RECTAL TEMPERATURE. 



87 



TABLE 22. Average rectal temperature of boys and girls at different ages. 



1 Any reading of 100.5 F. or over was excluded from these averages. 



2 Data obtained from table 9, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 233, 1915, pp. 46-79. 



in this laboratory, the minimum temperature was found some time 

 during the early morning hours, when the subjects were in deep sleep 

 and the stomachs practically empty. As an indication of the influence 

 of age, however, we believe that these values are not without sig- 

 nificance. It is important to call attention here to the fact that the 

 period of highest average rectal temperature, as shown by these more 

 or less heterogeneous data for boys, is not far from 10 months to 2 

 years. As will be seen later, this corresponds to the period of relatively 

 highest metabolism. While the evidence is by no means beyond 

 criticism, it is of significance at least to point out this coincidence 



