ANIMAL HEAT 439 



clinical interest. The temperature of the superficial portions of the body 

 may be obtained by the introduction of a thermometer into the mouth, 

 the rectum, the vagina, or the axilla. Afr a result of many observa- 

 tions it has been found that the temperature of the rectum is, on 

 the average, 37.2C.; that the mouth, 36.8C.; that of the axilla, 36.9C. 

 Owing to radiation and conduction, the surface temperature is lower 

 than that of either the mouth or rectum, and varies to a slight extent 

 in different regions of the body: e.g., at a room- temperature of 2OC. 

 the skin of the pectoral region has a temperature of 34.7; that of the 

 cheek, 34.4; that of .the calf, 33.6; that of the tip of the ear, only 

 28.8, etc. 



In the interior of the body, especially in organs in which oxidation takes 

 place rapidly, and which at the same time are protected by their anatomic 

 surroundings from rapid radiation, the temperature is higher than that 

 observed in the rectum. From an investigation of the temperature of the 

 blood as it emerges from the liver, the muscles, the brain, alimentary canal, 

 etc., it is evident that these organs have a higher temperature than the 

 rectum. 



perature is practically uniform. (After Bernard.) 



As the chemic changes underlying physiologic activity vary in intensity 

 and extent in different regions of the body, there would be marked vana 

 tions in their temperature were it not that the blood having a 

 capacity for heat-absorption, distributes the heat almost *<g** 

 portions of the body, so that at a short distance beneath the surface 



