22 Veterinary Medicine. 



After posture, the general or constitutional disorder may claim. 

 attention. Is the illness acute or chronic? Is fever present? 

 Has the animal had a rigor? Does the coat stare in patches 

 (along the spine) or generally ? Is there perspiration ? Is there 

 full, clear, somewhat congested eye (sthenic) or drooping lids 

 over a dull brownish sclerotic (asthenic). Are the lower parts of 

 the limbs and other extremities cold, and the roots of the horns 

 or ears hot ? Is there significant heat and dryness of the muzzle 

 (ox), nose (dog), snout (pig), palmar-pad (carnivora), hoof 

 (solidungala, bisulcates), bill and digits (birds) ? Has the mouth 

 the hot burning feeling of fever ? Finally is the temperature as 

 indicated by the thermometer abnormally high ? To estimate this 

 with any degree of certainty one must be well acquainted with the 

 normal temperature. 



Normal temperature. As taken indoors under ordinary con- 

 ditions, the normal temperature taken in the rectum may be : 

 fowl, 107° — 110° F. ; swine, 103°— 106° F. ; goat and sheep, 103° 

 — 104° F. ; ox, ioo°— 102° F. ; dog, 99°— 100° F. ; horse, 99°— 

 99.6° F. Ranging in the fields, at work, or on forcing or stimu- 

 lating feeding, it may be 1° higher than when at rest indoors. A 

 whole herd may be raised 2° by a three miles drive in warm 

 weather. In our summer heats a rise of 1° is common. In ner- 

 vous animals any change in management ma}^ raise the tempera- 

 ture, for example, 1° to 2° after failure to water at the usual time, 

 or from retaining the milk in the udder when the milker had been 

 changed. Young animals are normally .5° to i° warmer than old 

 ones though more sensitive to the action of cold. Half starved 

 animals, when put on abundant and nutritious food may have a 

 rise of 1° or more. Females in heat, in advanced pregnancy and 

 at the time of parturition are usually 1° to 3° above the natural 

 temperature. Among the agencies lowering, temperature are : 

 cold, (1° to 2°) ; sleep, (1° to 2°) ; rest ; starvation ; alcoholic 

 and other circulatory stimulants which fill the cutaneous capillaries 

 and thereby cool the whole mass of blood ; suppression of insen- 

 sible perspiration (retention of waste matters) as by varnishing 

 the skin which lowers the temperature to 25° ; purgatives and di- 

 uretics (1°) ; certain drugs like antipyrin, acetanilid, etc., which 

 act on the heat producing centres and retard metabolic changes. 



Temperature in disease. Comparative temperatures should 



