The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1918-01-24
GLASS TUBES AND MERCURY

RldSS luDCs WIN ANSN
ened to a graded scale. In winter,
when we know it is at least 10 below,
this little instrument says it is only
5 below, and in summer when we
know it is at least 100 in the shade,
the same instrument says it is only
90 in the sun 1t tells US only what
we already know, and then not as
much as we think we know.
But this earth is huge rolling ami
NAL, and is subject to heat and cold;
variation of temperature is a funda-
mental factor in the worlds conduct.
Every industrial plant is concerned
in the measurement of temperature,
and if all the thermometers, hygrO-
meters, hydrometers, thermO-electric
and radiation promoters were taken
away, we would go back towards the
dark ages.
The learned physician would be
helpless without that little tube he
sticks under the tongue of a fever
stricken patient. The patient con-
siders that tube an instrument to
make him gag and want to cough,
but il is really a useful thing.
Without thermometers in a mod
ern fiat, the victims would not know
how cold they were, and the janitor
might start a fire in midsummer. 1t
seems at times that janitors pay no
attention to thermometers, but they
really do, and if the heating appara-
tus was run blind" the apartment
would become unbearably hot or
freezing cold. The thermometers
keep conditions from being worse.
The glassware and chinaware We
use on the table could not be prop
erly produced without the use of in
struments to measure the heat ap-
piled in their making. These articles
could be made without thermometers,
but much of the product of a plant
would be spoiled, and there would be
a waste of time and material; the
high cost of living would be higher.
The proper degree of heat is very
essential in the manufacture OF
breakfast foods and without measur-
ing devices for heat we could not have
4. T., hn &c
panded In the cities many persons
would be without milk for pasteuri-
zation is only possible when the milk
is heated to a certain degree and then
cooled at a fixed temperature. Ir-
regular heating would fail to kill the
harmful bacteria. And not only pas
teurized milk, but certified milk
would be thing of the past without
thermometers. All first-class dairies
have veterinary thermometers.
Canned goods demand a certain
heat, and to apply the proper heat
without waste of energy is the foun-
dation of the economic canning in
dustry. Even bread-making would
suffer without tubes and mercury for
there are dough-thermometers and
oyen-thermOmeters.
Poultry farms could not prosper
without incubators and an incubator
without thermometer would not be
an incubator. The orchard ther-
mometer saves long rows of budding
trees; if the temperature goes down
to a dangerous point the thermometer
works an electric alarm arrangement
and the fruit grower is called out of
bed. and he starts the fires. After
the fruit is grown it is refrigerated
by artificial means in which heat reg
istering devices are of first impor-
tance.
The making of rubber tires for our
automobiles and the insulations for
our telephone, telegraph and electric
light wires demand carefully adjusted
of heat and cold. The cooling and
contraction of molten metals involve
a nicely of handling at just the right
temperature that compares with the
making of glass.
II all glass tubes containing mer-
curry were to be discontinued, the
whole world would be forced to slow
to. the speed of the stone age time.
Let's slander the thermometer no
more.