St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-02-05
Core r"ndcncc Of the Republican Intelligence,
Heat and The Thermometer.


a sense different from its scientific si~-
niiicatior. CalciiC, in science, is the
agent which produces heat. For in
stance; if the hand be applied to a warm
body, caloric passes from the body to
the hand and produces the sensation
of heat. Heat, then is not an agent
but merely the effect produced by ca
loric. Usually, however, the word heat,
instead of caloric, is used to represent
this agent, and in this sense l will en-
ploy it in the following discussion.
OF THE NATURE OF HEAT.
Ofhcat we know nothing except by
its effects. We cannot abstract it
from body and examine it by itself
but we must always study it in con-
ncction with material things. 1t is
impondcrablc, that is, it weighs nothing;
for body has never bcenknown to have
its weight increased, in the least, by
being heated. The most delicate bal
ancc has never been able to detect its
presence hence, we set it down as
without weight, as impondcrablc
1t seems to be fuid, the particles
of which are selt-rcpcllant. 1t con.
stantly tends to diflusc itself in all
directions-r-upward as we'll as down
ward. 1t pcnctrates and pcrvadcs all
nature. There is no material thing
that it does not occupy at every point.
1t flows through the hardest substan-
COS and when not impcdcd it moves
with the velocity of lightning. With
out it all animal and vegetable life
would become dolmant--cxtinct The
winds would cease to blow, the rains
to descend, and over the face of uni
vcrsal nature there would come the
Stiffness Of death.
The variations in the degree ofhcat
to which animal and vegetable life, as
now constituted, can be subjected
without injury, is very. slight, as com
pared with the entire range of heat
which appears to be without limit. 1t
may be here remarked that cold is not
principle of itscli-not an agent
1t is simply the absence of heat. Heat
has no opposite contcnding principle.
When we say cold pcnctratcs, it mere
~ indicates that heat departs.
In many of the ordinary avocations
Of life, and in the Investigations of
science and the phenomena of nature.
it is important that the dcgrce of heat,
or its rarioticns should be Known
This is arrived at by means of the
THERMOMETER
1t is we'll to note that the thcrmom-
ctcr does not determine the amount Of
heat contained in body, but its de-
gree, force or tension Thus one apart
ment or body, many times larger than
another, other conditions being the
same, would contain a much larger
amount of heat than the other, vet the
thermometer would mark the same de-
gree in both cases.
1t should be further borne in mind
that this degree is reiatire not absolute
TO illustrate ; it has been determined
by experiment that there arc in nature
no points or conditions in which the
degrees Of heat or temperatures are
constant. The one is that of mcltino,
ice or snow-thc other, that of boiling
water, when subjected to the ordinary
pressure of the atmosphere. Ice a.
rags melts at Tie same teMperGture-water
"nder the same pressure, aluGw balls at
Me same temperature. Here, then, are two
points in nature, imrarmlly Eted, to
which we may always rccur and com
pare other degrees of heat. Now we
will suppose the difference of the tenn
peraturcs of these fixed points to be
divided into ten equal parts-thcn it
will be the business of the thcrmome-
ter to show the degree of heat in any
case, IN respect to these prints, IN terms of
these parts If the degree of heat to
be measured is below that of melting
ice, these parts will show how far be-
low; If between the fixed points,
they will Indicate where between if
above the temperature of boiling wa
ter, they will show how far above
Hence we see that the thermometer
does not show the absolute degree of
heat but merely the degree in relation
to certain fixed points in terms of the
difference of these points.
FORMS OF THERMOMETERS.
Thermometers have been construct
cd OF great many forms, but all on
the same general principle. They all
have for their basis the fact that heat,
with a few exceptions, expands all
bodies, and that the amount of cxpan-
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