Vol. 6, 1920 
PHYSIOLOGY: M. KRISS 
539 
II. — On the Influence of Subcutaneous Injections of Adrenalin upon the Eyes of Cats 
after Removal of Superior Cervical Ganglion," Ihid., 11, 1904 (37-39); Meltzer, S. J., 
and Auer, Clara Meltzer, "Studies on the Paradoxical Pupil- Dilatation Caused by 
Adrenalin. III. — A Discussion of the Nature of the Paradoxical Pupil- Dilatation 
Caused by Adrenalin." 
2 Meltzer, S. J. and Auer, Clara Meltzer, L. c. (30). 
3 Schafer, E. Sharpey, Quart. J. Exper. Physiol., 12, 1919 (231-301). 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE BODY TEMPERATURE OF 
DRY COWS 
By Max Kriss 
Institute of Animal Nutrition, The Pennsyi^vania State College 
Communicated by H. P. Armsby, August 20, 1920 
While a knowledge of the normal fluctuations in the body temperature 
of cattle is of importance to the veterinarian insofar as it may help to 
detect diseased conditions, it assumes special significance when metabo- 
lism experiments on cattle are made with the respiration calorimeter. By 
means of the latter, the heat eliminated by the animal during a certain 
period of time, as well as the gaseous exchange between the animal and 
the atmosphere that surrounds it, is measured. But in order to deter- 
mine accurately the heat production as distinguished from the heat 
elimination a correction must be applied for any storage or loss of heat 
by the animal body and failure to do so might introduce an appreciable 
error. For example, if at the end of an experimental period the body 
temperature of an animal weighing 400 kilograms differs by 1° C. from 
that at the beginning, it means a storage or loss of heat by the body 
amounting to 332 calories (assuming the specific heat of the body to 
be 0.83). The data on record regarding the body temperature of farm 
animals are unsatisfactory for the reason that the observations have not 
been repeated often enough under different conditions which are known 
to affect the temperature of man. In this investigation an attempt has 
been made to secure data regarding the extent and the course of the body 
temperature variations in cattle and to study some of the factors that 
might influence them. The investigation covers a period of some six- 
teen weeks. The animals were two dry cows used at the same time for 
metabolism experiments with the respiration calorimeter, in which strict 
control of feeding, environment, etc., is maintained. Several series of 
observations on the body temperature of the cows have been made with 
special reference to the study of the following: 
(1) Variations in body temperature from about 7.30 a. m. to about 
5.30 p. m., including the effect of water drunk. 
(2) Thermal gradient in the body. 
(3) Variations in body temperature from about 5 p. m. to about 7 
p. m., including the effect of the feed. 
