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PHILO'S THERMOSCOPE, 20 B.C
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We should like to make acknowledgment to the following Authorities :" Evolution of the 'Ihermometer "
by Bolton. )
"
" Kaemtz Meteorology by Walker.
by ThomPson.
" Meteorology "
" Traite de Physique " - by Ganot'
bY Geddes'
" Meteorology "
z3?0e]
History
of the Thermometer
HE earliest form of temperature measuring instrument was a primitive tvoe of
Thermoscopi which is'inentioned by the Greek Physicist
of Alexandria-in the
-Heros.c.
second centurv
The Thermämeter is first mentioned
by Leurechon, in his book " Recreation
Mathematigü€," written jn tiza.
The inventor of this useful instiument
appears to be _Galileo, an Italian, who,
according to Viviani in his ', Life oi
Galileor" written
in r7r8. held
the
Chair of Mathematics at'Padua, and in
r59e he produced the first Thermometer.
This statement is borne out bv some
letters which were published Uv Netti
in his " Biography'of Galileoj' and
which were -writt'en to Galifeo by
Francesco Sagredo, of Venice.
The purport of these letters was to
g(ql3in- hoiv the writer had improved
Galileo's instrument, mentionirig that
his Thermometers were made ai the
Glass Works of Murano, and that he
used wine as well as waier in
his instruments.
HEio'. ?Httf6qort,
t
lo !.c.
THE HIS'O*'
The instrument as first invented was
an Air Thermometer, and the water or
wine was used to act as an indicator in
the tube itself, there being no liquid in
the bulb.
The first person to fill the Thermometer with liquid was the Frenchman
R"y, who, writing to the French
theologian, Father Mersenne, in 1632,
describes his invention and how he
filled the bulb with wine.
Unfortunately most of Galileo's
manuscript which he kept was burnt
by his grandson Cosimo, and a number
circulatcd among various people, but
Viviani, who wä a pupil'of 'Giliteo,
succeeded in collecting a number of
these and included them in his book,
in which he places the date of the
invention as between r5g2 and 1597.
Sanctorius, writing in 16r r in his
" Commentaries on the Medical Art of
Galen," part III., p. 538, refers to the
Thermometer as " a most ancient instrument," and it is interesting to note that
this writer, who held the Chair of
ltl?xtuct
gt Oaul3o, at
pr!A,
OF
THE THERMOMETER
Theory of _Medicine at padua, 16r r_
,?24t . applied the Thermometer to
physiological researches.
_ Following Sagredo, the Duke of
I uscany, Ferdinand II., improved the
rfiermometrer, and, prior tö 1654, he
prod r^ced the first'.i;;;a i-nstrument,
as before that date the upper end oi
the tube was left open to fhe air.
..T,ater, in 1657, in coniunction with
his trothel,
lriäie Leopo"ld d. M.di;i;
he founded the Acadernia del Cimentoj
-ffr.rmometer
construction were carried out in conjunction with other research work.
where experimentr-
i"
The mercury-filled Thermometer was
^ mentioned
hrst
by Athanasius Kircher
il J6+g, and thoügh further aetaits of
therr manufäcture are lacking, they
were stated to have been prodüced bj,
the Academia del Cimentd in r6qz.
The originator of the first prJdosal
to
is said to häve
Halley, but, according to tr r
Boerhaavej;' Che'mi- go..häu"ü Al
f.", p. 7zo-it was Alaus Roemer,
use__mgrcury
been_
/t--
laatuca
DE!
aatTo, p^Dua. 1267,
THE HISTORY OF
celebrated as the discoverer of the
velocity of light, who first constructed
the mercurial Thermometer.
In this country Robert Hooke did a
eood deal of wörk on Thermometer
öonstruction, and refers to this in his
book " Micrographiar" Published in
ß6a.
Piior to this date, Southall, in 165o,
brousht one of the Florentine Thermom-eters to this country, and copies
were made by the scientist BoYle. Another eärly mention of Thermometers in England is made bY the
Rev. Stephen -Hales in his book
" Vegetabie Statics,"* published in
rizzl, anld there he refärs to Thermotir.t.tt made by John Fowler, of
t727,
and vcry msoabQ Factic' to
" It is now ßrom a @Emotr
mas of ThmometeE
tte uatäf stoves ud green how, b'yi'a'v
havc the nue ol
aeuncf,
for
iü;-"" t" th;;;d
srdta
soni the priicipal eroticks, writtcn upn tlair Th6nom'tets'
by crpcriene
aro
foud
"i
which
h€t,
de$ees
öt
äva-aäi"st tüe *v;d
td uJircxiret tc tüem, änd I am laiorocd that EaDy oI th-e Eost
Ths'
use
mke
to
egr€€d
Indon
bave
iutirlo'"Jöäta*.o aboui
-of
nJnJtÄ oitUis so*, which üe mad? by Mr. John Fosls-in
lYit!fl3
thc
foUowin-g
of
names
P-hich
[avc
tüe
eüiv. nar tUe Rovel'D:cbange,
hat' which
;-L;G;;D*G t"'theit rspöti"e mct kindly degre€s-of
io Ä" ü'otio-etm answix narly to tbc föllowing degrccs of beat
ä-uoui tui-fr"e..g poitrt, viz. : Mcl'on'thistle 81, Ana!$ 29' PirEoto
zä. br"nä*i"i-Eri cetäs 211, Ale 19, Indlah-ag 101' Fi@id€! 14'
resufate
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,ITHI
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AIi THTRBOT'T3i.
