THE THERMOGRAPH: ITS EVOLUTION AND DESTINY. 683 
to procure a continuous curve denoting the consta~t febrile condition of a subject, 
but, with the addition of certain accessories now in process of construction, and 
as suggested by Prof. Mayer, of the University of Technology, Hoboken, and 
Dr. Toner, of Washington, we may be able to procure, on the same strip of 
paper, at the same time and under similar c~nditions, a sphygmographic and a 
respiratory curve; thus enabling pathologists, therapeutists, physiologists, and, in 
fact, general practitioners, to study the inter relationship of these three cardinal 
symptoms under various modifying circumstances. ‘The eare the fosszbz/ites, but 
when we drift into the probabilities, we see in prospective the addition of that 
which will also furnish a moisture curve. Of the advantages of the graphic 
method as applied to medicine, I need hardly speak. It already promises for 
medicine what it has accomplished in physics. 
Every physicist adores such familiar names as Leon Scott and Dr. Clarence 
Blake, to whom we are indebted for the application of the graphic method to the 
science of acoustics, through the medium of the phonautographs invented by 
themselves. 
To the experimental therapeutist this instrument is of incalculable value, as 
affording a means of determining the precise character of the temperature changes 
under the administration of various therapeutic agents in different sized doses and 
modes of exhibition. 
The experimental physiologist will find in it that which will materially facil'- 
tate accurate observation in his field. And the advantages accruing from its 
application in pathological investigations, and the possibility of thus elucidating 
hitherto obscure phenomena, must be patent to every one. An instrument of so 
much value as an aid to observations in these three important branches of scien- 
tific medicine, needs no further lauding; but I cannot draw my paper to a close 
without setting forth the mode of application and the advantages attending its. 
use in every day practice. 
Take, for example, a suspected case of typhoid fever, experience and exper- 
imentation with the thermograph having already revealed a characteristic mznor 
wave curve for typhoid fever. The physician is summoned. Upon arriving he 
applies his thermograph in the following manner: First, the perceiving portion, 
as seen in fig. 4, is fastened in the axilla by means of two elastic bands attached 
to the handles H H, one passing around the trunk, the other over the shoulder. 
Next, two fine and flexible silk covered wires are led from the binding-posts 
A B, fig. 4, to the binding posts B B, of fig. 7, the latter having been previously 
placed upon a stand at the head of the patient’s bed. 
These wires, of course, are of sufficient length to admit of any degree of 
motion on the part of the patient without interfering with the position of the 
recorder. The instrument will now be ready for use, and, upon starting the 
battery, it will continue in operation for any desired number of days, with little 
or no attention outside of winding and replenishing with new rolls of paper. 
The first benefit to be derived from its use in such a case, consists in the 
