The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-02
ANACONDA NEWS.
CERTAINLY COLD ENOUGH.
Mercury Trying to Hide Itself in
the Bulb.
TRAINS WERE DELAYED
Street Car Traffic Suspended for Many
r. Hours-Lowest Temperature Re-
ported Was 90 Degrees
Below Zero.

u While the blizzard that visited Ana
conda on Tuesday practically spent
It's force on the same day, it left trail
3f cold and snow behind 1T that is any,
thing but agreeable. The blizzard which
Occurred Tuesday is one of the worst
that has ever been experienced in Ana
conda. Not only was the cold intense,
but the snow drifted to such a degree
that the street cars were unable to run
nearly all day Some of the cars were
Stalled between terminals and they had
ITO be left there until workmen could
Shovel the snow from the tracks. Yes
terday, the tracks had been cleared SO
far as to permit Of the passage of
cars. f
The intense cold of Tuesday and yes
terday was such as had not been ex-
perienced here for many day. The
lowest point reached by any thermome-
ter, SO far as reported, was rs degrees
below zero. This record was taken by
the night bartender at the Brewery sa-
loon, in the western part Of the city.
Mr. Kelly, the manager of the Copper
City Commercial companys store at
Carroll. reported that the lowest mark
low zero. In the city the lowest score
recorded was "a degrees below zero,
which figure was noted at clock yes
Herday morning. Last night at o'clock
the thermometer on the west side of
Main street registered Is degrees be-
low zero, while some of those on the
east side of Main street showed Is de-
grees below. From o'clock yesterday
afternoon the thermometers gradually
iS int haf hof hn
sun comes out this morning, the mer-
curry will have gone down lower than
en- the previous night.
The different thermometers in town
vary greatly as to the temperature.
There is a 5discrepancy of five or six de-
srees between thermometers which are
exposed under the same conditions. The
thermometers that hang next to the
buildings where steam is kept up for
the "a hours are, of course, higher than
those which are exposed to the cold
without the influence of heat. Owing
to the difference in the thermometer
registration, 1t is of course impossible
to state accurately just how cold it was.
There was a big sale of thermometers
yesterday by the dealers who handle
that class of goods. Thermometers are
sold this year as low as Is cents and
they are said to be as accurate as in
strumeIts of higher price, The Their
mometers.Were bought mostly by house
holders who desire to keep TAB On the
weather for themselves. The question
was asked a score of times yesterday
who Fahrenheit was. and how the Their
mometer first came into use. The fol-
lowing article taken from the National
Druggist tells all about the invention of
the little instrument:
Neither Fahrenheit nor Reaumur was
the inventor of the thermometer. 1t is
not positively known who was the first
to contrive the instrument. and the
honor has therefore been attributed, at
various times, and by various writers,
to three different persons. all living and
laboring in the sixteenth century
Fludd Drebbl, and Santorino. The first
efficient apparatus, however, was I'M
doubtedly that of Calico (about 1878,
which was the immediate precursor of
the instrument as we know it to-day.
1t consisted simply of long glass tube,
at one end of which was blown small
bulb; the other end dipped into vessel
containing a colored liquid the varia-
tons of the volume of the air contained
in the bulb causing the liquid to rise
and fall in the tube. This instrument
was, of course, very imperfect, and Gal
ileo worked aSsiduously to improve it.
After some thirteen or fourteen years
labor, he finally brought out Gin 1910
1911 the dlCOHOl. thermometer, IN
and principle essentially the same in
s.rument that we now employ. 1t con-
sisted of tube terminating in bulb,
the shape of which varied, being some
times globular or spherical, sometimes
cylindrical, or even helical, and which
was filled with colored alcohol
The scale of this instrument was ar
ranged to represent the expansion of the
liquid by one thousandth of it's volume,
and consisted Of little beads of glass;
fused to the stem. The betterment of
this scale. and placing it upon basis
fixed by natural phenomena (the boil
ing and freezing of water etc.), was
first achieved by Fahrenheit. Prior to
his experiments the formation of ice
by natural methods was supposed to
take place at varying temperatures
He first showed that the temperature
of freezing of water was constant
Strangely enough, however, he failed
to see the Importance of assuming this
constant as a basis of graduation. Had
he done so, and assumed as an integral
the space in his tube between it and
that other constant, the boiling point of
the same LIQUID, it is probable that his
ard for all time. He took for his Zero"
or point of the greatest possible cold
that produced by a mixture of snow
or ice and sal ammoniac, or ice and COM
mon salt Chen believed to be the great
est cold), and made the next fixed point
the temperature of the human body
This space he divided, first into 1870
parts, and midway placed his zero or