IQ BAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 
Vol. XXI Washington, D. C. April i, 1921 No - 1 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE BODY TEMPERATURE OF 
DRY COWS 
By Max Kriss 1 
Associate in Animal Nutrition* Institute of Animal Nutrition, The Pennsylvania State 
College 
COOPERATIVE INVESTIGATIONS BETWEEN THE INSTITUTE OF ANIMAL NUTRITION OP 
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE AND THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY OF 
THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The normal temperature of the animal body is never a constant figure. 
It varies in different species, in different individuals, and is never abso¬ 
lutely constant even in the same individual. The observations on the 
body temperature of man are numerous and more or less conclusive, while 
relatively little attention seems to have been given to the study of the 
variations in the body temperature of farm animals under different con¬ 
ditions which are known to affect the temperature of man . 1 
In healthy warm-blooded animals, notably cattle, as well as man, the 
body temperature fluctuates within very narrow limits. When, how¬ 
ever, the normal processes of the body are upset, the temperature may 
vary widely, and for this reason body temperature is looked upon as an 
index of health. But aside from this and from any other physiological 
significance that it might have, knowledge of the normal course of fluc¬ 
tuations in body temperature of cattle has grown in importance with 
the perfection of the respiration calorimeter used in the investigations 
on metabolism with cattle. 
By means of the respiration calorimeter the heat produced 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 determine accurately the heat production as distinguished 
from the heat emission, a knowledge of the storage or loss of heat by the 
animal body is indispensable. If at the end of an experimental period 
1I am under obligation to Dr. H. P. Annsby for the opportunity to carry out this investigation, and I 
wish to thank him for his invaluable suggestions and kindly criticism. I also wish to thank the other 
members of the staff, especially Prof. J. A. Fries and Prof. W. W. Braman for the interest they have shown 
and for the suggestions they have given me. 
a Pembrey, M. S. animal heat. In Schafer, E. A., ed. Text-Book of Physiology, p. 785-867. fig. 
76-82. Edinburgh, London, New York, 1898. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
xf 
(1) 
Vol. XXI, No. i 
Apr. 1, 1921 
Key No. Pa.-xo 
