The column of mercury in a thermometer is a slender finger of fate influencing mankind's clothing, eating habits, diseases, comfort, available energy and achievements. These influences of temperature on human life form the basis of this publication from the John B. Pierce Laboratory of Hygiene in New Haven, Conn., and represent the winnowed product of sixteen years of investigation since the establishment of the laboratory in 1933. Chiefly, this publication is concerned with the production of heat in the body, the avenues of heat loss, the measurement of metabolism with emphasis on "partitional calorimetry," man's adaptation to varying thermal conditions, factors influencing clothing, the purposes of air conditioning, methods for the procurement of air conditioning and an equally engaging section devoted to climate and season in relation to health.
This book has the quality of being both highly technical and highly readable. In a single paragraph reference is made to