Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-05-05
OUNCES OF PREVENTION.
The Thermometer as q uealth.mea
Oufcrs

l0ufn0 may Oe IounO an article on Mining In
Hot Places" the Comstock Mine in Nevada be-
ing meant. In this article, which was quoted
from western journal, 1 came across the fol-
lowing statement: 1.-THE temperature ofthe blood
is about $50 F.; therefore, when a man remains
in hot place for an hour. or even half an hour,
his blood and his whole body become heated to
temperature of 115o, 1902 or whatever may be
the temperature Of the place in which he Is at
work."
This statements given withouta word of COM
ment by the editor of the popular journal in
question, who writes AN. and NJ D. after his
name. Let us hope that his readers, and also
my own, are acquainted with fact in physiolo-
gy of which the learned health journal editor
has perhaps never heard-the fact, namely, that
the healthy human body preserves nearly the
same temperature everywhere and under all cir
cumstances, whether in the hottest mine or upon
the coolest arctic iceberg, and that a slight de-
parture from that standard heat. whether pro-
duced by exposure or by disease, means the
speedy death of the sufferer.
What is this standard heat of the human
body? What is the source and degree Of this
natural animal heat? It's source Is the oxida-
ton or burning Of the food taken into the sys-
TEN. The food is consumed as in a fire, only far
more slowly. but with about an equal disen-
gagement Of heat as the result. Throw SUI
CARED almond into the fret will burn longer
probably than you would think, some two or
three minutes, throwing out considerable vol
ume of flame. In the human body the sugar.
starch, and oil of the almond will give out about
the same amount Of heat during the process of
assimilation, which may last many hours. Part
OF this heat Is converted into force part is radi
ated. The total amount Of heat radiated by q
healthy human body is estimated as equal, on
the average, to that of two burning candles
Ten persons sitting in a room, that is to saw
would warm it as much as twenty candles in
the same time.
The degree of this heat. as indicated by the
temperature OF the blood, varies with different
animals and classes of animals, but for each
kind and individual it remains very nearly the
| same. Birds are the warmest blooded; their
| animal heat ranges from 1869 to ITO F. The
temperature OF mammals lies between equally
narrow limits that Of the porpoise is 97o, of the
horse 81, and of the ass and the hare 1000. On
this point the cat and the rat are in complete
| accord, having each vital temperature of 1929
The sheep. the goat, and the sca-cow have the
warmest blood Of all the mammals, It's heat
pecially In view of the immense difference in
| the natures, habits, and surroundings OF the
| different animals have named
The temperature of the human body has been
studied with great care. Its average height was
first determined by the researches of Dr.
Brechet In health, as measured by an accurate
| thermometer placed In the armpt. it is $500 F.,
or 80 G. The actual heat of the blood is about
10 F. higher than this. The differences between
the temperatures of different individuals are
r.
variations In the temperature of the same in
dividual during health are also slight, seldom as
much as one degree in the course of the day.
Two or three degrees is the utmost range for
| health. Any range lower than 1920 or higher
than 3d. Gin the axilla) is very suspicious more
than this means disease: little more means
danger; still little more arrangement of the
natural heat means death. In the large hos
pital practice of DR.. Wunderlich the lowest tenn
perature among severe cases which yet ret6v-
hyxyno f1,n fI,ar, 4
no record of life which has survived a blood
temperature Of 113o. So delicate is the adjust
ment of the flame that we call lite!
1t is by the clinical thermometer that we study
the movement of these temperatures from the
normal standard OF health upward or downward
to disease. the instrument fOrewarns us of the
danger and describes it; barometer of health.
1t Is one that Is so easily used, and In it's simpler
indications so easily understood that it should
be familiar in every family. Far more clearly
| than the barometer fOretells the weather does
the clinical thermometer warn us of the APP
prOach or fOretell the close OF the storm of dis
ease in the micrOcosm of the human system
The instrument as made by the best Makers
ls graduated by tenths of degree from go to
1!6' Fan extremer range of figures. hope.
than any of my readers will ever be called on to
note at the bedside of loved one And what
are the indications, for better or for worse of the
hyget"ete''. or health-indicator, as the clinical
thermometer might properly be called?
l. The standard of health being q tempera-
ture of $50 F., a constant temperature. or one
that varies in health not more than One-quarter
of degree either way from this morn, in the
same individual. is proof OF sound consttu-
ton.
O. And conversely, "mobility of temperature
under the action of external influences is a sign
of some diseased condition (Wunderlich)
g. natural temperature does not prove
health though it is presumption of health.
But as have said, any variation from the nor
NAL temperature that exceeds two degrees
either upward or downward, is to be taken as
almost certainly meaning disease; while tenn
peratures above 1889 or below go F. are, with
very few exceptions, fatal.
4. Each and every disease that Is we'll marked
in Its course and symptOms-that is typical, in
scientific phrase-prOduces in each of its stages
It's own effects upon the temperature OF the
blood, and gives, therefore, numbers that may
be figured in curves which are characteristic OF
the particular disease.
These latter details are for the physician to
record and study; they are too complex for de-
scription here. But any other person-even the
patient himself, unless a child-can make the
preliminary observations of which 1 speak, and
the nurse should know how to make them In the
absence of the physician. Even a single obser-
walton with the clinical thermometer will tell us
whether the patient is really i'll. Two or three
observations will inform US what the kind OF
danger is and will sometimes determine the
probable mildness or severity of an attack In
most families illness is threatened at least, not
infrequenty and it is of great service to be able
to know promptly whether to send for the doc
tor or not. The general rule on the point, sub |
ject of course to slight modification for the indi-
vtdual. Is to call medical aid if the temperature
rises above 100 or tails below go.
5. Influences which do not disturb the tenn
perature of the healthy derange that of the |
sick. The occurrence of abnormal temperatures |
in persons who have been previously healthy |
points to the existence Of disease. The Their |
mometer indicates, tor instance. the existence |
Of tuberculosis by evening elevations of three |
or four degrees.
Such, in BRIEF is the clinical thermometer, the |
most recent and one of the most important ap- |
planes that medical science has given u.s. It's |
use requires intelligence, but no special skill |
1t is only necessary to handle the instrument |
carefully, to keep 1t dry and clean, and in using
It to leave it in the closed arm-pit for not less
than four minutes. Read the result carefully |
and promptly, and note it down at once, with |
the day and hour, for the use of the physician. |
A permanent record of the temperatures of each |
child should also be kept from infancy. It will |
prove serviceable to the physician and win |
form part Of the physiological history of the |
child. TITUS MUNsON COAN.
English Girls Abroad.
From the Saturday Review.