Evening star., 1903-07-21
VICE OF CHEAP THERMOMETERS.
Harm Done in Hands of Persons With
out Medical knowledge.

From the Medical News
Probably no instrument claiming to regis
ter with precision Is so Inaccurate as the
average Thermometer. This being so, IL Is
somewhat amusing to notice the blnd 1alth
with which the average citizen depends on
these devices for indicating temperature.
As scientific instrument each Is appar-
entity entitled to a respect approaching rev
erence, and its dicta are not to be question
ed. The fact IS that the variations among
a dozen ordinary thermometers VIII often
amount to five or six degrees-aS any one
can see who will glance at druggists win
dow. With thermometers USED lot sclehtIiic inc
work there is. of course, less variation. OUT
their inaccuracy is often considerable. ana
in clinical instruments it may easily De SO
great as to affect physicians diagnosis.
A prominent hospital In this clty mas
scarcely recovered from the shock or re-
cent discovery made by the members OF It's
house staff-namely, that the thermometers
in regular use in its wards vary so much
as to render valueless the temperature
charts which well-trained nurses nave been
taught to regard as one of their chief re-
sponsibilities 1t is rude awakening. IN
deed for a physician suddenly TO DE mace
to realize that he has been treating LOT
fever patients who have no fever ana that
Datients have been discharged as cured
whose temperatures were far from normal
Think of the wasted energy of sponge baths
and of tubbings, of antipyretics used With
out due warrant, of fluid diets forced upon
balf-staryed convalescents who longed for
solid food, and would have been all the
better for it; of patients kept In bed ana
in the hospital when they might nave bene-
flied by freedom of out of doors. These are
no imaginary evils; they are errors actually
committed. and errors which we have no
doubt are being repeated today in many of
our best hospitals. where every possible
care is supposed to be lavished on patients
Is this the hospital management or wmch
Americans 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 differ
ences too striking and too serious to be
lightly passed over. In some cases these
differences were as great as 20 degrees
Observation-Disclosures wide enough to
prove embarrassing in diagnosis and mis-
leading in treatment. This intOlerable state
of affairs has existed apparently for long
time-the inevitable fruit of a policy which
seeks to divorce economy and efnciency
Good thermometers are costly: cheap ones
flood the market and the tide rises even
unto the sacred precincts of hospital wards.
where it browns all decent regard for the
patients welfare.
It 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 clini
cal thermometers reliably certificated. and
a much larger number bearing certificates
of doubtful authenticity or having no GER
tihcate at all. These latter represent the
practice of private physicians and the pub
lie in taking of temperature at home. Most
Of these thermometers are cheap; many of
them are DID, and all Of them are unreliable.
because even when they happen to be ac
curate we cannot feel sure of them, and
we are bound to question and perhaps to
discount their evidence. We have been ac-
corded the privilege of testing selections
from retail stocks but we have found that
variations Of two degrees are not uncom-
mon.
Here is a matter Of vital concern to the
profession and the public. The voluntary
testing and certification Of thermometers
by recognized experts Is safeguard within
the reach Of those who are willing to pay
for it. Inasmuch as this protection Is so
commonly neglected. however. the question
may we'll be raised whether compulsory
certification is not desirable.