S06* 
Dr Davy on the Temperature of Man 
of the years they had lived they themselves had taken no ac- 
count. Those whose temperatures were lowest, I may men- 
tion, were most meagre and wretched in appearance ; and in- 
deed, with the exception of No. 5, who was pretty robust, they 
were all of a very spare habit of body. 
At the same time, I ascertained the temperature under the 
tongue of three English artillerymen, in good health, and cool, 
who had served ten years at the Cape, and who were giants in 
appearance when compared with the poor Hottentots. All 
three were nearly of the same age, between thirty and forty. 
The temperature of two was 99°, and of the other 99°.5. 
At the Isle of France, at Port Louis, in June, one of the 
coolest months there, when the thermometer was at 74°, I tried 
the temperature of three Negroes, two natives of Madagascar, 
and one of Mozambique. Of these the temperature of the two 
first was 98°, and of the last 99°. They were house-slaves, be- 
tween eighteen and twenty years old, well clothed and fed, and 
in good health. 
The temperature of an English gentleman, who had been in 
the island several years, and of another just arrived, was ascer- 
tained at the same time. The former proved 98°. 25, and the 
latter 98.5. 
In this island (Ceylon) I commenced my observations at Co- 
lombo. Colombo, in Lat. N. 6° 56', is situated on the sea-shore, 
at the distance of about thirty miles from the boundary moun- 
tains of the Kandian country. Its temperature is remarkably 
equal ; in the hottest day seldom exceeding 84°, and in the 
coolest night rarely falling to 70. The greater part of the 
year the range of the thermometer is from 77° to 78°, and the 
mean annual temperature is about 79°. 
On the 14th of September, between six and seven o’clock in 
the morning, in a village about a mile from Colombo, when 
the air was about 79°, I tried the temperature of six Singalese, 
of different sexes and ages, all cool and in good health, and 
fasting : 
No. 
Sex. 
Age. 
Temp, under 
1 . 
F. 
50 
101° 
2. 
4 
101.5 
3 » 
M. 
20 
101 
4. 
8 
101.5 
5. 
40 
100 
6. 
25 
100 
