Thermometer, by 'A.M', French, Later 18th Century | |
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| Inventory Number: | 29533 |
| Object Type: | |
| Place Created: | England United Kingdom Europe |
| Accession Number: | 1966-41 |
| Brief Description: | Mercury in glass with scales marked Christin (Jean-Pierre Christin's 1743 centigrade scale) and Reaumur, in case. The Reaumur scale is graduated -10 to 90. Despite being titled in French form Thermometre the named temperatures on the Reaumur scale are all in English: Freeing [sic] 0, Temperate 10, Sumr Heat 19, Bath Heat 26, Blood Heat 29, Eggs Hatch 32, Fever Heat 35, Syria 50 (= nearly 63°C!), Spirits Boils 64, Water Boils 80. The lines marking the named temperatures are more weakly engraved than the divisions of the scales themselves and the lines and names may represent a later English addition to an originally French instrument (since it seems most likely that a Christin scale would have appeared on a French instrument). |
| Primary Inscriptions: | Engraved title at top "Thermometre". Engraved in mirror reverse under the bulb ".f .M .A", ie "A.M.f." (A.M. fecit). |
| Provenance: | Purchase. |
| Collection Group: | |
Narratives | |
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