is being made. These cases
will be more fully discussed in a later portion of this article.
POST-MORTEM CHANGES.—Owing to the excessive heat of the body,

putrefactive changes occur very rapidly after death from sunstroke,
and various described lesions, especially of the heart, have been
undoubtedly the result of post-mortem changes. Later observers
have confirmed my original observation, that if the body be opened
directly after death the left ventricle will be found firmly contracted,
though the right heart and the pulmonary arteries, with their
branches, are gorged with dark fluid blood. In my cases the lungs did
not present at all the appearance of congestion of their minute
capillaries, but when they were cut the blood poured from them
abundantly, seemingly from their larger vessels. Not only do the
lungs suffer from venous congestion, but the whole body also. The
blood appears to leave, as it were, the arterial system and collect in
the venous trunks. The arterial coats are often stained red,
apparently by the broken-down red corpuscles of the blood.
There can be no doubt that the blood suffers in sunstroke very

similarly to what it does in low fevers. Its coagulability is impaired,
but not always destroyed; and it is possible that in the very rapid
cases it may not be decidedly affected. After death it appears as a
dark, often thin, sometimes grumous fluid, whose reaction is very
feebly alkaline, or, as I have seen it, even decidedly acid. Levick5
appears to assert that the blood-discs, as seen by him under the
microscope, were shrivelled and crenated, and showed very slight
tendency to adhere in rouleaux. In several of my cases the blood
was carefully examined by the microscope, but nothing abnormal
was found. The extravasations of blood which have been found by K.
Köster in various parts of the nervous system are probably of the
nature of petechiæ, the results of the altered blood-crasis, and not
due to any especial affection of the nerve-centres.
5 Pennsylvania Hospital Reports, 1868, 373.
THEORY OF THE DISEASE.—The theories which have been brought

forward as explanatory of the phenomena of sunstroke are so
various that it would be impossible in the limits of this paper to
discuss them. It does seem, however, proper to give a very brief
historical sketch of the development of our present knowledge of the
subject. In 1854, H. S. Swift6 said that the disease is “now generally
admitted to be merely exhaustion produced by fatigue,” although he
recognized the existence of an “apoplexy produced by insolation.”
The cases which Swift so well describes as those of heat-exhaustion
were true instances of thermic fever. The physicians of the
Pennsylvania Hospital, especially Gerhard, early called attention to
the resemblance of sunstroke to a fever, but it was not until January,
1859, that their views found expression in print in the paper
published by James J. Levick in the American Journal of Medicine.
This observer tabulated the post-mortem appearances of typhus
fever and of sunstroke in contrast, calling attention also to the
similarity of symptoms during life. In 1863, H. C. Wood7 claimed
distinctly that sunstroke is a fever due to the development of a
poison in the blood, and gave to the disease the name of thermic
fever. To R. Cresson Stiles is due the credit of having first proven8
the possibility of producing in animals a sunstroke with symptoms
and pathological changes similar to those which occur in man. He
also came to the conclusion that the symptoms are the results of the
direct action of heat, especially upon the muscular system. He says:
“The dilatation of the capillaries is explicable by the direct effect of
the heated blood upon the muscular fibres of the arteries and the
arterioles. The cerebral symptoms and the full and forcible pulse
may also be due to this dilatation.” George B. Wood, in the sixth
edition of his Practice of Medicine (Philadelphia, 1866), wrote an
elaborate article upon the disease, giving it the name of heat fever,
and affirming that it “is, I believe, strictly an idiopathic fever.” He
further asserts: “In heat fever all the organs, the brain, heart, lungs,
stomach, kidneys, etc., are excessively stimulated by the great heat,
and all exhibit disorder and at length depression of their functions.”
The article of George B. Wood was not based upon experimental
researches, but upon a very philosophic rendering of the clinical
phenomena, and was a carrying out of the ideas which had
permeated the medical teaching of the Pennsylvania Hospital.
6 New York Med. Journ., vol. xiii. p. 53.
7 Amer. Journ. Med. Sci., October.
8 Boston Med. and Surg. Journ., June, 1864, p. 349.
About 1869, Eulenberg and Vohl9 advanced the theory that death
from sunstroke is the result of the sudden liberation of gases in the
blood; and Weikard affirmed that the death is due to the increase of
the coagulability of the blood and consequent formation of clots in
the vessels, being in this supported by Richardson of London.10
Contrasting with these in its being really an important contribution is
the article of Vallin:11 its chief merit is the conception of the idea of
the local heating of isolated parts of the body, and the devising of a
plan for carrying the idea into effect. The experiments of Vallin did
not themselves prove very much, and led him to the erroneous
conclusion, first, that the death in sunstroke is the result either of a
coagulation of the left ventricle or else of a disturbance of the
innervation of the heart by an action of the heat upon the nerve-
centres in the base of the brain; second, that these two forms of
death correspond to sthenic and asthenic varieties of insolation—
varieties which, I believe, have no proper existence.
9 Virchow's Archiv, t. lxii.
10 St. Bartholomew's Reports, vol. vii.
11 Archives générales de Médecine, Fèvrier, 1870.
The first experiments of Claude Bernard upon the action of external

