We Need a History of the Rectal Thermometer!

I am a historian, so I imagine the history of the rectal thermometer is of far greater interest to me than even fellow rectal-temp fetishists. And obviously a history of this sort would seem too “weird” for most people who remember having a thermometer up their backside—and it probably wouldn’t resonate at all for most people younger than, say, 35, who grew up at a time when any rectal temps that were taken (if they were taken) likely ended before they could be remembered. Still, I happen to think this is an extremely rich subject. It weaves together the history of medicine and technology with a cultural history of evolving norms concerning the body, children and parenting, privacy, and the doctor-patient relationship. There was a very brief piece on Medium a few years ago that was actually titled “A History of the Rectal Thermometer,” but there wasn’t much substance there. Those of us interested in the subject have a sense that the heyday of rectal temperatures (in the US at least) lasted from roughly the 1940s to the 1970s and even early 1980s, at which point technological developments as well as changing cultural attitudes led to an incremental and then rapid decline of rectal thermometry. Today, rectal thermometers are generally only used for medical reasons in cases where there is an absolute need for a core temperature reading. Or, if you happen to be born into a family that does things really differently. They have been reduced to a fetish for people who have eroticized certain experiences growing up (often related to other bottom-centered things like spankings, shots in the bottom, enemas, suppositories, or childhood/adolescent rectal exams or procedures). And maybe in some cases as a sex toy for people who simply enjoy anal stimulation.

But the reality is, we know very little about why there was a cultural shift toward the rectal thermometer near mid-century nor about just how widespread it was and whether there were geographical or ethnic variations in its usage. I can’t say I even know for a fact when it became so widely used. There is just no research on the topic.

I grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and as I’ve written previously, I was 9 and a half the last time my mother took my temperature rectally. I was a little embarrassed that my mom was still doing it that way—I wouldn’t have wanted my classmates and especially my girl classmates to know. That said, I didn’t have a sense that what my mom was doing was weird or inappropriate for a kid my age. As I got a bit older, boys would sometimes admit that their mom took their temp in their bottoms until they were around 9/10 or even older. Looking back on it, I wonder if the use of the rectal thermometer on older children was more common within Jewish families, with the stereotypical overbearing Jewish mother wanting to take not-so-little Reuben’s or Sadie's temp in their “tushy.”

One major shift that has occurred in my life has to do with the body integrity of the child/adolescent—in particular with girls. When I was growing up, and certainly reaching back to the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, there was much less of a sense of this. At checkups with my pediatrician, I was expected—along with my younger sister—to take everything except my underwear and socks off. Those underpants would come down when the doctor was ready to check my penis and testicles and when I turned over so he could take a quick peek at my bottom and anus. The same was true for my sister and her genitals/tush. You were expected to hand over authority over your body to the doctor and nurses. And the same was true within the home. If mommy told you to roll over onto your tummy and bare your tushy so that she could take your temperature, you might protest, but you didn’t question her authority to do it. The same was true for spankings (though formal, ritualized spankings were fairly rare if not unheard of in my house growing up). Compare that to now. On one hand, the degree to which not just adult women, but tween and teen girls draw attention to their bottoms in the clothes they wear would have been unthinkable when I was growing up. I remember when, maybe 10+ years ago, you began to see sweatpants for girls with slogans (or sometimes school mascot names) embossed right on the seat, which struck me as odd and inappropriate. Why would you want to create a situation where the male gaze might linger on the bottom of your 12-year-old daughter? And yet, the stigma that exists today on examining or doing anything invasive when It comes to the private parts of even young children unless it is absolutely necessary would have been unthinkable 40-50 years ago.

Anyhow, I know I’ve rambled here, but if anybody has any thoughts or insights about this topic, pray share.

Great topic. It would be interesting indeed to have some historical perspective on medical thermometry generally, and rectal temps in particular, not just in the U.S. but globally. I’ve never been able to find reliable information on the origins of the practice. Would be keen to know if anyone here has some relevant data.

Today I looked up info on the FAICHNEY brand thermometers. Didn’t find what I was looking for. Got some information on the company and thecchanges it went through but nothing in the instruments themselves

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I’ve come across a few that I got on auctions and they’re not all alike style wise.

The ones I currently have are what are common in the Dr. tushy videos-glass mercury w/ a red dot top. Mine does not say oral or rectal, but bulb shape, is possibly rectal.

As for finding historical information I guess you’d have to look up who created the glass thermometer and go from there regarding the history. There is the possibility that by chance you might run across an article or even a video that will give a good deal of information.

If I come across anything I’ll post it.

Dr. Allbutt invented the rectal thermometer. Seriously.

https://museumofhstm.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/allbutts-clinical-thermometer/

I'm surprised this topic hasn't been brought up until now. But I myself found out relatively late in life, maybe 10 years ago, that the first clinical thermometer was invented in 1867 by the English physician, Dr. Clifford Allbutt. His thermometer was about six inches long and could be carried in a pocket. He wrote a book about Medical Thermometry in 1870 where he mentions taking temperatures rectally as well as orally. The previous clinical thermometer was 12 inches long, was used in the armpit, and took almost a half hour to measure. I think that one was invented in Germany.

I have also located articles on the internet written by medical experts around the turn of the past century documenting experiments with rectal temperatures taken on many volunteer subjects and comparing them with oral measurements. It's been a while and I'm not sure if I can still find these articles.

