1869.] 



On the Temperature of the Human Body. 



287 



Acetate of ethylene-sodium yields alcohol and common acetate of soda 

 on treatment with water : — 



2 ( Na "' { oak o) + 2 H * 0= 2 ° 2 H « + 2 Na0 ° 2 Hs °- 



The extreme lightness of the so-called ethylate of sodium (it swims in 

 ether) is a reason for regarding it as a compound belonging to a less con- 

 densed order of sodium-compound than ordinary sodium-compounds. 

 The property of yielding up its define in the shape of alcohol when it is 

 treated with water is a reason for assigning to the new compound given by 

 the action of acetic ether the above formula, and shows that the define is 

 associated with the alkali-metal, not with the acid. 



IV. " On the Temperature of the Human Body in Health." By 

 Sydney Ringer, M.D. (Lond.), Professor of Materia Medica in 

 University College, London, and the late Andrew Patrick 

 Stuart. Communicated by Dr. Bastian. Received December 

 18, 1868. 



(Abstract.) 



These observations were conducted by the authors in order to learn 

 with minuteness the fluctuations of the temperature in health. They 

 were performed on persons of different ages, and were in many instances 

 continued through the night and day. 



The temperature was noted every hour, and on many occasions much 

 more frequently. 



The following subjects are discussed in this communication : — 



1 . The daily variation of the temperature. 



2. The effects of food on the temperature. 



3. The effects of cold baths on the temperature. 



4. The effects of hot baths on the temperature. 



From their observations and experiments the authors have drawn the 

 following conclusions : — 



The average maximum temperature of the day in persons under 25 

 years of age is 99°'l Fahr. ; of those over 40, 98°-8 Fahr. 



There occurs a diurnal variation of the temperature, the highest point 

 of which is maintained between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. At 

 about the last-named hour the temperature slowly and continuously falls, 

 till, between 11 p.m. and I a.m., the maximum depression is reached. At 

 about 3 a.m. it again rises, and reaches very nearly its highest point by 



9 A.M. 



The diurnal variation in persons under 25 amounts, on an average, to 

 2°*2 Fahr. ; but in persons between 40 and 50 it is very small, the average 

 being not greater than o, 87 Fahr. ; nay, on some days no variation what- 

 ever happens. In these elderly people the temperature still further differs 



