1868

Publication of Carl Reinhold Wunderlich’s major work, Temperature in Diseases, translated into English in 1871. “Wunderlich showed that when the temperatures were plotted on charts, the disease could be shown to follow certain laws, which could be characterized by the trend in temperature. Overall, he studied some 25,000 specific cases. This was clearly a significant contribution to the subject and places Wunderlich at the forefront of discovery in this aspect of clinical observation.” He recommended the axilla and mouth as preferred sites for taking temperature, warning, however, of the effects of ingestion of food and drink, and oral breathing when suffering from nasal congestion (Grodzinsky & Levander).