Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-04-11
The Thermometer and Its Uses.
From App, eton's Journal.

Some one has said that no family
should be without these four things
thermometer, a barometer, micro
scope, and a telescope.
However this may be, we are con-
WINGED that the possession of the first of
these instruments the thermometer
is much more common than its intelli-
gent USE When life has to be conduct
ed on such artificial plans as in these
days, no one can afford to forego the
advantage to be gained from the accurate
information given by this admirable in
strument.
In its simplest form, the thermometer
is an exhausted tube of glass, hermeti-
cally sealed at both ends, containing
fluid, and having attached to it gradu-
ated scale. The fluid commonly used is
mercury, which is especially adapted to
this purpose because its rate of expansion
is nearly uniform.
By the thermometer, science, taking
advantage of the fact that heat is but a
form of motion, has been enabled to ex-
press its exact degree in mathematical
terms.
The graduation of the thermometer is
effected by plunging the bulb of the in
strument first into finely powdered,
melting ice, and second, into the steam
given off directly from boiling water at
sea-level. The point at which the mer-
curial column stands in each case is
marked on the stem. The former is
| called Tho freezing and the latter the
boiling point. The space between the
| freezing and boiling points is divided
into equal parts, called degrees.
The frame of your thermometer should
not be of wood, but of tin, or some
metal equally durable. Wood is liable
to warp and split, and will not well bear
immersion in water or exposure to the
weather.
You should be cautioned against get
ting a thermometer that is inclosed in a
| tight case and has glass face in front Of
it, as some have. This construction very
much impairs the sensitiveness of the in
strument, for the inclosed body of air,
| being poor conductor, acts as blanket,
and greatly delays the response Of the
instrument to any change in the temper
allure of the atmosphere.
The first and by far the most import
ant use to which you can put your Their
mometer is to inform you about the regu-
lation Of your indoor temperature. For
this purpose you should keep the instru-
ment in plain sight in the room where
you read, study or work.
Do not hide it in some corner, but let
it be fixed to the wall near at hand, that
your eye may often rest upon it and re-
ceive its lesson.
The best height for thermometer to
| be fastened at is about four or five feet
above the floor. At this height it will
best guide you in modifying the temper
allure Of the air that surrounds youi
head. This stratum Of air is of special
Importance, as from it the lungs get theil
supply.
70 receive the benefit of your ther
mometer, consult it frequently, as the
engineer looks at the steam gauge Of hi
engine.
1t would be well to look at it whe1
you enter your room, to learn whethe
the place is warm enough, or too warm
and needs cooling.
1t would be impossible for any one K
fix upon an indoor temperature which
would satisfy the demands of comfor
the year round. A temperature which
would seem pleasant in the freezin!
weather of December or January would
seem chilly in July or August, and on
that would be comfortable to sit in il
summer would be sitting and oppressiv
in mid-winter. But if the winter TEN
perature of the house is kept at from SO
F. to $50 F., and the summer tempera
ture at from 700 F. to 75o F., the grea
majority Of people will be suited.