238 
G. A. BANHAM. 
dition depends upon the general condition of the body and constitu¬ 
tion; thermometry also gives a clue to the healthiness of the animal. 
The thermometer, however, cannot be looked upon as a com¬ 
mon method of investigation in ail cases, where a variation of tem¬ 
perature presents itself; but with this, we can hardly acquiesce, 
especially with relation to veterinary science. Such assertions 
are only useful under certain conditions, of which we will speak 
later. The thermometer was brought into common use, from the 
great value it proved in many patho-physiologieal discoveries; 
but it appears to us, that fever can very often be sufficiently 
known and judged of by the ordinary means of investigation; and 
the value of the pulse and knowledge of the temperature with the 
hand in diagnosis and prognosis of fever, has been denied and 
contradicted ; but we must not go too far in this view, and neglect 
the most exact means we have for measuring the temperature, viz : 
“ the thermometer.” 
This instrument is necessary 'where exactness is required , and % 
it answers the same purpose in investigating the temperature , as 
the second hand does in ascertaining the number of the pulse. 
For the correct measurement of the temperature we make use 
of the common thermometer, constructed of a graduated glass 
tube filled with mercury, which for medical purposes is generally 
placed within a second glass tube. Its graduated scale ranges 
from 35 to 45° celcius, or sometimes from 30 to 50° ; each degree is 
divided into fifths, or better still, into tenths. The bulb containing 
the mercury should be made of thin glass, so that it can be easily 
acted upon by the warmth of the body, the bore of the tube 
being line. There is a modified thermometer called the Maxi¬ 
mum Thermometer , which is constructed by allowing a small 
quantity of air to enter, and divide about a half-inch of the 
mercury from the superior part of the main column, but this has 
not all the advantages which were credited to it. In using a maxi¬ 
mum thermometer, the uppermost end of the small divided por¬ 
tion of quicksilver shows the degree of heat attained, and when 
the thermometer is brought into a cooler medium, the main column 
falls, but the small divided portion remains fixed, thus giving us 
the opportunity of reading it at our leisure. 
