TEMPERATURE OF INTERNAL PARTS IN MAN. 825 



if the thermometer be warmed by the hand and then kept under the 

 tongue in the closed mouth for eight minutes, the reading is the same 

 as that obtained by inserting the thermometer in the urine as it leaves 

 the body. On the other hand, Crombie 1 found, as the result of com- 

 parative experiments in which care was taken to obtain accurate 

 results, that in fifteen simultaneous observations the mean difference of 

 temperature in the mouth was O13 above the reading in the axilla, and 

 in thirty-five determinations the mean difference in the rectum was 

 0'22 above the temperature in the mouth. A number of simultaneous 

 observations made by Parkes and Wollowicz 2 show that the rectal 

 temperature of a healthy man may be 0*3 to 0'6 higher than the 

 temperature in the axilla. G-assot 3 made comparative observations at 

 different times of the day, with the following results : 



Oertmann 4 observed, when the thermometer was kept in the axilla 

 for fifteen minutes, in the rectum at a depth of 7 cm. for five minutes, 

 and in the stream of urine for five seconds, that the temperature of the 

 urine was generally equal to that of the rectum, but four-tenths of a 

 degree higher than that of the axilla. Ten simultaneous observations 

 of the temperature in the mouth and rectum gave an average difference 

 of O32 in favour of the latter (Cuny Bouvier). 5 According to Lieber- 

 meister, 6 the rectal temperature is 0'l to 0'4 above that of the axilla. 



Lorain 7 maintained that the temperature in the rectum or vagina 

 alone represented the internal temperature of the body, and that the 

 rectal temperature was '6 to '8 higher than that in the axilla. The 

 figures given by Wunderlich 8 for the mean temperature of the rectum, 

 mouth, and axilla are 37'3, 37'lo, and 37 respectively. Eedard, 9 on 

 the other hand, states that the temperature of the mouth is '2 higher 

 than that in the axilla, and '3 to '6 lower than that of the rectum. 

 Neuhauss 10 found, as the result of forty comparative experiments, in 

 which the temperature was observed simultaneously in the rectum 

 and in the axilla, that the rectal was 0- 6 higher than the axillary 

 temperature. 



We may take as our guide the averages obtained from- the results 

 of different observers, and conclude that the rectum has a temperature 



1 Indian Ann. Mcd. Sc., Calcutta, 1873, vol. xvi. p. 558. 



2 Proc. Roy. Soc. London, 1869-70, vol. xviii. p. 368. 



3 These de Paris, 1873, quoted from Richet, Rev. sclent., Paris, 1885, tome ix. p. 433. 



4 Arch.f. d. ges. PhysioL, Bonn, 1878, Bd. xvi. S. 101. 



5 Ibid,, 1869, Bd. ii. S. 387. 



6 " Handbuch d. Path. u. Therap. des Fiebers," S. 44. 



7 " De la temperature du corps humain," Paris, 1877, tome i. p. 434. 



8 "Medical Thermometry." 



9 " Etudes de therm ometrie clinique," 1874. p. 20. 

 10 Virchow'x Archir, 1 893, Bd. cxxxiv. S. 365. 



