330 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIX 



normal body temperature is fairly close to the upper 

 limits of body temperature compatible with life. A varia- 

 tion of five per cent, from the mean, expressed in degrees 

 Fahrenheit, is often cause for grave anxiety, and a varia- 

 tion of ten per cent, is usually fatal. Compared with this, 

 the variation in body temperature of fishes which live in 

 the water only a few degrees above the freezing point 

 in the winter and in the tepid water of a shallow stream 

 in the summer is enormous. 



The highest temperatures recorded in the human, after 

 which recovery has occurred, are shown in Table IV. 



TABLE IV 



43° C Hystero-epilepsy Miersejewski, cited by Lom- 



Diez Obelar. 

 Capparelli, e 



The somewhat alarming but relatively innocuous mani- 

 festations of hysteria are attended by a high temperature 

 without the complicating factor of an infection, 