heat were given in a lecture upon muscular respiration on May 3,
1864, published in his Leçons sur les Propriétés des Tissus vivants
(Paris, 1866). They were merely incidental to another research, and
simply showed that when a warm-blooded animal was exposed to
heat it died, the death being, according to the observations of
Bernard, the result of cadaveric rigidity suddenly attacking the heart.
The more elaborate researches of Claude Bernard upon the effect of
exposure of animals to external heat, so far as I have knowledge,
were not published in detail until after the nature of sunstroke was
determined, although the lectures were delivered in the years 1871
and 1872; they may be found reported in full in his Leçons sur la
Chaleur animale, sur les Effets de la Chaleur, et sur la Fièvre (Paris,
1876).
It is proper also to state here that some of the physicians of India

had previous to this time more or less imperfectly recognized the
relation of sunstroke to fever, but, I believe, none of them distinctly
postulated the theory.
The above historical sketch shows that by many authors the relation
of sunstroke to fever had been more or less dimly perceived, and
that George B. Wood had very clearly stated the true nature of the
affection, in that it was simply the result of the direct action of heat.
Such statement, however, not resting upon proof, had not been
accepted: it was also wanting in detail, and where such details were
attempted the surmises were not always correct. Under these
circumstances my researches, made in 1870 and 1871, and first
published in 1872, led to the complete understanding of the
affection.
The space allotted to me in the present volume will not allow of any
detailed account of my experiments, but I shall quote from my
summing up of the results obtained by them. It was shown that
sunstroke may be produced in animals as readily as in man either by
natural or artificial heat; that the symptoms are similar to those seen
in man; that death takes place ordinarily by asphyxia; that after death
the characteristic lesions are alteration of the blood and rigidity of the
heart, with immediate or quickly-appearing post-mortem rigidity of
the general muscular system; that this rigidity of the heart comes on
in most cases after, not before, death, and is a result, not cause, of
death; that post-mortem rigidity is dependent upon coagulation of
myosin, and that the rigidity of the heart is of similar origin,
coagulation of the muscle-plasma occurring almost instantaneously
at 115° F., a degree almost attained in sunstroke; that when a
muscle has been in great activity immediately before death, myosin
coagulates at a much lower temperature, and that the cases of
sudden cardiac death occurring in battle among the East Indian
English troops were no doubt due to the coagulation of the heart's
myosin; that heating the brain of a mammal produces sudden
insensibility, with or without convulsions, at a temperature of 108° F.,
and death when a temperature of 113° is reached; that this effect of
the local application of heat is not due to induced congestion, but is
the result of the direct action of the heat upon the cerebrum, and that
consequently the nerve-centres are as perniciously affected by high
temperature as the muscles are; that the nerve-trunks bear a
temperature of 125° F. without their conducting power being
immediately affected; that whilst the general symptoms induced by
heating the brain of a rabbit are very different from those of
sunstroke, the nervous symptoms are exactly similar; that the life of
the blood is not destroyed by any temperature reached in sunstroke,
the amœboid movements of the white blood-cells and the absorption
power of the red disks not being injured; that the amount of oxygen
of the blood is greatly lessened, as the result of gradual asphyxia
combined with abnormal consumption of oxygen; that there is no
reason for believing that capillary thrombi are common in sunstroke;
that there is no specific poison developed in the blood; that the
deterioration of the vital fluid is due to the rapid tissue-changes
induced by the fever and the more or less complete arrest of
excretion; that such deterioration is secondary to the nervous
symptoms, not primary; that if the heat be withdrawn before it has
produced permanent injury to the nervous system, blood, or other
tissues, the convulsions and unconsciousness are immediately
relieved and the animal recovers.
As a postulate from these facts and deductions, I think it follows that

