VARIATIONS IN THE MEAN BODILY TEMPERATURE. 



393 



The excretion of carbon dioxid from hour to hour, also the daily variation 

 in the pulse-frequency, almost coincides with the temperature, v. Barensprung 

 found that the mid-day maximum temperature somewhat preceded the maxi- 

 mum pulse. 



If a person sleeps by day and performs all of his other daily duties 

 by night, the typical course of the temperature-curve described may be 

 inverted. The variations are, therefore, dependent upon the state of 

 activity. With respect to the state of activity or of rest of the individual, 

 the temperature of persons active during the day appears in general 

 higher and during the night in general lower than in a person at rest. 



The peripheral portions of the body also exhibit more or less regular variations 

 in temperature. In the palm of the hand the course is somewhat as follows: 

 After a relatively high temperature during the night a rapid fall sets in in the 

 morning at six o'clock, which reaches its lowest between 9 and 10 o'clock. 

 Then there follows a slow ascent, which reaches its maximum after the midday 

 meal. Between i and 3 o'clock the temperature begins to decline, and the lowest 

 level is reached in the course of two or three hours. Between 6 and 8 there is 

 again a rise, and finally a decline toward morning. A rapid fall of the temperature 

 at the periphery corresponds with a rise in the interior of the body. 



FIG. 136. Variations in the Bodily Temperature during Health within Twenty-four Hours. L according 



to v. Liebermeister. J according to Jiirgensen. 



Certain operations upon the body cause variations in temperature. 

 After venesection the temperature at first falls. Then it rises several 

 tenths of a degree with chilliness. In the first days it falls again to the 

 previous level and even somewhat below this. Profuse acute hemor- 

 rhage causes a reduction in temperature of from 0.5 to 2 C., while 

 long-continued, extensive hemorrhage may cause in dogs a reduction to 

 as low as 31 and 29 C. 



Here the reduction in oxidation-processes in the tissues the seat of lessened 

 metabolic activity in consequence of the hemorrhage and the enfeebled circulation 

 obviously constitute the cause of the reduction in temperature. Analogous condi- 

 tions of diminished metabolism can be brought about if the peripheral extremity 

 of the divided vagus is irritated for about an hour, so that the heart-beat becomes 

 extremely slow, and in conjunction with it the entire circulation. Thus Landois 

 was able to reduce the temperature in rabbits several degrees within a short time. 



After every transfusion of any considerable amount of blood, begin- 

 ning about half an hour after the operation, the temperature rises to a 

 marked febrile attack, which will have subsided in the course of several 



