[The long road to the fever chart]

Temperature and pulse measurement have a central position in the history of medicine in the 19th century as well as the medicine of today. Its beginnings can be traced back a long way; naturally, they are closely linked to the development of the thermometer and the watch, but their long paths also touch on the history of science and culture. Knowledge and teachings of pulse and fever certainly did not develop simultaneously and in mutual agreement, but crossed one another's paths on two occasions: in the work of Boerhaave in the early 18th century and with the introduction of thermometric analysis into the clinic from the middle of the 19th century. Individual milestones are selected and described.