Note 4 — Chapter II
Reading edition
It were to be wished that the Divisions of the Thermometer by Farenheit were become general throughout Europe, in preference to those by Reaumur yet retained
abroad
; which Divisions of Reaumur are not sufficiently minute to mark the least sensible Change in the Temperature, are subject to frequent Mistakes, and the Inconvenience of adding in the Notation, the Words
above
or
below
the Cypher, zero, or Point of Congelation: besides their being in Conversation not easily compared with those of Farenheit; each Degree of the latter having to that of the former nearly the Proportion of 18 to 11: since Farenheit from the freezing Point upwards to boiling Water has 212 − 32 = 180°, and Reaumur to the same Height, 110° Divisions: Mr. Saussure says as 4 to 9; in which there is an evident Oversight: see his curious and philosophic Investigation of the Atmosphere in
“Essais fur L’Hygrometrie.”
4to. A Neuchatel, 1783.
Frequent Mention being made of the Thermometer graduated according to Farenheit’s Scale, in different Parts of the following Account; it may not be amiss to shew the corresponding Points according to Reaumur, taken from “Thermometre universel de Comparaison, extrait du Journal de Physique de M. L’Abbé Rozier.”
Farenheit. Reaumur.
54 13 & 4-9ths above the Cypher.
55 14 ditto, nearly.
57 15 2-9ths ditto, nearly.
59 16 4-9ths ditto, nearly.
60 17 1-9th ditto.
65 20 1-9th ditto, nearly.