Body Temperature. 311 



BODY TEMPERATURE. 



Since muscular activity has a very pronounced and immediate effect on 

 the body temperature, experiments during fasting when the internal muscular 

 activity due to peristalsis is at a minimum are of especial interest. In con- 

 nection with the earlier fasting experiments made in this laboratory/ obser- 

 vations regarding body temperature were made and in some instances curves 

 were drawn showing the body temperature for 24 hours. These curves together 

 with a large number of other curves of body temperature were published 

 accompanied by a special discussion of the fluctuations in body temperature. 10 



The most noticeable effect of fasting on the normal body temperature curve 

 seems to be a flattening of the curve during the waking hours, although in the 

 few experiments made, the evening fall especially after retiring and the early 

 morning rise were, if anything, more marked than the normal temperature 

 fluctuations at the same hours. The night curves for a number of fast days 

 were also studied, and the general conclusion was that fasting results in a 

 slight lowering of the average body temperature, amounting, however, to but 

 a few tenths of a degree. This is in harmony with the observations of 

 Jurgensen n who, not only finds the average body temperature somewhat lower 

 during fast, but also notes a smaller amplitude of the daily curve. 



Although no temperature observations were recorded by Nicholson (1) he 

 states that there was no fever during the fast of the prisoner under his care. 



In the fast made by Tanner, 12 no fall in temperature was noticed. The tem- 

 perature taken in the mouth was 36.9 on the 25th day and 37.1 on the 30th 

 day. As has been pointed out previously, this fast was very imperfectly 

 reported and its authenticity is somewhat in doubt. 



Noyes 13 observed a temperature of 34.4 in an insane man who had consumed 

 no food for 45 days. Pembrey " points out in commenting on this, that this 

 subject was paralyzed in the lower limbs. 



In the report of the observations made by Schaefer 15 on the fasting insane 

 it is stated that the body temperature was normal in all cases. 



Paton & Stockmann (3) record that during the fast of Jacques his temper- 

 ature was invariably subnormal ranging from 35.6 to 34.1 C. During a slight 

 attack of gout, on the 16th day, the temperature ranged from 36.0 to 36.6. 



During the fasting experiment with Cetti (7) in Berlin, the temperature 

 observations were made in the axilla twice a day. One observation is recorded 

 on the day preceding the fast and one on the following food day. The average 

 body temperature for the 10 fasting days is 36.7, which is, however, somewhat 

 higher than the observations made before and after the experiment. 



U. S. Dept. of Agric, Office of Expt. Sta. Bui. 136 (1903). 



"Benedict & Snell. Archiv f. d. ges. Physiol. (1902), 90, p. 33. 



u Die Korperwarme des Gesunden Menschen, Leipsic, 1873. 



12 British Medical Journ., London (1880), 2, p. 171. 



"British Medical Journal, London (1880), 2, p. 557. 



"Schaefer's Physiology, 1, p. 810. 



"Allgem. Zeit. f. Psychiatrie (1897), 53, p. 525. 



