Re: Hot, Cold, and Temperature

Herman Miller scripsit:

> Well, it seems the obvious reason for "hot" = "up", "cold" = "down" is
> that the liquid in a thermometer rises when the temperature gets warmer.
> But how long have thermometers been in use? Were there idioms relating
> to the temperature "rising" or "falling" before thermometers?
Fahrenheit invented both the mercury and the alcohol thermometers,
which he used to set his scale (with 0 at the freezing point of a 50-50
salt/ice mixture and 100, later adjusted down, as body temperature).
Crude thermometers existed before that, with typically 12 degrees or so
between the freezing and boiling points of water; Fahrenheit's inventions
made it possible to subdivide the scale much more finely.

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