EXTERNAL HEAT A CAUSE OF FEVER IN CHILDREN

It is well known that the body temperature of premature and of very young infants varies considerably in accordance with the temperature of their environment. Older infants have a more efficient heat regulating mechanism, and if they are well nourished and in good health they are able to maintain a normal body temperature when exposed to the usual fluctuations of external heat. In discussions of the causes of obscure fevers in children very little mention is made, either in pediatric textbooks or in special articles, of extreme degrees of external heat as a cause of fever in young children. Meyer 1 notes several cases of heat stroke in infants during an extremely hot summer in Berlin. These cases amounted to 4.2 per cent of the total cases of illness in the Waisenhause der Stadt Berlin during the summer. Several cases terminated fatally. Abt 2 says, "Transitory elevations of temperature frequently