[Clinical thermometry. I. Historical developments].

Abstract

Determination of human core temperature has a long history. Since Antiquity, the significance of normal and abnormal body temperatures has been the subject of various interpretations. In this respect, theories based on humoral pathology were replaced by more scientific concepts in the 19th and 20th centuries. Objective measurement and comparison could be performed only after the invention of the thermometer and the introduction of temperature scales. Sanctorius and subsequently Boerhaave and others emphasized the use of measurement of body temperature in the clinic, but its importance was not accepted generally until the late 19th century. Many physicians and scientists have contributed to the progress of thermometry; however, the creation of a firmer scientific basis for clinical thermometry is usually attributed to Wunderlich.