The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-09-12
WORTHLESS T-HERMoHEIER
Cheap Instruments Ruruhased cere.
lessly Are ProduetlVe q
Mueh Harm.

AAAaA AA#AAs
Probably no instrument claiming 50
register with precision IS SO i~naceurate
as the average Thermometer. This be
ing so. it is somewhat amusing TO mo-
tee the blind faith with which the ave
erage citizen depends on these devices
for indicating Temperature. As q sci
entidc instrument each IS apparently
entitled to a respect approaching rev
ereuce, and its dicta are not to be
questioned, says the Medical News.
The fact is that the variations among
q dozen ordinary thermometers viii
often amount TO I'VE OF six degrees
as any one can see who will glance 1T
a druggists window. With thermome-
tiers used for scientific work there iA
Of course, less variation. but their in-
accuracy is often considerable, and in
clinical instruments it may easily be
SO great as to affect a physicians dag
nosis.
Al prominent hospital in this city has
scarcely recovered from the shock OF
a recent discovery made by the mem
bers Of its house stan-namely, that
the Thermometers in regular use IA its
wards vary so much as to sender
valueless the temperature charts
which w%ell-trained nurses have been
taught to regard as one Of their chief
responsibilities. 1t is a rude awaken
ing, indeed, for a physician suddenly
to be made to realize that he has been
treating for fever patients who have
no fever, and that patients have been
discharged as cured whose tempera-
lures we're far from normal. Think Of
the wasted energy of sponge baths
and Of tubbings. Of a~ntipyretics used
without due warrant, Of fluid diets
forced upon half-starved convalescents
who longed for solid food, and would
have been all the better for it: Of pa
tients kept in bed and In the hospital
when they might have benefited by
freedom Of out Of doors. These r no
imaginary evils; they are error actu-
ally committed, and errors which we
have no doubt are being repeated to-
day in many Of our best hospitals,
where every possible care is supposed
to be lavished on patients, Is this the
hospital management Of which Ameri-
ans are so proud?
In the hospital, whose experience has
been made known to us, actual tests Of
groups of thermometers used in the same
wards and on the same patients revealed
differences too striking and too seri-
Gus to be lightly passed over. In some
cases these differences were as great as
2.5 degrees Observation-Disclosures wide
enough to prove embarrassing in dag
nOsis and misleading in treatment. This
intolerable state Of affairs has existed
apparently for a long time-the inevi-
table fruit Of a policy which seeks to d.
vorce economy and efficiency. Good
thermometers are costly; cheap ones
flood the market, and the tide rises even
unto the sacred precincts Of hospital
wards, where If browns all decent regard
Tor the patients welfare.
1t is not in hospitals alone that the
vice Of cheap Thermometers has taken
root. In the stock Of the average drug
store in this city will be found a small
number Of clinical thermometers, relia-
bly, c~ertihcated, and a much larger mum
Der bearing ~C6TLluCACeS Oh doubtful au'
thenticity or having no certificates al
all. The latter represent the practice o.
private physicians and the public in tax,
ing Of temperature at home. Most o
these thermometers are cheap; many o.
them are old, and all Of them are unre
liable, because even when they happier
to be accurate we cannot feel sure o
them, and we are bound to question ant
perhaps to discount the privilege o
testing selections from retail stocks, bu,
we have found that variations OF two de
grees are not uHcommon.
Here is a matter of vital concern to tn,
profession and the public. The volun
tary testing and c"ertifcation Of Their
mometers by recognized experts is /;
safeguard within the reach Of those whC
are willing to pay for it. Inasmuch al
this protection is so commonly neglected
however, the question may we'll be rails
whether compulsory c~ertifcation is
desirable.