The material for this paper has been secured from the hospital records of the new-born in three maternity nurseries, one covering a period of two years and the other two a period of one year each.
The temperature of the babies was taken twice daily, at 9 a. m. and at 4 p. m., by rectum, the thermometer being inserted 1½ inches (3.81 cm.) for a two minute period. If fever developed, the temperature was taken every three hours until a normal temperature was reached and maintained.
The rectal temperature of a new-born baby varies 3 or 4 degrees during the first four or five hours following birth, as shown in table 1. This is dependent, first, on the type of delivery, and second, on the length of time during which the infant is exposed. The initial bath of water at a temperature of 100 degrees nearly always causes a