INFLUENCE OF AGE. 



805 



The average temperature falls one- or two-tenths from infancy to 

 puberty, and about the same amount from puberty to middle age ; after 

 that stage is reached the temperature rises, and about the eightieth 

 year is almost as high as in infancy. 1 According to Einger and Stuart, 2 

 the average daily maximum in persons under 25 years is 37'2 (99*), in 

 those over 40 years, 37'l (98-8). 



As regards the temperature in old age, all observers seem to agree 

 that it is equal to or slightly above that of adults. Davy 3 found the 

 mean temperature of eight healthy old persons, with an average age of 

 88, to be 36-9 (984o) in the mouth. Charcot 4 states, as the result 

 of numerous determinations, that the rectal temperature in the aged 

 is 37'2 to 37'5, and is rarely higher or lower than in the adult; but 

 the temperature in the well-closed axilla is often two or three degrees 

 below that in the rectum, on account of the small and feeble circulation 

 in the skin of the aged. Mosse' and Ducamp 5 have compared the 

 temperature of the axilla and rectum of aged people, and have obtained 

 the following results; each figure represents the mean of twelve or 

 fifteen observations : 



The results obtained by Eoger 6 upon seven healthy people, whose 

 ages ranged between 72 and 95 years, are, for the mean temperature, 

 36-68 and 36'23 ; for the minimum 36 and 35'5, for the maximum 

 37'10 and 37 C , in the axilla and mouth respectively. 



In the case of young animals born in an advanced condition of develop- 

 ment, the temperature is generally higher than that of the parents. Thus 

 foals and calves, several hours after birth, have a temperature 0'5 to 1 above 

 that of their mothers. The average temperature of foals for the first five 

 days is 39 '3, and then gradually falls, as shown by the table on p. 806, which 

 represents the results of six hundred observations made by Fohringer 7 upon 

 one hundred horses. 



Similar results as regards the effect of age in horses were obtained by 

 Siedamgrotzky, 8 and in the case of cows and sheep by Hobday. 9 



1 Wunderlich, "Medical Thermometry " ; Biirensprung, Arch. f. Anat., Physiol. u. 

 wissensch. Med., 1851, S. 148. 



2 Proc. Roy. Soc. London, 1877, vol. xxvi. p. 194. 



3 Phil. Trans., London, 1844, pt. 1, p. 59; "Researches," London, 1839, vol. in. 

 p. 4. 



4 Gaz. hebd. de med., Paris, 1S69, tome vi. p. 324. 



5 Gaz. hebd. d. sc. med. de Montpellier, 1886. 



6 Arch. gen. de m6d. , Paris, Se"r. 4, tome v. p. 273. 



7 Ellerxberger, " Vergleichende Physiologic der Haussiiugethiere," 1892, Bd. ii. Th. 2, 

 S. 81. 



8 Deutsche Ztschr. f. Thicrmcd., Leipzig, 1875, Bd. i. S. 87. 



9 Journ. Comp. Path, and Therap., Edinburgh and London, 1896, Bd. ix. p. 286. 



