Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 54.djvu/454

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436
POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

record follows the fluctuations of the heat record with as much precision as effect follows cause. The summer heat generally begins about the 20th of June and continues with varying intensity until the 15th of September. Within that period we can select many examples which strikingly illustrate the relations of temperature to mortality. For example, the first heated term of the year before us began on the 19th of June and lasted until the 26th of that month. The two records are as follows:

Day. Temperature. Mortality.
19th 78° 83
20th 80 100
21st 82 122
22d 80 116
23d 77 104
24th 68 119
25th 65 88

On the 28th of June a second heated term began, when the temperature rose to 80°, and continued above that figure until July 5th, a period of eight days. The following is the record, including the temperature in the sun:

Day. temperature.
In shade. In sun. Mortality.
June 28th 80° 118° 118
June 29th 84 120 163
June 30th 85 124 191
July 1st 88 125 247
July 2d 87 128 351
July 3d 82 120 238
July 4th 84 122 227
July 5th 80 121 184

It will be noticed that during the last heated period there was a more prolonged high temperature than during the first, and that the mortality of the second was higher for the same temperature than that of the first. These facts are in accord with the history of our summer months. The range of temperature increases as the season advances, and the rate of mortality rises, owing to the diminished resisting power to the effects of high heat on the part of the people, especially of the children, the aged, and those already enfeebled by disease.

In order to fully understand the influence of heat and its effects upon the public health, we must first notice the conditions regulating the temperature of the body in health and disease.

The temperature of animals in a state of health is not a fixed quantity, but has a limited range which depends upon internal and