the nature of sunstroke is that of a fever; or, in other words, that coup
de soleil is a fever, not dependent upon blood-poisoning, but upon
heat.
It is of course possible that the external heat causes the fever, simply
by preventing the body from throwing off the caloric which it is
constantly forming. The extreme suddenness of the onset, however,
indicates that in at least many cases there is a sudden outburst, as it
were, in the production of heat in the body. This indication becomes
more important when it is remembered that in cerebral rheumatism,
so called, there is often an equally sudden attack of symptoms
plainly the result of a sudden production of animal heat.
In an elaborate research12 I showed the truth of Setschenow's

theory, that there is in the pons a centre whose function it is to inhibit
the production of animal heat, and that in the medulla a centre
(probably the vaso-motor centre) which regulates the dissipation of
the bodily heat; and that fever is due to disturbance of these centres,
so that more heat is produced than normal, and proportionately less
heat thrown off. Let it be supposed that a man is placed in such an
atmosphere that he is unable to get rid of the heat which his body is
forming. The temperature of his body will slowly rise, and he may
suffer from a gradual thermic fever. If early or late in this condition
the inhibitory heat-centre becomes exhausted by the effort which it
has been making to control the formation of heat, or becomes
paralyzed by the direct action of the excessive temperature already
reached, then suddenly all tissues will begin to form heat with the
utmost rapidity, the bodily temperature will rise with a bound, and the
man drop over with some one of the forms of coup de soleil.
12 Fever, Smithsonian Institute, 188-.

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A Course in Finite Group

Representation Theory Peter Webb

Representation Theory of Finite Groups a Guidebook 1st

Representation Theory of Finite Groups a Guidebook 1st

Representation Theory of Finite Monoids 1st Edition

A Journey Through Representation Theory From Finite

Algebraic Groups The Theory of Group Schemes of Finite

Algebra 2 Linear Algebra Galois Theory Representation

Algebra 2 Linear Algebra Galois Theory Representation

Geometric and Cohomological Group Theory 1st Edition

CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN ADVANCED MATHEMATICS

A COURSE IN FINITE GROUP

Peter Webb is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota. His research

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN ADVANCED MATHEMATICS

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

A Course in Finite Group

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University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

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1 Representations, Maschke’s Theorem, and Semisimplicity 1

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4.2 Lifting (or Inlating) from a Quotient Group 59

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8.5 Symmetry of the Group Algebra 147

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12.4 The Defect of a Block: Ring Theoretic Methods 270

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r In number theory, groups arise as Galois groups of field extensions, giving

In this chapter, we present the basic definitions and examples to do with

1.1 Definitions and Examples

Let G denote a finite group, and let R be a commutative ring with a 1. If

In a situation where V is free as an R-module, on taking a basis for V , we may

Example 1.1.2. A representation on a space V = R of rank 1 is in general

Example 1.1.3. Let R = R, V = R2 , and G = S3 . This group G is isomorphic

Example 1.1.4. Let R = F p , V = R2 , and let G = Cp = g be cyclic of order

We can think of representations in various ways. One of them is that a rep-

More concretely, we exemplify this definition by listing some elements of the

like (1, 2) − (2, 3) or 15 (1, 2, 3) + 6(1, 2) − 17 (2, 3). Here is a computation:

(3(1, 2, 3) + (1, 2))(() − 2(2, 3)) = 3(1, 2, 3) + (1, 2) − 6(1, 2) − 2(1, 2, 3)

An (associative) R-algebra is defined to be a (not necessarily commutative)

Proposition 1.1.5. A representation of G over R has the structure of a unital

Proof. Given a representation ρ : G → GL(V ), we define a module action of

stable under G or that it is an invariant submodule or invariant subspace (if

There are just four invariant subspaces, namely {0},  10 ,  01 , R2 , and no

Example 1.1.7. In Example 1.1.4, an elementary calculation shows that  01  is

We make use of the notions of a homomorphism and an isomorphism of RG-

1.2 Semisimple Representations

Theorem 1.2.1 (Maschke). Let V be a representation of the finite group G

Proof. Let π : V → W be any projection of V onto W as vector spaces, that is, a

Then π is linear, and if w ∈ W then

because as g ranges over the elements of G, so does h−1 g. Now if v ∈ Ker(π )

Example 1.2.2. When A is an algebra over a field, every module of dimension 1

We see immediately that a nonzero module is simple if and only if it is gen-

of Maschke’s theorem, but the results have application in greater generality in

Example 1.1.4. Let R = F p , V = R2 , and let G = Cp = g be cyclic of order

There are just four invariant subspaces, namely {0}, 10 , 01 , R2 , and no

Example 1.1.7. In Example 1.1.4, an elementary calculation shows that 01 is