Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-12-01

DdNiug lOSl llS HONSity III thiS Noh'N
nifty. is generally regarded as cbaste
and reasonable disposition of human
bodies. This was the eighth crema-
ton in the LeMoyne furnace, five men
and three women The trustees have
lately received a number ofapplicatIons,
showing that the interest in this mode
of disposing of the dead is increasing
One was from New. York and the Others
from Washington City.
The Thermomete for the
Cold Weather.
During prevalence of cold wealth
such as the inhabitants of this city are
now experiencing, says the Detroit
Ne,Us. when the wintry blasts come
from the north with piercing keenness,
and shivering humanity hurries along
the streets enveloped in great coats,
mulfle and furs, if it be so fortunate
as to possess them, each one anxious to
get within the warming radius of
base burner or system of steam pipes,
the question which assails one from
every quarter is "How cold is it z"
"How did the thermometer go last
night ?" "How many degrees below
zero is it 2" and all the various chang
es of the same tune are hurled ut each
other by people on the street, in the
horse cars. at home, abroad. every
where. The delicate little instruments
by which humanity is wont to measure
its misery are hunted up and consulted
with eagerness for the purpose OF as
certaining just how much anguish is to
be embodied in the facial expression to
conform to the state of the weather,
such consultation not unfrequently re-
sulting in the aggravating discovery
| that the sufferer is not nearly so bad
off as he supposed.
Fabulous tales are circulated of OBJ
scure thermometers registering impos
sible degrees of cold, all of which wild
rumors are usually exploded by that
exasperating Government thermome-
ter, which somehow or other is always
eight or ten degrees above the ordinary
instruments in winter, and a. far below
them in summer
The science of measuring tempera-
! ture is based on the quality of expan-
sion and contraction, from heat and
cold possessed by solids, liquids and
gases. In 1880 Cornelius Drebbel, a
Hollander proposed a method Of indi-
eating the atmospheric change by
means of glass bulb and stem, which
was dipped into liquid, and rose or
fell according to the change in temper
ature. The contrivance, however, was
found to be impracticable, on account of
the extreme delicacy of the indications
and the size of the instrument The
use of alcohol in close tube with a
scale attached was first suggested by
Boyle. Newton took up the subject
am established the melting point OF
ice and the boiling point of water as
two fixed temperatures, and divided
the range between them into equal
parts or degrees.
In the present day mercury and al
cohol are chiefly used in the construc-
tion of thermometers.
The use of mercury was first sug
gested by Reaumur This metal has
very high boiling point. and follows
nearly the same laws of expansion as
gases, and is better adapted to the
measurement of high temperatures
than any other material. For the
measurement Of low temperatures alco-
hol is generally employed, as it does
not solidify at any known degree Of
cold Mercury freezes at 40 degrees
f. below zero. The irregular expan-
sion of alcohol, anu its low point, are
serious objections to its use in ascer-
tanning high temp rltures In the
manufacture of thermometers the bulb
and tube are blown from glass, the end
of the tube being left open. TIE air is
then expelled by heating the bulb, when
| it is dipped into a vessel containing
mercury or spirit, which is forced into
the vacuum by atmospheric pressure.
| The end of the tube is then closed her
metically. The thermometer is then
| immersed in melting ice to establish
I the freezing point and held in boiling
water to fix the boiling point the inter
mediate space being divided into equal
parts varying in number With the off
/ ferent systems In use.
The method of dividing the scale
most in use in the United States and
England is known as the Fahrenheit,
and is founded on the inventors arbi=
trarv and erroneous assumption that at
! 80 degrees below the freezing point of
! water there is no absolute heat. The
Fahrenhcit scale is divided into $50
parts between the freezing point, 80
degrees, and the boiling point, 2io de-
grees. In France and on the continent
generally the scale commonly known
as the Centigrado, iatrod2ced by Celsi-
us in 1912, is used, the range hetWeen
the freezing and the boiling pointS be
ing divided into 100 parts, zero being
the freezing point. IN the Re aupur
the range between fixed points Is d.
vided into eighty parts.
Thermometers are Liable to undergo
cbansgstss in time, and where perfect ae-