Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-12-05
THE THERMOMETER.
u Was Invented by Poor Man Who
Had Failed as Merchant.

Had Failed as a Merchant.
There is Que little instrument In
which the interest OF all classes OF
people in this country never dimlnlshcs
through all the changing seasons OF tho
year, from the first day OF January to
the last day OF December. 1t regulates
the business pulse OF the nation and is
the shrine to which men of all occupa-
lions turn. And this little instrument
~ the thermometer, which Se,ars the
name OF Fahrenheit.
Before the seventeenth century men
could only Judge OF the amount OF hent
prevailing at any place by their per-
sonal sensations and could only speak
OF the weather In very indefinite
way as hot or very hot, cold or very
J cold. In that century several attempts
| We're made by scientific experfmenters
by means Of tubes containing oil, spir-
tts of wine and other substances 10 es.
taplish satisfactory means OF meas
uring heat, hut none of them proved
successful. Even Sir Isaac Newton,
| who applied his great mind to this
work, aud nlso the noted astronomer,
HALEY. failed In their attempts 10 pro-
uuCc " neat measure.
1t was reserved TO Gabriel Daniel
Fahrenheit, an obscure and poor man.
q native OF Danzig, To give to tho
/ world the Instrument which has proved
to be SO servicenble 10 mankind. He
had failed In business as n merchant
and, having taste for mechanics and
chemistry, began series OF expert
ments for the production OF thermome-
tiers. at first he made these instru-
ments with alcohol. but soon became
convinced that the semisolid mercury
was more suitable article to use in
the glass tube.
Fahrenheit had removed from Dant-
zig to Amsterdam. and there about the
year 1720 he nude the mercury Their
nometer which has ever since been
fashioned much like the original
The basis OF his plan was to mark
on the tube the two points respectively
at which water is concealed and boiled
anu to graduate the space between.
He began with an arbitrary marking.
beginning with % degrees, because he
FOUND that the mercury descended 30
degrees more before coming TO what
lie thought the extreme cold resulting
from u mixture OF ice, water and sal
ammoniac. III 1924 he published dis
dnct treutise on the subject OF his ex-
perlments and the conclusions that had
resulted tbcrefrom.
Celsius OF Stockholm soon after sug-
gested the more rational graduation of
hundred degrees between freezing
and boiling point. This WIS the CONT
grade thermometer. Reaumur propos-
ed another graduation which has been
accepted by the French. but by far the
largest part of the civilized world
Fahrenheit's scale has been accented
and used. With 3o degrees us freezing,
90 degrees us temperate. 90 degrees as
blood hcat and 212 degrees as boiling
point.
1t is true that the zero OF Fnhrcn-
heit's scale is a solecism since Il does
, not mark the extreme to which heat
can be abstracted. This little blemish.
however. does not seem to have been
of any practical consequence.
Arctic explorers have persisted In de-
scribipg temperatures below tho zero
of Fahrenheit. and scientists have pro-
duced artincially temperatures far be-
low any ever dreamed OF by the ther-
mometer maker OF Amsterdam. There
Is doubt rs to the year OF the death OF
Fahrenheit but it is generally placed
In 1fd0.--Los Angeles Times.
\