Comment by ncallaway | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ncallaway | Hacker News Reader

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I thought the same, so I tried to find Wunderlich. The only source I could find (https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/3-wHAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gb...) seems to have Wunderlich reporting "98.6F", and then converting to Celsius:

> The average normal temperature of the healthy human body in its interior, or in carefully covered situations on its surface, varies, according to the plan of measurement from 98.6° to 99.5° Fahr. (37° to 37.5° C.). It is about 98.6° in the well-closed axilla, and a few tenths of a degree higher (.5-1½ or 2° Fahr., .7° Fahr. average) in the rectum and vagina.

So, as far as I can tell it's not a sig-figs issue in conversion, but the actual original source that produced "98.6°". It almost seems like Wunderlich should've used 37.0° to 37.5°C to be consistent.

That is a translation artifact. The German original cites 37-37.5 degrees Celsius on average: https://archive.org/details/dasverhaltender00wundgoog/page/n...

Gah! Of course Wunderlich didn't write the original in English, and I should've looked for the original in German.

I'm a little surprised and disappointed that the translation also translates the units, though. That seems to be stepping just outside the bounds of what I would want translated (at least, in the context of a medical journal or scientific writing).

Thanks for that correction!

Interesting that the original german text uses Celsius as the primary measurement, and provides conversions in Rankine. No mention of Fahrenheit.

Funny that people argue over this and some guy named Wunderlich who measured a bunch of asses.

Did he write that translation or is Google Books fake news?

It's obviously not rankine, seeing as it gives a conversion of ~30R = ~40C. Looks like its actually Reaumur: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9aumur_scale

Well the more you learn, thanks.

Actually makes it even more interesting, Wunderlich and his reaming to get some Reaumurs.

What were his actual measurements taken in and how accurate was his thermometer? And who's vaginas has it been in?

Curious I get flagged for pointing out the potential measurement inaccuracies and the errs of scientific reproducibility, all while having some humor.

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