14 •'■ LiNDHARU. 



in average 049° with a standard deviation of 014°. As the distur- 

 bing influence of the air temperature is here reduced to the least 

 possible (total elimination was out of the question), I venture to 

 conclude from these measurements, in connection with what has 

 been shown above, that the rise of the mouth temperature owing 

 to the meal must be taken as about 05° С under the particular 

 conditions of life mentioned. 



The nature of the meal is of considerable importance for the 

 mouth temperature. The rise of temperature is highest after warm 

 food, especially if seasoned a great deal; in the latter case I have 

 seen the mouth temperature reach a higher value than the rectal 

 temperature ^-j but I have never seen any great rise of temperature 

 after partaking of the very hard ship's bread, which makes exceed- 

 ingly great demands on the mastigating organs, and I therefore 

 consider mastigation, and on the whole the working of the muscles 

 during the meal, as a subordinate factor in the changes of temjper- 

 ature dealt with here. 



Thus, a general rise of temperature is occasioned by the work 

 of digestion in the more restricted sense, in connection with the 

 increased action of the heart during the meal; but apart from this 

 a local rise of temperature occurs in the mouth, and this is undoub- 

 tedly due to a fluxion in the mucous membrane owing to thermic 

 and chemical irritants. Reasons have been given above why the 

 rise in the mouth temperature cannot be a simple consequence of 

 the general rise of temperature; the mutual independence of the 

 two temperature movements is also displayed in their being disturbed 

 from quite different sources. 



The reduction of the heightened temperature of the mouth goes on 

 evenly in the course ofa few hours when staying in a temperate room; 

 on passing to cold air the fall may take place in a few minutes. 



I have also found the temperature oft he skin (taken on the 

 forehead) to increase during a meal; but as the variations of the 

 latter, on the external temperature changing, are much more violent 

 than those of the mouth temperature, and as it is also influenced 

 by brain work, mental engrossement, which cannot be excluded 

 when taking meals in the company of others, I cannot venture upon 

 making even an approximate estimate of the increase. In some 

 few measurements I have found deviations between and 3°, espe- 

 cially owing to changes in the temperature of the air. An example 



1 Ostenfeld (Meddelelser fra Vejlefjord Sanat. IV. 1904) in 18 cases frequently 

 found the temperature of the mouth to be higher than the rectal temperature. 

 Unfortunately he has not studied this interesting problem very closely. (Stoma- 

 titis?) 



