The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1874-02-04

Stfucti0n OF the Few men VINO possessed IL
After residing for awhile In various parts o
Germany, France and England, he settled Al
! Amsterdam, then one of the most renowned
capitals of Europe, where he established him
self as maker of philosophical Instruments
| But he was not as content to follow the es
tablished patterns. The instrument which
we now call thermometer was an improve
ment upon rude continuance, invented about
the year 1900, styled weather-glass. This
was merely glass bulb and tube, from which
the air had been partly expelled, inserted in a
vessel of colored liquid. When the air, in the
bulb was rarified by heat, the liquid rose ; but
when it was condensed by cold, the liquid
fell. This was the beginning of it. The next
improvement was to fill the bulb with spirits
of wine, expel the air from the tube, and seal
it, This was a real thermometer; which was
further improved by coloring the spirits of
wine, and fastening the instrument to a
piece of wood or metal marked with a scale
of degrees. This was the point of develop
ment which the thermometer had reached in
172o, when Fahrenheit directed his attention
to it in Amsterdam.
Two changes were attributed to him. First
he substituted mercury for spirits of wine :
and, secondly, he constructed the scale which
still passes by his name. Whether he oripi-
mated the substitution of mercury, or whether
he derived the idea from some of the learned
men with whom he associated, is not certainly
known. The Royal Society at London, at
the time. evidently regarded him as the
originator; for in 1924, two or three wears
after the Introduction of his thermometer
INTO England, he was elected a member of
the Society. In the Philosophical Transac-
lions for 1924 are several papers by Fahren-
helt, which show him to have been man
capable of improving the instrument without
assistance.
The Fahrenheit scale has only been adopted
by three countries, Holland, Great Britain
and the United States. Various other scales
have been introduced, But the thermometer
OF the future has yet to be made-the freez-
ing point at zero, and the boiling point fixed
at the figure best adapted to decimal subdi
vision and calculation.
The use of the thermometer has added
greatly to our knowledge, and is doubtless
destined to play a still more important part
in the future. The following facts the reader
may find interesting. The lowest degree of
artificial cold that has yet been produced is
one hundred and eighty-seven below zero
The hardest thing to freeze is carbonic acid
which requires temperature of one hundred
and forty-eight below zero. At forty below
zero mercury freezes and this is also the
average winter temperature at Nova Zembla.
Inc average temperature of the year round
at the North Pole is thirteen below zero.
Salt water freezes at fourteen above wine, at
twenty above; blood, at twenty-five vinegar.
at twenty-seven; milk, at thirty water, at
thirty-two. Alcohol bos at a hundred and
seventy-three. On the summit of Mt. Blanc,
water boils at one hundred and eighty-two /;
on the summit of Etna, at one hundred and
ninety-two at Catskill Mountain House. at
two hundred and six on the surface of the
earth at two hundred and twelve. At two
hundred and thirty-two sulphur lnelts, and at
three hundred and twenty-five petroleum
boils. The temperature of the ocean, at
few hundred feet below the surface never
changes, but stands at .forty-fye the year
round. The interior of the earth however.
grows warm as we descend. The temperature
at the bottom OF an arteSan well, one thou
sand three hundred feet deep, is seventy-three:
but there are some mines, not more than one
thousand feet Deep where the temperature
begins to be oppressive, and the thermometer
marks seventy-fve. The animal heat of
various creatures, varies remarkably. The
maximum heat of mans blood is one hundred
and two but of ducks and guinea-fowls, one
hundred and nine; and if you wish to hatch
hens eggs in an oven, the proper temperature
is one hundred and five. The highest point
which the mercury reaches in an ordinary
in the hottest part of the East
Indies, is one hundred and fifty-four; at
which point also the mercury occasionally
stands in the engine room of a steamship.
Such are few of the facts which the Their
mometer reveals. 1t las become one of the
most Indispensable and universal of all instru-
ments. There arc even pocket thermometers,
as well as a thousand curious varieties of
metal ornaments, for which thermometer
furnishes the excuse.
Fahrenheit; besides improving the ther-
mometer, was a universal improver and in
ventor, as every man of his vocation must be
who has an intelligent mind. He died in the
midst of his career, when he was but fifty
years of age, leaving some important projects
incomplete.-N. Y. Ledger.