Temperature in cholera / by Dr. L. Guterbock, Superintending Physician of Cholera Hospital, No. 2, Berlin ; translated and abridged for the 'Glasgow Medical Journal' by J.B. Russell.

  • Güterbock, Ludwig, 1814-1895.
Date:
[1866?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Temperature in cholera / by Dr. L. Guterbock, Superintending Physician of Cholera Hospital, No. 2, Berlin ; translated and abridged for the 'Glasgow Medical Journal' by J.B. Russell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    The observations were made in the axilla, vagina, and rectum. The conclusions deduced are : 1. In all the cases, with the exception of six, the tem- perature of the vagina and rectum was normal or still more frequently elevated* The statement of Yon Barensprung, that in the algide stage of cholera, the diminution of tempera- ture is general is therefore erroneous. Nor can we accept in its generality Zimmermann’s assertion that the internal tem- perature is raised, and therefore cholera must be regarded as an inflammatory or febrile disease. 2. The difference between the temperature of the axilla and that of the vagina and rectum is not constant, but varies according to these observations, between T6° and G'6°. The temperature taken in the axilla in the algide stage of cholera is therefore not sufficient for the determination of the general temperature of the body. It, at most, permits an approximate conclusion regarding the minimum temperature of the apertures, by the addition of 1° C. (1 '8° F). The fallacy of the conclusions drawn by Briquet and Mignot from their axillary observations, will now be apparent. Numerically the measurements made by us in the axilla yield a result exactly the opposite of those taken in the vagina and rectum. Of 31 axillary observations, 21 were under the normal; and of 51 vaginal and rectal only 12. The mean of the 31 taken in the axilla is 97'8°; while the mean of the 51 taken in vagina or rectum is 100-9!.° 3. In the greater proportion of the cases an elevation of the temperature of the internal parts occurred, and in many, reached a point which we observe only in the most severe febrile diseases, in a few even approaching the highest which has in general been observed in the human body (in one case 108-3°). Although in many of the cases this high temperature has been observed shortly before death, it also appeared in several, when certainly no sign of the death-struggle yet existed. In these instances, at least, it could not be reckoned a fore- runner of death, and much less so that an almost equal elevation has been found in the algide stage in asphyxiated cases which recovered. 1. Among these 15 cases there are only G in which the general temperature of the body (vaginal and rectal) was below the normal, and then only by 0\9° to 31° at the most. In these six cases the symptoms were not different from those of the other cases in which the temperature was raised or normal: there were the same symptoms of asphyxia, the same pulseless- * The normal temperature in the axilla is taken at 9‘86° F. in the; vagina and rectum at 9.95° F.; the vagina, however, being from two to three tenths higher than the rectum.