The average temperature of the human body in those internal parts which are more accessible, as the mouth and rectum, is from 98.5° to 99.5° F.
The chief circumstances by which the temperature of the healthy body is influenced are the following:
Age. The average temperature of the new-born babe is only about 1° F. above that proper to the adult. In old age the temperature rises again, and approaches that of infancy.
Sex. In the female slightly higher than in the male.
Exercise. Active exercise raises the temperature of the body, through muscular contraction, etc.
Climate and season. In passing from a temperate to a hot climate, the temperature of the human body rises slightly, rarely more than 2° to 3° F. In summer the temperature of the body is a little higher than in winter, ⅕° to ⅓° F.
Cold alcoholic drinks depress the temperature ½° to 1°F.
Warm alcoholic drinks, as well as warm tea and coffee, raise the temperature about ½° F.
In disease, as in pneumonia and typhus, it occasionally rises as high as 106° or 107° F.
In Asiatic cholera a thermometer placed in the mouth sometimes rises only to 77° or 79° F.