Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-03-07
THERMOMETERS HABITS.
INTEREST THAI YANKEES SHOW
ABOUT THE MERCURY.

Glass Are So Arranged.
Ii you really want TO witness a beautiful
and artistic duel OF words on the subject of
rold weather. you must get man from
Northern Vermont and man from North.
ern New Hampshire to swap weather
experiences Some objector will at once
say, OF course, that neither Of these men
know as much about cold weather rs their
more northern neighbor, the Canadian,
But the implied inference that the Cana
dian could talk more eloqucntly about low
| temperatures than the citizens we have
designated Is not founded on fact.
| For your Canadian Is either so consti.
| tuted that cold weather is not cold weather
to him. or else be Is so chilled through by
| II that he won't talk about it. But who
ever yet knew Yankee who was not in
| timatcly acquainted with all the posi-
bilities OF low temperature in his part Of
the state and was not willing to back the
record OF his thermometer against that of
any other mane
| And talking about thermometers sug-
| gests the question, What do you know
about the thermometers antecedentsY'
| Very little. probably The thermometer,
| like the weather, Is taken as a fact to be
grumbied at. perhapseven to be denounced.
|
has always claimed to turn out the best
Thermometers, though that claim is vigor-
ously disputed by New York and Balti-
| more.
| About seventy years ago an old Scotch
man named Pollock began the manufact-
nrc of fine thermometers in Boston. Thomas
| Pool, an Englishman. was a rival to him in
| the business. Pool had two brothers who
came to this city and began to manufacture
| thermometers The Pools were all skillful
workmen, and they are entitled to the cred
It Of making the first high grade thermome.
tiers In this country
THERMOMETERS IN NEW ENGLAND.
Before Thermometers were made in this
country they were imported from France
Germany and England, and even now grea
numbers are imported, generally cheaI
grades which can be sold below the pric'
VI the domestic article. The higher grades
of European Thermometers are no cheape
or better than the same grades in thi
country, and so they are not imported.
That the New Englanders are weathe
sharps Is proved by the fact that more ther
mometers are sold in New England thar
In any other part OF the country In man.
parts of the west and south "A thermomete
Ii rarely seen, the people having little o
no interest in the state Of the temperature
But the Yankee, especially in Vermont
New Hampshire and Maine, always want
to look ut the thermometer as soon as h
gets up, and maybe half dozen times dur
ing the day.
/, The thermometer habit, indeed. is one O
the marked characteristics of the Yankee
and it has upon him much the same stin
ulating effect that cocktail has on tn
! average citizen. After his glance at tn
thermometer he goes in to breakfast in
state of suppressed though joyous excite
ment, feeling that there is Mt least one topi
. OF conversation that Is absolutely fresh; 70
though the weather itself is as old as til
: world, the record of the thermometer
always new.
The aperture in the tube of thermon
eter Is smaller than the finest hair. An
though 1t appears to be round it il not; ft
: II 1t were the mercury could not be easll
seen 1t is, therefore, made fat, and the
!, the glass magnifes it SO that it seems to /
: quite large, To bring it out still more di
: tinctly, "A maker of Boston recently col
: ceived the idea Of backing the tube with
!. thin dim Of white sizing This device is no
generally adopted by the foreign makers,
!. Mercury Is generally used in thermon
= eters because it is more regular in its col
traction and expansion. 1t is indeed in
: :, possible to make spirit thermometer thu
. will be as trustworthy as one in whic
mercury Is used. In mercurial thermon
= eter the degree marks are all the same di
= lance apart, because the expansion und,
: all conditions is uniform,
KINDS OF THERMOMETERS.
:, But in a spirit thermometer the degre
|, ara wider apart at the top, because the e
: pansion increases at greater ratio after
certain temperature is reached, Thong
= not so trustworthy, spirit thermomete
: are necessary, as mercury freez, - at 40 deg
below zero. Spirits of wine is general
!, used and IL colored red so that it will
y more visible to the eye.
In correct thermometer the scale
! graduated to the requirements of the tu
to which 1t is fitted, SO that every CORE
!, thermometer must have a special scale
= its own. That Is to say it wouldn't do
:. put the tube of one thermometer in Il
= frame of another OF course, in the We
- cheap grades Of thermometers such a
y curate adjustments are not made al
therefore their records are only approx
!. mately correct. The best thermomet
- tube made will cost about s.; but a tn,
mometer may be made to cost almost ~
: price, according to the way in which it
. mounted.
As every ono KNOWS, the fanrenn'
~ scale is that most commonly used in I'll
!" country. Fahrenheit arbitrarily assum
~ limit of cold which he termed zero. III
makes the freezing point 80 dogs, abo
zero and the boiling point 2l2 dogs. abo
zero. AS a matter of fact however,
northern ATTITUDES the temperature in wi
b., ter frequently falls below the zero point,
he that there is no scientific reason why t
u zero point in the Fahrenheit scale shou
is be where it is,
n A much more scientific scale is til
o, known as the Centigrade, which marks t
1t point at which water freezes at zero a
ii divides the space between that and I
N point at which water boils into 100 de!
ii In the Reaumur scale zero marks the fire.
10 ing point, and eighty above zero the be
ing point Many self registering thermo
b. eters are now used. These instrumei
ID mark the highest or lowest temperate
u reached. as the case may be, so that I
u weather sharp may return at night feeli
b. assured that the weather can play
70 pranks without his learning of them.-N
O. York Tribune
lie When the pulse is under sixty it is
s. garded AS slow. In not few persons I'll
is natural. The pulse is slow also in pc