Back in my college days in the 80s, I remember finding a lot of articles in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature about rectal temperature experiments on men in the military. Many of these articles date from anywhere between the 1940s to the 1970s. A lot of these articles appeared in the Journal of Applied Physiology. I was able to read and print out these articles from microfilm available at the library. I really enjoyed reading those articles. But now in the age of the internet, I'm not sure if it's still possible to access these articles, especially free of charge.

When I was growing up (40 years ago), there were no electronic thermometers… or perhaps there were, but they may have been very costly and their use confined to examination rooms, I don't know, in any case the first one I saw, I was a teenager. Thermometers were glass. Earlier ones contained mercury, but at the time I was growing up I think these were being phased out due to the hazards when they break. I *think* my parents had one mercury thermometer and another thermometer or two containing a blue liquid. I also recall seeing a thermometer with a red liquid.

These thermometers looked like this

https://en.zity.biz/gallery/image/263997

or this

https://en.zity.biz/gallery/image/263996

They consisted of a thin tip, which could be inserted in a bodily orifice (mouth or anus) and a thicker part which would normally be left outside. Yes, I know this is different from the way thermometers typically were in North America. I think this kind of thermometer was commonplace throughout Europe. The same thermometer was sold for oral, rectal or axillary (armpit) use. There were no "rectal" or "oral" thermometers. (The only separate kind of thermometer that I heard about was the "basal" one, for high precision measurements of body temperature to determine ovulation. This one was to be used only rectally, due to the high precision needed.)

My mother considered only rectal to be reliable. I don't know if it came from personal experience of unreliability, or because she had read or heard that. Nevertheless, only the rectal way was used at home. As young children, a parent would insert the thermometer, and older children and adults would so some themselves while under sheets in bed. The thermometer would always be cleaned with alcohol after use.

This was I think quite a common situation back then in France for adults to take their own rectal temperature. On the one hand, I recall a girlfriend doing so in front of me. Furthermore, nurses hospitals back then in France expected older children and adult to do likewise - they would hand the thermometer and you had to insert it (I suppose that if you were unable to, they would do it for you). On the other hand, my wife suggested to me that her parents did not have her take her temperature rectally, and her reaction when I asked about when she went to hospital as a kid suggests she had a rude awakening there.

I read similar experiences on the French Zity forum, so I guess that what I witnessed was quite representative of that era.

When electronic thermometers came in, I think people continued using them in the same way as before. The first electronic thermometer my parents had had a rigid tip, but later came the flexible tips one, and the only reason you'd want a flexible tip, I think, is for easier rectal introduction.

Other kinds of electronic thermometers were also introduced, but many were unreliable. However, it seems that nowadays the infrared "guns" are quite reliable and provide a very quick method for checking temperatures without the embarrassment, need for privacy, disinfection needs of the rectal route. It's now become old fashioned to use the rectal route. I came lately by accident across a conversation on a social network in which a lady mentioned her young nephew's temperature being taken rectally and some people were reacting "poor child! nowadays there exist more modern ways!".

I saw a video lately in which a woman searches a bag she found and comes across a thermometer, an electronic one with a tip, has a laugh, and says "hey this is a BUTT THERMOMETER". Evidently for her, a thermometer with a tip, as opposed to an infrared gun, must go into the behind, not the mouth.

Today I think it should be quite common for people over 45 to take their temperature rectally, because that's how they were raised, but uncommon for people under 30.

There isn’t much information on the subject of rectal thermometers on the internet. From what I’ve read, rectal temperature was common in the United States from the 1890’s, through the 1970’s. When I use the term “common,” that shouldn’t be confused with “popular.” I was born in the 1950’s. In my family, rectal temperature was only taken until around age 5, until you could safely demonstrate that you were ready for oral temps. I learned over the years that rectal temps were taken on older children, including teens and was also used by some adults. What really surprised me, was when I learned that many Western European countries used rectal thermometers on everyone, regardless of their age. I was in Europe during the mid 70’s, and I confirmed this to be true.

@JJM But there is an essential difference, isn't it? When I read Americans say here they had their temperature taken rectally as older children, even as younger teens, they generally mention the humiliation of having another person insert a thermometer into their anus, an humiliation made greater by the association of the rectal way with babies! I think @Nurse_Phillips mentioned this happening to her in hospital when she was 13 or 14 or maybe 15, I don't recall, and I would definitely have felt humiliated if a nurse had insisted doing this to me at that age. In contrast, Europeans are more likely to mention self-taking, which does not have that humiliating factor. I recall being given a thermometer and doing the deed without even showing my behind.

It would appear they were fairly common in hospitals for all patients in the 1960s in the U.S.

https://time.com/archive/6629126/hospitals-the-rectal-thermometer/

Until there were digital and ear thermometers, the options were limited to pretty much oral and rectal. My wife embarrassingly found that out in 1988, on her side in the hospital (post surgery) with a nurse embedding a thermometer in her behind because of a broken nose.

On TV I heard about Carl Wunderlich, a German physician living 1815-1877 who is known for studies of the human temperature. He measured the temperature of more than 25.000 patients. The thermometer was 30 cm (12") long and the time of each measuring took 20 minutes. He found out the mean normal human temperature to be 37,0 C (98,6F).

Bigger studies of body temperature through the years has lowered what is considered to be a normal temperature. Today 36,4C (97,5F) is considered as a normal temperature. The reason why it has been going down is that people today are more healthy. Before they were often suffering from different kind of aches and pains.

The temperature differ of course a bit from person to person. Today real fever is regarded to start at 38,0C (100,4F).

Wunderlich and Allbutt. You can't forget names like those!