DISPARITY BETWEEN ORAL AND RECTAL TEMPERATURES AFTER EXERCISE

It is well known that temperatures taken by rectum run about 1 degree (F.) higher than those taken by mouth. It is also generally known that the body temperature may rise several degrees with exercise, the elevation varying directly with the amount or intensity of the exertion. It is apparently not widely known that exercise will cause the rectal temperature to go up several degrees while the oral temperature taken at the same time may remain unchanged, rise slightly or, as often, fall to a lower point. I have, indeed, never personally encountered any one familiar with this phenomenon. In what would seem an adequately large and representative series of observations, herewith presented, I have failed to find a single instance in which this disparity was not strikingly in evidence. The purpose of this paper is to present data on the disparity. The clinical implications will at once be obvious