The Alaska daily empire., 1917-02-15
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Probably the weather element that
 Is most familiar 10 the public is the
 temperature Of the air We know
 that this rluctuates from hour to hour
 and from day to day end from month
 to month. Our personal comfort is largely deDendcnt upon it, and we try to eQualize the sensation Of tenn. perature by the use of a greater or Hess amount of clothing and by the application of greater or less quantity of heat to our homes,
 We all know that temperature is measured" by an instrument called thermometer" The principle that iunderlies the thermometer is the ey- tpanslon Of bodies by the application of heat. It is supposed Co have been invented about the year 1890, but lit. | tie Is known of its early history until ! Faheyheit, of Dantzig, Germany, in ll7l4, invented the instrument that bears his name. This type, the Fah. Ireuheit scale is used by the Wealth CT Bureau in all its work except that of a research character. and also |by the public generally in the Unit ed States and Great Britain. The riducial points of the Fahrenheit scale are zero and PIP degrees, re- spectiycly The latter reading repre- sents the boiling point of water at sea level, but it is a matter of con- lecture as to why Fahrenheit fixed the zero at the arbitrary point Of % degrees below freezing. It is sup posed by some that he placed 1t at what he considered the lowest tenn. perature ordinarily reached in an Ice. land winter At any rate, the scale ,s such that there are lSO degrees or subdivisions between the freezing and boiling points of water Perhaps a better idea of the value of a degree can be obtained when we consider that there is a difference of 36 de. grces between the freezing point and the temperature of the ordinary liv. ing room. or 664 degrees between ghe freezing point and our internal temperature.
 In scientific investigations and re- search work the Centgrade scale. invented in l742 by Celsius. a Swed- ish professor, is used almost ey- clusiyely. and is also in popular use by practically all nations except the United States and Great Britain. This scale is the more simple and sensi- bIc. since it begins with it's zero al the freezing point and places the. boiling point at 100
 A bill was introduced in thc last Congress providing :or the abolition of the Fahrenheit scale in the Unit. ed States and the substitution of the Centigrade The Weather Bureau as an institution was in favor oil the change but. since its work is' serving the public, it undertook to sound public opinion on the matter Letters of inquiry were sent to hun dreds of firms and business houses throughout the country whose work or business involves the frequent use or consultation of the thermometric scale. | have not learned the net result Of this investigation, but I do know that out of over a score of such letters sent out by the Phila- delphia office, only a small percent age Of replies were in favor of the change. All admitted the advant. age of the Centigrade scale once it were in general use and thoroughly but most Of them were afraid of the annoyance and cOnfus- l ion that would result for a few years until the public became familiar with the new system. At any rate, the bill did not pass anl we still boil |. our water at PIP instead of 100, and 1 our bodies are devoid of fever when ] our temperature is 9S.4 instead Of g.
 It i5 needless 10 say that zero on either scale does not constitute the limit Of cold, or in other words, an entire absence of heat. Tempera- | tures of 60 degrees below zero, Fah- | cenheit occur in the interior of Alas | ka probably every winter, while the lowest recorded temperature is minus 9O But the question arises; What is the limit of cold. or what would ! be the reading of the thermometer ] if it received no heat at all? This l condition is difficult to comprehend, |. but scientists claim that it exists |. in intesplanetary space, and that the reading is 459 degrees below zero. !. Fahrenheit, or 273 degrees below, !. Centigrade. That an utter absence of heat indicates such a low ther. mOmetric reading seems to be borne l out by the results Of laboratory eX- periments whereby actual tempera- lures of 25O below zero Centigrade ] have been obtained. |
 Among the forms of thermometer, used by the Weather Bureau in its daily wOri are the dry bulb," maxi 1 mum and minimum. All are Of stand. | ard pattern and have been calibrat, 1 ed with the graduations etched on the glasS-a detail that is one of the | ear marks of a good thermometer. |. The dry bulb" is used to tell the