On the temperature in diseases : a manual of medical thermometry.

  • Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the temperature in diseases : a manual of medical thermometry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto.

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    K ir\i)\MKA TAi. nnNciri Ks. (lisenso lie nol dantrorously liitrli, on tin- rninpnralivo sn/i'ti/ of the at I nek. ^ 17.—As (luMc arc rarialioiitt of tcinpcratiirc in tlie. course of twcniv-four hours in /lealtfi, so also Ihoy occur in diKcaite. The iJaili/ /!IK'/1'11//OILS' ill Jls'caw aiv coiuMiotily wiic/i f/reo/er than /// heallli. Tlicsc arc subject to rule—aiul ])ar(ly (Icpciitl (in fclirile disease) upon the Kind, statje, and degree of severity of the disease, and upon these iuiprovement (or crisis) depends. If the daily tem- perature deviates from the normal type, it is generally due to the individual circumstances of tiie ])a(i(iit, to an abnormal type of disease, to complications and sudden relapses, to constipation or diarrhoea, to sudtlen emj)tying of an over-distended bladder, to a spontaneous or therapeutic loss of blood, to ])rofuse perspirations, to moving the patient, or his over-fatiguing himself, to mental excitement or to sleep, to errors in diet and thermal influences, or the operation of medicines and other therapeutic agencies. § 18.—The daily fluctuations may be either simply ascending or descending, but almost always describe a curve with one or more elevations of tem})erature [dailij exucerhaiions) and intercurrenty^/i^/.y of iemperaiure (daily remissionfs). The number of degrees (or parts of them—the extent of the excursus) between the daily maximum and the daily minimvm is the daily difference or ravge of tempera- ture : and when the difference is trifling, Ave call the course of tem- perature continual; when the daily fluctuations are considerable, mc call it remitting. The wean between the maximum and minimum temperature is the averayc daily temperature, and the height of this shows the intensity of the fever. Typical forms of disease have, for the most part, during their intensity, a determinate average daily temperature, and seldom sink below a certain minimum or rise above a certain maximum, unless shortly before death. §19.—Coniinual ohscrrations of temperature, repeated several times a day, through the whole course of a disease, or for a consi- derable period of its duration, afford the best materials for diagnosing and prognosticating the nature and results of any disease, when this is associated with considerable elevations of temperature We learn from them what is conformahle to laio or normal in the course of febrile diseases, thus gaining a solid basis for diagnosis in indi- vidual cases. They may often, in themselves considered, afford a