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History of Science Museum

Thermometer, by 'A.M', French, Later 18th Century

Inventory Number 29533


Acknowledgement: © History of Science Museum, University of Oxford, inv.29533

Item type
Object
Provenance
Purchase.
Primary inscriptions
Engraved title at top "Thermometre". Engraved in mirror reverse under the bulb ".f .M .A", ie "A.M.f." (A.M. fecit).
Object type
Thermometer
Inventory No
29533
Accession Number
1966-41

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).