88 



METABOLISM IN SEVERE DIABETES. 



calorimetric measurements, an electrical resistance thermometer which can be 

 inserted deep in the rectum has been used for measuring rectal temperatures, 

 but a number of the diabetic subjects found this somewhat objectionable, 

 although in no sense painful. Accordingly, in many instances we were obliged 

 to content ourselves with temperatures taken in the mouth by means of a 

 mercurial clinical thermometer of good grade. With a number of subjects, 

 however, we were able to determine the rectal temperature by the electrical 

 resistance method. In general, the fluctuations and actual temperature 

 measurements ranged well within what are commonly supposed to be normal 

 limits; only one of the diabetic subjects showed a body-temperature that 

 could be considered in any sense above normal, and even normal individuals 

 have indicated equally as high a temperature as did this diabetic subject. 



Table 110. Body-tem-perature of diabetic subjects. 



1 Records taken with a clinical thermometer. 



2 Records taken with an electrical resistance thermometer. 



3 Centigrade equivalents given in parentheses. 



"For Case I there was also 97.3 F. (36.28 C.) on Feb. 23, 1911, 

 sitting in chair after the experiment. 



To give an indication of the minimum and maximum temperatures 

 observed with the diabetics, we have collected in table 110 the values for both 

 the sublingual temperatures taken with a mercurial thermometer and likewise 

 the rectal temperatures taken with the electrical resistance thermometer. An 

 inspection of the data shows that the sublingual temperatures are practically 

 those ordinarily experienced with normal individuals in health. The rectal 

 temperatures are almost invariably somewhat higher than are the sublingual 

 temperatures, as would be expected from the well-known fact that tempera- 

 tures in the rectum are considerably higher than those in the mouth. With 

 one subject, Case G, the temperature was somewhat higher than normal, 

 averaging close to 38 C. throughout the whole experiment. 



Since the publication of our first report on metabolism in diabetes, a 

 research has been concluded in this laboratory, 1 demonstrating what has 

 hitherto been assumed, namely, that fluctuations in temperature taken deep 



'Benedict and Slack, A comparative study of temperature fluctuations in different 

 parts of the human body, Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 155, 1911. 



