146 



THE THERMOMETER. 



ter be surrounded by the steam of boiling water, and be observed to stand at 

 212°, we declare that the temperature of boiling water exceeds the tempera- 

 ture of melting ice by 180° ; the meaning of which is, that the state, with re- 

 spect to heat, of boiling water compared with melting ice, is such as to cause 

 a quantity of mercury transferred from the one to the other to increase its 

 dimensions by about one sixty-third part of its whole bulk at the lower tem- 

 perature. 





