It took a while to establish that humans, like mammals, maintain a stable body temperature, known as normothermia. The first known investigation of human body temperature was by Charles Blagden in 1775. This went hand in hand with investigations into the use of cold in medical treatments and Jaekl’s history of these devices and treatments make interesting reading. Astonishingly, some patients were kept at body temperatures between 33 ⁰C (91 ⁰F) and 25 ⁰C (77 ⁰F) for up to eight consecutive days. This is an extremely interesting book, filled as it is with historical vignettes, descriptions of more recent scientific research.
