234 DR SUTHERLAND SIMPSON ON 
hours in time, and if the Melbourne rhythm had persisted, in London the curve would 
be practically reversed. OsBorNneE found, however, that his maximum tended to follow 
local time, vecurring about 6 p.m. by the ship’s clock. 
But he was only able to make five sets of observations, and in one of these the 
highest temperature was reached at 10.15 a.m. by ship's time, corresponding to 5.52 p.m. 
Melbourne time. In another only four readings were taken, at hours which did not 
cover the 6 p.m. by Melbourne time (2 p.m., 5.30 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. ship’s 
time corresponded to 0.48 a.m., 4.18 a.m., 4.48 a.m., and 9.48 a.m. Melbourne time), 
so that it is impossible to say srhsihen the maximum agreed with the latter or not. 
The results therefore are not quite convincing. To quote his own words: ‘“‘The above 
results, though incomplete, rather tend to prove that the time of evening maximum takes 
place with regard to local time and not the time of the starting-point—Melbourne. 
They do not, however, disprove the existence of body periodicity, nor prove that the 
evening maximum is determined solely by the hours of sleep, the activities of the day, 
and the diurnal variations of light and heat, for a true periodicity might have been 
present but adjusted to the new conditions owing to the very gradual manner these 
were introduced.” * 
The latest contribution to the subject comes from LinpHARD,t the medical officer of 
the Danish Arctic expedition to the north-east coast of Greenland in the years 1906-8, 
On this expedition he studied extensively, on himself and other members of the ship's 
company, the effects of various conditions on the rectal, mouth, and skin temperatures. 
Discussing the question of periodicity in relation to body temperature, he criticises the 
method of Mosso and Benepict, as T1cerstepr and the present writer had done before, 
on the ground that when one attempts to reverse the daily routine in a single 
individual by arranging that he shall work during the night and rest and sleep in the 
day-time, one cannot disconnect this individual from the rest of society. So long as 
the society, of which the individual is a part, follows a fixed rotation, the latter, 
consciously or unconsciously, will tend towards the same mode of life. Under reversed 
day-and-night conditions the subject must necessarily work with artificial light in the 
stillness of the night, and he must sleep in the day-time through noise and other dis- 
turbing influences. ‘The night-worker is in sympathy with a sleeping world, and his 
bodily activities are unconsciously affected by this circumstance. : 
Relating his own experience in night-watching, he calls attention to the fact that 
the “night time has a peculiar effect upon one’s general state of mind owing to the 
stillness, solitariness, and various other circumstances, and this changed psychical 
condition reacts on all one undertakes. Every strong or sudden noise is disagreeable, 
* In a recent paper (Report of the Danish Expedition to the North-East Coast of Greenland, 1906-8, vol. xliv., 
1910, p. 1; Reitzel, Copenhagen) LinpHaRp, unaware of Grpson’s work, gives to OSBORNE the credit of being the first 
to adopt pia method of changing the daily routine, and makes no mention at all of Grsson’s name in this connection, 
As a matter of fact priority, by three years, Peleses to Gipson, and besides, his observations were much more 
extensive and complete, and his results far more deanite than those of OSBORNE. 
+ LINDHARD, loc. cit. 
