The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-12-28
THE THERMOMETERS.
II Was Invented by a Poor Man Who
Had Failed as a Merchant.

Il Was Invented by Poor Man Who
Had Failed as a Merchant.
There Is one little instrument in
which the interest of all classes OF
people in this country never diminishes
through all the changing seasons OF the
wear, 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-
tions turn. And this little instrument
Is the thermometer. which bears the
name of Fahrenheit
Before the seventeenth century men
could only judge OF the amount OF heat
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
cold. In that century several attempts
were made by scientific eXperimenters
| by means of tubes containing oil. spir-
| its Of wine and other substances to es-
tablish a satisfactory means of meas
uring heat, but none of them proved
successful. Even Sir Isaac Newton
who applied his great mind to this
work, and also the noted astronomer.
| ",
duce heat measure.
1t was reserved to Gabriel Daniel
Fahrenheit. an obscure and poor man.
a native Of Dantzig, to give to the
world the instrument which has proved
to be so serviceable to mankind. He
had failed in business as a merchant
and, having a taste for mechanics and
chemistry, began a 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 a more suitable article to use In
the glass tube.
Fahrenheit had removed from Dant
zig to Amsterdam, and there about the
year 1920 he made the mercury Their
mometer which has ever since been
fashioned much like the original.
The basis of his plan was to marx
on the tube the two points respectively
at which water is CONCEALED and boiled
and to graduate the space between
He began with an arbitrary marking
beginning with 80 degrees. because III
| found that the mercury descended 8.
| degrees more before coming to VIVA
he thought the extreme cold resulting
from a mixture Of ice, water and sa
ammoniac In 1924 he published dis
tinct treatise on the subject of his e1
periments and the conclusions that ha'
:, resulted therefrom.
Celsius of Stockholm soon after sue
gested the more rational graduation o
a hundred degrees between freezin
and boiling point This was the cent
Il grade thermometer. Reaumur propos
ed another graduation which has bee
L accepted by the French, but by far tn
largest part of the civilized worl
I Fahrenheit's scale has been accepte
l. and used, with 80 degrees as freezin;
So degrees as temperate. 90 degrees
blood heat and 212 degrees as boilin
point.
Il 1t is true that the zero of Fahrei
3 heits scale is a solecism since 1t doe
& not mark the extreme to which hes
4 can be distracted. This little blemlsl
r however. does not seem to have bee
4 of any practical consequences.
II Arctic explorers have persisted in d
= scribing temperatures below the Eel
'. Of Fahrenheit, and scientists have pr
d duced artificially temperatures far b
n low any ever dreamed of by the the
d mometer maker Of Amsterdam. The
n is doubt as to the year Of the death
It Fahrenheit. but it is generally place
d in 174O-Los Angeles Times.