GENERAL PART OF EXAMINATION. 65 



II. Temperature of the skin. The thinner and more 

 vascular the integument and the finer the hair coat, the 

 warmer the organ feels. Exposed sur.faces of the skin feel 

 cooler than more protected, covered parts. The ears and 

 extremities, therefore, are normally colder than the rest of the 

 body. 



The surface temperature is measured by lading our hands 

 upon the skin. During fever the distribution of the bodily 

 heat is often irregular, therefore it is not uncommon to find 

 one leg cold while its fellow may be abnormally hot ; in • fever 

 in the ox, the horns are sometimes hot and cold alternately. 

 The taking of the surface temperature is onlv of value in the 

 ox and dog, the use of the thermometer being more reliable 

 in the other animals. 



The surface temperature is elevated (skin hot) in fever 

 and during normal outbreak of sweat. It is reduced (skin 

 cold) when the temperature is below normal (milk fever), 

 collapse, during chill stage of fever and in the cold sweat 

 which usually precedes death. 



The temperature of the skin is unevenly distributed (one 

 ear hot, the other cold, ends of ears very hot or very cold, 

 legs cold) in fever. The horns of cattle frequently furnish 

 an index to the temperature of the body. 



III. Fever. Although the character of fever is not 

 expressed entirely by elevation of temperature, we have be- 

 come accustomed to associate high temperature and fever, 

 using the terms as if synonymous. As a matter of fact, the 

 increased temperature is only one of the characteristic and 

 most readily available symptoms in the complex phenomenon 

 called fever. As a rule, however, there is a direct relation- 

 ship existing between the height of the temperature and the 

 degree of development of the fever. At times in the ox, the 

 increase of temperature, as measured by the thermometer, 

 fails to correspond with the degree of fever, which can be 

 appreciated by the remaining symptoms. 



