291 
of Edinburgh, Session 1867 - 68 . 
autumn be had lost none of his love of research, and dwelt with 
all the delight of a young man upon the natural features of his 
neighbourhood ; time seemed as yet to have leant but lightly on 
him, and his looks were no index to his years ; but he was hardly 
what I had known him some years before, and was certainly sadder 
than had been his wont. 
His last illness commenced with what he at first considered as 
only a severe attack of influenza ; but alarming symptoms super- 
vened, and against these no treatment had any power. Dr 
Rolleston writes to me that “ he retained his faculties to the last, 
and to the last the watchword was, with him as with the Roman 
Emperor, ‘ Laboremus.’ ” 
Abstract of the Paper. 
The observations were made on birds of different ages and sexes, 
and under various conditions, and the following results were approxi- 
matively obtained : — 
1. The average temperature of the common fowl is 107°*8 1 . 
2. The temperature of the sexes before maturity is comparatively 
high, being 108 o, 5, whilst that of the two sexes at this stage varies 
very little. 
3. The temperature of the male, on the whole, irrespective of any 
particular age, is higher than that of the female, being as 108 o, 39 
to 107°*3. 
4. The temperature of the fully mature male is 1Q8°*77. 
5. The temperature of the laying hen is 107°*4. 
6. During incubation the temperature falls, and is as low as 
107°. 
7. During moulting it rises to 108°'44. 
The author further observed that the young fowl, soon after 
becoming tolerably fledged, and capable of securing adequate food, 
attains a comparatively high temperature, and that the temperature 
of nestlings is also comparatively high, facts which are scarcely in 
accordance with the views of Dr William Edwards, who, in his 
work “ On the Influence of Physical Agents on Life,” maintains 
that “ the power of producing heat in warm-blooded animals is at 
its minimum at birth, and increases markedly until adult age.” 
