Here is another excerpt from the Home Economy section of the book "The American Woman's Cook-Book. I found this one interesting. It is on heating the home. While we do have a thermometer, like the article suggests, to eliminate the bias of our individual relative heat and cold terms, I believe that 60 degrees is still to cold to function properly whether in water or air temperature. I like my house at least 70-75 degrees in the winter time, especially as we still have babies crawling on our hardwood floors.
The American Woman's Cook-Book by Ella M. Blackstone Copyright 1910
Heat Economy
"If health and life are to be sustained with the least waste of vitality and force, it is that a degree of uniformity should be maintained in the temperature of the home.
"The temperature of the human body is invariably the same, between that of 98 and 99 degrees Fahrenheit, the difference under normal conditions being unimportant.
"The human body possesses its own power of regulating the temperature. Should the outer air be extra cold, then the process of oxidation is carried on more quickly, more food is consumed, and more heat is produced and the temperature is thereby maintained. If the air is extremely hot, much of the blood is carried to the surface of the skin, considerable perspiration is secreted and passes to the surface of the body, where its evaporation lowers the temperature, and maintains its normal heat.
"But both processes are wasteful and if used constantly would consume the food and energy that are required for other purposes. The extra amount of food needed in the first case would make greater demands upon the digestive organs and therefore leave margin for brain work, while the excessive loss in the second case would weaken the system. Therefore it is necessary to secure a medium in the temperature of the home. Air is a much poorer conductor of heat than water is, and can therefore become much cooler, so, while a temperature of 60 degrees would be found unpleasantly cold in a bath, it is generally considered as the point of comfort to the body when exposed to the air.
"Great individual differences are noticed with different persons, some requiring a much warmer atmosphere than others.
"As a rule, children require a warmer atmosphere than adults, for the relative amount of surface whereby the body loses heat is greater in a child, therefore heat leaves the body more rapidly. Old people and invalids require more warmth than the average adult, because the vital processes in the body proceed more gradually, hence they cannot take the necessary exercise for maintaining vital heat. An atmosphere of from 55 to 60 degrees within doors is usually regarded as the best for healthy adults and from 60-65 degrees for old people, invalids and children.
"One's feelings are unreliable for ascertaining the temperature of a room, because heat and cold are relative terms. A room that would appear warm to a person coming in from the cold outer air, would seem cold to one who had been cooking over a hot fire. Often a room is pronounced "hot" when, as a matter of fact, it is only close and stuffy. A thermometer therefore, should be hung in the room where the average degree of heat can be ascertained.”