DEG 
jefture, that the Egyptians, to whom this divifion is attri- 
buted, chofe the number 360 on account of its admittin 
and perhaps alfo 
| 
itanding ae long eftablifhed ule of — divifion, there have 
not been wanting perfons, who at various times have endea- 
voured to recommend and : introduce a decimal or a cen- 
tefimal divifion, inftead o Ste 
vinus, Oughtred, Wallis, B age ra aie Neston, and 
eel — vetides feveral others, have bee 
Ste erts, that this divifion of the circle oF 
vained i in ie wife ss “in feeculo fapiente,”’ (Stev. Cofmog. 
. def. 6.) Hutton propefed to divide the quadrant into 
means the d 
onfufion in t atements with 
ere which fill all ie fone: ‘and <c eftablifhed aftro-* 
nomical, trigonometrical, and other books. See Division 
Las uments. 
e Dp ries generally “ for the Bs aaa of mea- 
aying off degrees, minutes in aftronomy, 
con eae and ot ne ania Of mixed mathe- 
matics, ar adrants, circles, fextants, feCtors, theodolites, 
micrometers, protractors, and others. See the nature and 
of thofe inftraments under the articles of their vari- 
es. 
enomination of degrees has likewife been applied to 
other inftruments; but principally to thermo- 
Their meaning in thofe inftru- 
e thermometer and the hygrometer, 
n be 
points. Butt — ioe men of tube, which lies be- 
tween the seavemicationed two fixed points, is divided differ- 
In Fahrenbeit’s thermo- 
means, we muft firft k 
vided according-to Fahrenheit, or to Keaumur, or other 
perfon. See THermomerer. 
The a of the thermometer are marked with a el 
d towards the right-hand fide of the figure 
ures, aS re 12°, &c.3 but they are not fabdivided : ‘ate 
Their parts are only expreffed by 
means of vulgar or decimal fraGtions ; thus 14 degrees and 
three quarters of a degree, are exprefled by 14°3, or by 
The authors who originally propofed and adopted the 
above-mentioned various divifions of the thermometer, were 
endoubtedly induced to adopt their peculiar modes by vari- 
REE. 
ous awe are which at prefent are imperfe&tly known; 
indeed do they deferve an panfcular hiquiry. It is, 
how wever, curious to obferve at Keaumur’s deyrees are 
thonfandths ore he bulk of his i uted aie with which he 
lied his thermometers ; s degrees are thoufandths of 
the bulk of the mercur ne eae ce expantfion of the 
glafs ; and Fahrenheit’s degrees are nearly thoufandths parts 
of the a of the mercury, without the laft-mentioned in- 
accura 
It tae been faid above, that the degrees of the thermome- 
ter are equal parts of the {pace run through by the mercury 
between the points of melting ice and boiling water. ‘This, 
however, is only the cafe with the mercurial thermometer, in 
which the degrees indicate nearly equal increments ae heat 5 
‘but inthe {pirit-thermometer, when properly conftructed, 
the degrees are not equal, becaufe, with equal increments 
of heat, the buik of fpirit of wine increafes unequally ; 
hence the rie thermometer is divided with unequal 
grees ; but fo as to anfwer to the equal degrees of the mer- 
curial C hemcuetee VIZ as to pe nearly equal in- 
crements of heat. See Expansion and THERMOMETER. 
t oe the degrees are equal parts of 
e hygrometrical fubftance eras the 
points of e me drynefs, and complete moiilure; and 
at ela is divided into 100 equal part i 
° over th 
merely iets divifions, a ae of which cannot pro- 
perly be underitood ; as m thofe hygrometers have no 
fixed bri and of ecu aoe cannot be compared with 
one another 
A miler ufe of the word degrees muft be underftood 
with refpe& to other graduated inftruments, which need not 
be particularly f{pecified. 
prveinouer of minutes and feconds, befides their 
gree of a circle, are likewife ufed 
in th i i 
the minutes are more commonly (though not always) mark- 
ed with a sae : — the feconds with a little *, inftead of 
th 
e com us 13° 41! means 13 de- 
aes "inter ain 12 feconds o circle ; and 
13" 41™ 12°, means 13 hours, 41 minutes, and 12 feconds of 
oe 
It is alfo ufual to fay, that fuch a ftar is elevated fo many 
degrees above the horizon, meafure 
declines fo many degrees from the equa dt 
town is fituated in fo many degrees Pie eand longitude ; 
and, moreover, that a fign of the zodiac includes 30 de- 
grees 
Dec in Affron vite i Geography. All: circles 
being tines to be div 
above ; eg 
DE, 
“Tet 
but fuch a 
nd vary according tothe nature of the to whi h 
they belong. Thus, the degrees of th eridian are 
arts of anellipfe; andthe degree perpendicular to the 
meridian will be part of a curve of double curvature; 
for 
