1XFLUENCE OF AGE. 
805 
The average temperature falls one- or two-tentha from infancy to 
puberty, and aboul the same amount from puberty to middle age; after 
that stage is reached the temperature rises, and aboul the eightieth 
year is almost as high as in infancy. 1 According to Ringer and Stuart, 2 
the average daily maximum in persons under 25 years is 37 0, 2 (99°), in 
those over 40 years, 37°1 (98°-8) 
As regards the temperature in old age, all observers seem to agree 
that it is equal to or slightly above that of adults. Davy 3 found the 
mean temperature of eight healthy old persons, with an average age of 
88, to be 36 0, 9 (98 '45) in the mouth. Charcot 4 states, as the result 
of numerous determinations, that the rectal temperature in the aged 
is 37°'2 to 37°'5, and is rarely higher or lower than in the adult; but 
the tempera t ore in the well-closed axilla is often two or three degrees 
below that in the rectum, on account of the small and feeble circulation 
in the skin of the aged. Mosse" and Ducanrp 5 have compared the 
temperature of the axilla and rectum of aged people, and have obtained 
the following results ; each figure represents the mean of twelve or 
fifteen observations : — 
Age. 
Morning Temperature. 
Evening Temperature. 
Axilla. 
Rectum. 
Axilla. 
Rectum. 
75 
36°-40 
36° -83 
36 D -58 
37°-04 
76 
36°'48 
37 3 -06 
36°'41 
36°-86 
80 
36°"0S 
36^46 
36 ; -40 
36°-94 
The results obtained by Roger 6 upon seven healthy people, whose 
ages ranged between 72 and 95 vears, are, for the mean temperature, 
36°-68 and 36°23 ; for the minimum 36° and 35°-5, for the maximum 
37°'10 and .'!7 C , in the axilla and mouth respectively. 
In the case of young animals born in an advanced condition of develop- 
ment, the temperature is generally higher than that of the parents. Thus 
foals and calves, several hours after birth, have a temperature 0° - 5 to 1° above 
that of their mothers. The average- temperature of foals for the first five 
days is 39° '3, and then gradually falls, as shown by the table on p. 806, which 
represents the results of six hundred observations made by Fbhringer " upon 
one hundred horses. 
Similar results as regards the effect of age in horses were obtained by 
Siedamgrotzky, 8 and in the case of cows and sheep by Hobday. 9 
1 Wunderlich, "Medical Thermometry " ; Barensprung, Arch./. Anat., Physiol, u. 
wissensch. Med., 1851, S. 148. 
2 Proc. Roy. Soc. London, 1877, vol. xxvi. p. 194. 
3 Phil. Trans., London, 1844, pt. 1, p. 59; "Researches," London, 1839, vol. iii. 
p. 4. 
4 Gaz. held, de mid., Paris, 1S69, tome vi. p. 324. 
5 Gaz. hcbd. d. sc. med. de Montpdlier, 1886. 
,J Arch. gen. de med., Paris, Ser. 4, tome v. p. 273. 
7 Elleuberger, " Yergleichende Physiologie der Haussaugethiere," 1S92, Bd. ii. Th. 2, 
S. 81. 
' Deutsche Ztschr.f. Thiermcd., Leipzig, 1875, Bd. i. S. 87. 
9 Journ. Comp. Path, and Therap., Edinburgh and London, 1896, Bd. ix. p. 286. 
