Post-Operative Pyrexia

ON examining the charts of patients in any surgical ward a rapid rise of temperature is often noticeable, beginninig usuall) a few hours after operation and lasting one to five days. This pyrexia follows the majority of operations-not merely in cases suffering from some inflammatory malacdy requiring operation, but notably in non-infected cases. For the purpose of writing this paper I have investigated six hundred surgical cases-having had personal contact with four hundred-in the wzards of the Royal 'Victoria Hospital, Belfast. The remaining two hundred I studied in the form of patients' charts in the record office of that hospital. The operations were of many types, but all were performed on patients who showed no rise of temperature for several days prececling operation that is, the operations were not performed on patients suffering from infected coniditions. Thle operations inlclu(led those for goitre,