Abstract
The great frequency with which fever occurs during the course of heart disease is well known and has been frequently commented upon. Its presence has generally been attributed to infection or infarction, usually of the lungs even when no sound proof of their existence was obtainable. In several patients elevations of temperature were so intimately and characteristically associated with the appearance and increase of the signs of heart failure and the return of the temperature to normal so promptly attendant upon the disappearance of these signs, that the processes themselves of heart failure were regarded as responsible for the presence of fever. These phenomena obviously warranted analysis further than the attempt to discover their relation to infection and infarction. The temperatures of patients suffering from heart failure, both during and after recovery, were accordingly studied. The temperatures of the surface (skin) and of the interior (rectum) of the body were recorded simultaneously. Such observations afford a rough estimate of the thermal gradient of the body.
The temperature of the skin being dependent upon environmental as well as upon internal conditions, it was necessary to keep the conditions of the room constant in order to detect changes of temperature in the body. The temperature of the room was maintained constant (21.5 to 22.5°C). When changes occurred, the temperatures of the skin were corrected according to Vincent's observation; for each degree of change in room temperature, the temperature of the skin was adjusted by 0.3 of a degree.
The temperature, movement of air and humidity were maintained fairly constant. The total effect of these on cooling was measured by recording the cooling power of the air with a Kata-thermometer. This varied between 4.7 and 5.2 millicalories per square centimeter per second for the dry Kata- and 14 and 16 for the wet Kata-thermometer.
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