Gaulao'a ttgadat.
Myrtres 9."
THE THERMOMETER
Swithins Alley, near the Royal Exchange.
These instruments were used in connection with hothouses for fruit, etc., and
varied in length from r8 inches to 4 feet.
The first known attempt to calibrate
by
Fahrenheit, who was an instrument
maker in Amsterdam, and a native of
Dantzig.
the Thermometer was made
In ryt4 he mixed salt and snow
together, and as he considered this
represented the absolute cold, he called
it o on the Thermometer scale ; he
called the freezing point of water 32,
and the boiling point of the same fluid
erz. This is the scale which is in
general use to-day in many countries.
Fahrenheit died in 1736, aged 5o.
The Reaumur scale was introduced
by Rönö Antoine Ferchault Seigneur
de Reaumur des Angles et de la
in r73r, published
his " Rules for the Construction of
.
Bermondiöre, who,
Thermometersr" embodying his method
of calibrating the scale, and Abbe
3rx'a Txairotflt,
t
ta2.
THE HISTORY OF
Nollet, in 1732, made Thermometers
on these lines. The Reaumur scale is
now seldom used.
The Centigrade scale was proposed
!y Anders Cöhius, of Upsala,'in\742,
this scale being subsequently modified
by Christin, a icientisti of Lyons. The
Centigrade scale is largely used outside
Engliär-speaking coun"triäs for general
pqpop_es, and universally for many
scientific and industrial räadings.
Registering Thermometers, oi Thermometrographs, were invented some
years later, and, according to Phil. Tr.
1757, Lord Charles Cavendish in that
year constructed a Maximum Thermom_eter, but it was unsatisfactory as it
was hard to adiust.
Others, eiiher Maximum or
Minimum, were made by Keith, Traill,
Six, and Rutherford, the last two being
the best known.
James Six lived at Canterbury, where,
in_r7.Bz, he invented the self-rigistering
Maximum and Minimum TherÄometer
which to-day bears his name. This is
THE THERMOMETER
mentioned in Phil. Trans. r78e, and
this type of instrument was modified
by Bellani and Bunten, and is in
universal use at thg present time.
Dr. Rutherford invented the Minimum Thermometer which is now
generally adopted, and also introduced
a Maximum Thermometer, but the
latter instrument was never satisfactory.
Of the several types of Maximum
Thermometers which had been invented, the best was that introduced by
Professor Phillips, and which was known
as the " Phillips' Maximum." This
instrument was not very satisfactory,
and was superseded by the Maximum
Thermometer invented by Negretti &
Zambra in r85z, which type is universally adopted for maximum readings at
the present time.
This invention was of the greatest
importance, as it was not only used in
scientific and industrial instruments,
but also was, and is still, embodied
in all medical, or what are generally
known as clinical, Thermometers.
The History of the Thermometer
. It will be seen, therefore, that though
the Thermometer was first introducäd
in Italy, many of the subsequent improvements and inventions belong to
this countrv.
As regardi Mechanical Thermometers,
.
Abraham Breguet, a Paris watchmaker,
who died in r9zg, made what was
plobably the first Dial Thermometer,
which operated by silver. eold and
platinum strips, anä which äust have
been very costly.
I
lf
ii,,
-1
tt
.at!'
This instrument was subsequently
reconstructed by his nephew (Bieguet)
so as to record with a pen on a metal
sheet, and this instrument was probably
the earliest form of Recordiig Thermometer.
No attempt has been made in these
pages to trace the further history in
Thermometer development, nor to de-
scribe the different types, such as
Electrical Thermometers, Mercury-inSteel Thermometers, but in all- the
development this country has taken a
promirient part, and, at the present
time, stands relatively higher in Thermometer construction than at anv
previous period in its history.
arr'r ?Htilorrti
PrBEir OIY
B.nfrt.,
h*!