Foreign Literature and Science. 165 



actually lower than in cold. The opinion alluded to, I con- 

 ceive, arose partly from hypothetical views of the subject ; 

 and if I recollect rightly, it has been supported only by two 

 or three observations recorded by Dr. Chalmers in his histo- 

 ry of South Carolina, which were made at a time when 

 thermometrical experiments were not very common, and 

 when the standard temperature of man, was rated much 

 too low. Farther refutation of this opinion is perhaps un- 

 necessary. The experiments I have made, with all the care 

 in my power, are so numerous, and their results are so con- 

 sistent, that if I do not deceive myself, they put the ques- 

 tion beyond the shadow of doubt, and fix as a fact, that if 

 the standard temperature of man, in a temperate climate, 

 be about 98°, (which I believe is the nearest approximation 

 to the truth,) in a hot climate, it will be higher, varying with 

 atmospheric variation from 98^° to 101. 



The third conclusion I believe to be perfectly accurate ; 

 I say believe^ because it is difficult, if not impossible, to col- 

 lect more than presumptive evidence on the subject. How- 

 ever, may not the evidence be considered sufficiently satis- 

 factory, since the variation of the temperature of the differ- 

 ent races I tried did not exceed, in degree what may be wit- 

 nessed amongst different individuals of a ship's company, 

 all of one nation, or even amongst different members of the 

 same family ? The similarity of temperature in different ra- 

 ces of men is the more remarkable, since between several 

 of them, whose temperatures agreed, there was nothing in 

 common but the air they breathed, some feeding on animal 

 food almost entirely, as theVaida, — others chiefly on vegeta- 

 ble diet, as the priests of Buddho, — and others, as Europe- 

 ans and Africans, on neither exclusively, but on a mixture of 

 both. 



Farther, that the temperature of birds, of all animals is 

 the highest, that of the mammalia next, that of the amphi- 

 bia, fishes and certain insects, next in degree,— and lowest 

 of all, that of the mollusca, Crustacea, and worms, — are 

 conclusions, with few exceptions, that may be deduced from 

 the preceding experiments on temperature of animals in 

 general. Moreover since in general, as far as experiment 

 and observation have yet gone, there appears to be a deci- 

 ded connexion between the quantity of oxygen consumed 

 by an animal and the animals heat, is there not good reason 

 to consider the two in relation of cause and effect. If ani- 



