An important question in studies of motility in infants is concerned with the conditions of motility; that is, what factors affect motility? Among possible conditions are: nutritional status, hunger, the waking state, body temperature, pain, weight, size, bone development, calcium and creatinine output and amount of blood sugar before and after activity. The specific problem to be discussed here is what is the relation of body temperature in young infants to their motility?
The subjects used in this study were sixty-six infants under 16 days of age who were born in the obstetric department of the Iowa State University Hospital.
The apparatus for measuring motility—a Pratt experimental cabinet, a two-dimensional stabilimeter giving a relative measure of motility and a polygraph—together with the methods used have been described elsewhere.1 The unit of motility is the number of oscillations (o/m) of the polygraph recording pens per minute. Rectal temperatures were recorded