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II. Body Surface Temperature
History and Introduction
As early as 2800 BC, the Egyptians, using the scanning sensitivity of
the fingers over the surface of the body, recognized that the body pro-
duces heat, and that heat increases with disease. Further recognizing
the distinction between local inflammation and fever, the Egyptians set
the foundation for monitoring body surface temperature as a separate
and distinct diagnostic methodology from the monitoring of core body
temperature.
But the ancient diagnostic technique
of feeling for heat is highly subjec-
tive, and only as sensitive as the
hand of the feeler. The test of tem-
perature is relative to the detector.
A cold hand will indicate a warm
body surface that a warm hand will
indicate as cold. Certainly, the hand
of an experienced physician laid upon the skin could provide much use-
ful information about the temperature of the patient and the course of
an illness, but eventually a more objective assessment was possible
with the introduction of the clinical thermometer developed during the
last century.
One of the earliest references to actually quantifying body surface tem-
perature as a clinical diagnostic was in 1864 during the Civil War. Dr.
Jackson Chambliss, a surgeon in the Confederate Army, used a ther-
mometer to diagnose a traumatic femoral aneurysm by showing that
surface temperature was decreased distally in the affected leg.
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In more recent times, the measure-
ment of the surface temperature of
the human body has not been rou-
tinely undertaken in many clinical en-
vironments - not because the mea-
surement lacks clinical significance,
but because it has been difficult to
acquire. Conventional mercury or
electronic thermometers have gen-
erally been ineffective for surface
temperature measurements for three reasons: 1) they are difficult to
properly attach to the body surface, 2) they require a significant amount
of time for the sensor portion of the device to equilibrate to the body
Typical 19th Century Thermometer
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