The only paper where a study of elevated temperatures was conducted postmortem was one by Hutchins in Human Pathology 16 (1985), p. 560, where all the temperatures were taken rectally. He found an initial postmortem increase in temperature measured rectally probably due to increased bacterial metabolism without any heat dispersal mechanism but he did not measure skin temperatures. We have also confirmed this but in all the cases of elevated rectal postmortem temperatures that I have investigated, in no instance was the skin temperature elevated. If the deceased with an elevated rectal temperature was found in a cool area, the skin was also cool despite the elevated internal temperature.