74 DR SUTHERLAND SIMPSON AND DR J. J. GALBRAITH ON 



muscular exercise on the body temperature has been observed in many other animals, 

 including man ; but the monkey seems to be particularly susceptible to this influence, 

 and for this reason it is evident that in all observations made with a view to determine 

 the normal temperature of these animals, struggling, either immediately before or 

 during the operation, will give an incorrect reading. This will be considered more 

 fully subsequently. 



2. In the monkey the temperature of the axilla is, as a rule, higher than that of 

 the rectum. In 553 observations made on 26 animals up to this date, the mean 

 temperature of the axilla was 3876 and of the rectum 3 8 '61, giving a difference of 

 - 15 in favour of the axilla. Every source of fallacy was thought of and guarded 

 against as far as possible, such as the monkey sitting on the cold floor for some time 

 before the thermometer was inserted, which might possibly lower the temperature of 

 the rectum. Sometimes the temperature of the rectum was taken first, and sometimes 

 that of the axilla, but this was found to make no difference in the relative readings. 

 The time of application of the thermometer was the same in both cases — two minutes. 

 For absolute accuracy this was probably too short, but the difficulty of inducing the 

 animal to remain quiet for a longer period was sometimes very great, and the error 

 introduced by forcibly holding it would have been greater than that due to too short 

 an application of the thermometer. 



The same fact was observed in 1818 by Davy (1) in Simia Aygula in Ceylon. In 

 the single case which he records he found the rectal temperature to be 103'5° F. 

 (39-9° C), and that of the axilla 104-5° F. (40'3° C), showing a difference of 1° F. or 

 about 0*4° C. The temperature of the mouth of a marmot awakening from its winter 

 sleep has been found by Pembrey (2) to be sometimes from 2° C. to 3° C. above that 

 of the rectum, and the same has been found in other hibernating mammals by Quincke 



(3) and others. Pembrey found that the difference is most marked when the marmot's 

 temperature is rising rapidly during its awakening ; there is little difference when the 

 animal is torpid, and when it is fully awake the rectal temperature is about a degree 

 higher than the buccal. In man the rectal temperature is stated by most observers to 

 be from - 2° C. to 0"6° C. higher than that of the axilla, although Ringer and Stewart 



(4) assert that there is in reality no difference between the temperatures of the mouth, 

 axilla, and rectum, if due care be taken and sufficient time allowed. The axilla in the 

 monkey is always dry, and it can be so well closed that it is to all intents and purposes 

 an internal cavity, while, on the other hand, the monkey is not so well developed in the 

 gluteal region relatively as man, and consequently the rectum is not so well protected, 

 and the muscular development of the fore limbs being greater than that of the hind 

 limbs, there may also be a difference in the vascularity. 



