That the temperature of the child is not the same as that of the adult has long been a generally acknowledged fact, but wherein and to what extent it differs is a point on which definite information is wanting. With the object of determining this point, the author took advantage of the opportunities afforded by a residence in the Edinburgh Maternity Hospital, to note the temperature of a number of children at the time of birth, and at frequently repeated intervals during the first few days of extra-uterine life. The result of these observations was to show that the child at birth partook of the temperature of the mother—that as soon as it commenced its separate existence the heat imparted by the parent was no longer maintained, but was rapidly lost, till, in a few hours (the exact period varying in different cases), the thermometer indicated a temperature one, two, three, or even six degrees below the normal standard of the adult.