66 CLINICAL DIAGNOSTICS. 



son of the year, in cattle kept in stables the temperature may 

 rise 1.0° C, for a short time. 



As a rule the bodily temperature is lowest in the morn- 

 ing and in the afternoon at about five o'clock highest. 



II. Temperature of the skin. The thinner and more vascular 

 the integument and the finer the hair coat, the warmer the organ 

 feels. Exposed surfaces of the skin feel cooler than more protected, 

 covered parts. The ears and extremities, therefore, are normally 

 colder than the rest of the body, as is also true of the comb and legs 

 of fowls. 



The surface temperature is measured by laying our hands 

 on the patient, namely on the ears, horns, nose, muzzle and 

 legs. Deviations from the normal, especially in cattle, are 

 sometimes more appreciable by this method than by the use of 

 the thermometer. 



A changing of the surface temperature of a given part 

 from hot to cold and vice versa is characteristic of fever. 



The surface temperature is elevated (skin hot) in fever 

 and during normal outbreak of sweat. It is reduced (skin 

 cold) when the temperature is below normal (milk fever), 

 collapse, during chill stage of fever and in the cold sweat 

 which usuallv precedes death. 



III. Fever. Although the character of fever is not 

 expressed entirely by elevation of temperature, we have be- 

 come accustomed to associate high temperature and fever, 

 using the terms as if synonymous. As a matter of fact, the 

 increased temperature is only one of the characteristic and 

 most readily available symptoms in the complex phenomenon 

 called fever. As a rule, however, there is a direct relation- 

 ship existing between the height of the temperature and the 

 degree of development of the fever. At times in the ox, the 

 increase of temperature, as measured by the thermometer, 

 fails to correspond with the degree of fever, which can be 

 appreciated by the remaining symptoms. 



