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

  • Wunderlich, C. A. (Carl August), 1815-1877.
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.

    360/489 (page 344)
    'Ul TiiK TKMrr.nvrrHK in me\si,ks. that tlie case might be taken for an intcnnittciil, did not ilic tcm- ])crature remain rather too low to allow of this idea. On the other hand, it may easily be confounded witli an ephemeral fever, and if the succeeding normal temperature lasts a little longer than usual the opinion may easily gain ground that the disease is already over! But in most cases the marked existence of other symptoms (])arti- cularly the ocular and pulmonary ones) allows us to recognise the disease which is developing itself. § 4. The true eruptive fever begins with a fresh rise of tempe- rature, which henceforward till the exanthem is fully developed either exhibits no return towards normal or only very temporary remissions. In most cases this eruptive fever is divided into two sections, a moderately febrile stage and the fastigium or acme. The moderately/ febrile stage generally lasts from thirty-six to forty- eight hours, seldom less, and is made up of one or two exacerbations of moderate extent (38° to 39° C. = 100-4° to 102*2° F.), which do not generally reach the high level of the initial fever. When there are two exacerbations the second is the higher, and the morning remission which intervenes commonly descends less low than the retrocession after the initial fever, yet even at this stage the normal temperature may be reached on a single occasion. The stage o'i fastigium is characterised by a considerable and ])ersistent rise of temperature, which, leaves behind for some time the preceding normal or moderately febrUe temperatures {Thomas). The commencement occurs early in the day in some cases, in others in the evening. In the former case the evening temperature rises still more, which may or may not be followed by a trifling remission on the next morning, and the maximum occurs the next evening. If the rise of the fastigium begins in the evening, there is simi- larly, the next morning, either a very slight remission or none at all. But in rare cases rather considerable remissions may be met with during the fastigium. The maximum temperature of the fastigium, and also generally speaking that of the disease itself, is chiefly observed in normal cases at the very time when the exanthem reaches its maximum of development and extension. Yet there is a tolerable number of cases which are so far exceptions that the temperature reaches its maximum shortly after the first appearance of the eruption, and so between its