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is immersed, there is a liability to error in consequence of the surface tension, or capillary action, as it is frequently called, along the line of contact of the instrument and the surface of the liquid (see Capillary Action). This error diminishes as the diameter of the stem is reduced, but is sensible in the case of the thinnest stem which can be employed, and is the chief source of error in the employment of Nicholson’s hydrometer, which otherwise would be an instrument of extreme delicacy and precision. The following is Nicholson’s statement on this point:—

“One of the greatest difficulties which attends hydrostatical experiments arises from the attraction or repulsion that obtains at the surface of the water. After trying many experiments to obviate the irregularities arising from this cause, I find reason to prefer the simple one of carefully wiping the whole instrument, and especially the stem, with a clean cloth. The weights in the dish must not be esteemed accurate while there is either a cumulus or a cavity in the water round the stem.”

It is possible by applying a little oil to the upper part of the bulb of a common or of a Sikes’s hydrometer, and carefully placing it in pure water, to cause it to float with the upper part of the bulb and the whole of the stem emerging as indicated in fig. 4, when it ought properly to sink almost to the top of the stem, the surface tension of the water around the circumference of the circle of contact, AA′, providing the additional support required.

Fig. 4.

The universal hydrometer of G. Atkins, described in the Phil. Mag. for 1808, xxxi. 254, is merely Nicholson’s hydrometer with the screw at C projecting through the collar into which it is screwed, and terminating in a sharp point above the cup G. To this point soft bodies lighter than water (which would float if placed in the cup) could be attached, and thus completely immersed. Atkins’s instrument was constructed so as to weigh 700 grains, and when immersed to the mark on the stem in distilled water at 60° F. it carried 300 grains in the upper dish. The hydrometer therefore displaced 1000 grains of distilled water at 60° F. and hence the specific gravity of any other liquid was at once indicated by adding 700 to the number of grains in the pan required to make the instrument sink to the mark on the stem. The small divisions on the scale corresponded to differences of 1/10th of a grain in the weight of the instrument.

The “Gravimeter,” constructed by Citizen Guyton and described in Nicholson’s Journal, 4to, i. 110, differs from Nicholson’s instrument in being constructed of glass, and having a cylindrical bulb about 21 centimetres in length and 22 millimetres in diameter. Its weight is so adjusted that an additional weight of 5 grammes must be placed in the upper pan to cause the instrument to sink to the mark on the stem in distilled water at the standard temperature. The instrument is provided with an additional piece, or “plongeur,” the weight of which exceeds 5 grammes by the weight of water which it displaces; that is to say, it is so constructed as to weigh 5 grammes in water, and consists of a glass envelope filled with mercury. It is clear that the effect of this “plongeur,” when placed in the lower pan, is exactly the same as that of the 5 gramme weight in the upper pan. Without the extra 5 grammes the instrument weighs about 20 grammes, and therefore floats in a liquid of specific gravity .8. Thus deprived of its additional weight it may be used for spirits. To use the instrument for liquids of much greater density than water additional weights must be placed in the upper pan, and the “plongeur” is then placed in the lower pan for the purpose of giving to the instrument the requisite stability.

Charles’s balance areometer is similar to Nicholson’s hydrometer, except that the lower basin admits of inversion, thus enabling the instrument to be employed for solids lighter than water, the inverted basin serving the same purpose as the pointed screw in Atkins’s modification of the instrument.

Adie’s sliding hydrometer is of the ordinary form, but can be adjusted for liquids of widely differing specific gravities by drawing out a sliding tube, thus changing the volume of the hydrometer while its weight remains constant.

The hydrometer of A. Baumé, which has been extensively used in France, consists of a common hydrometer graduated in the following manner. Certain fixed points were first determined upon the stem of the instrument. The first of these was found by immersing the hydrometer in pure water, and marking the stem at the level of the surface. This formed the zero of the scale. Fifteen standard solutions of pure common salt in water were then prepared, containing respectively 1, 2, 3, ... 15% (by weight) of dry salt. The hydrometer was plunged in these solutions in order, and the stem having been marked at the several surfaces, the degrees so obtained were numbered 1, 2, 3, ... 15. These degrees were, when necessary, repeated along the stem by the employment of a pair of compasses till 80 degrees were marked off. The instrument thus adapted to the determination of densities exceeding that of water was called the hydrometer for salts.

The hydrometer intended for densities less than that of water, or the hydrometer for spirits, is constructed on a similar principle. The instrument is so arranged that it floats in pure water with most of the stem above the surface. A solution containing 10% of pure salt is used to indicate the zero of the scale, and the point at which the instrument floats when immersed in distilled water at 10° R. (541/2° F.) is numbered 10. Equal divisions are then marked off upwards along the stem as far as the 50th degree.

The densities corresponding to the several degrees of Baumé’s hydrometer are given by Nicholson (Journal of Philosophy, i. 89) as follows:—

Baumé’s Hydrometer for Spirits. Temperature 10° R.

Degrees.	Density.	Degrees.	Density.	Degrees.	Density.
10	1.000	21	.922	31	.861
11	.990	22	.915	32	.856
12	.985	23	.909	33	.852
13	.977	24	.903	34	.847
14	.970	25	.897	35	.842
15	.963	26	.892	36	.837
16	.955	27	.886	37	.832
17	.949	28	.880	38	.827
18	.943	29	.874	39	.822
19	.935	30	.867	40	.817
20	.928

Baume’s Hydrometer for Salts.

Degrees.	Density.	Degrees.	Density.	Degrees.	Density.
0	1.000	27	1.230	51	1.547
3	1.020	30	1.261	54	1.594
6	1.040	33	1.295	57	1.659
9	1.064	36	1.333	60	1.717
12	1.089	39	1.373	63	1.779
15	1.114	42	1.414	66	1.848
18	1.140	45	1.455	69	1.920
21	1.170	48	1.500	72	2.000
24	1.200

Fig. 5.—Jones’s Hydrometer.

Carrier’s hydrometer was very similar to that of Baumé, Cartier having been employed by the latter to construct his instruments for the French revenue. The point at which the instrument floated in distilled water was marked 10° by Cartier, and 30° on Carrier’s scale corresponded to 32° on Baumé’s.

Perhaps the main object for which hydrometers have been constructed is the determination of the value of spirituous liquors, chiefly for revenue purposes. To this end an immense variety of hydrometers have been devised, differing mainly in the character of their scales.

In Speer’s hydrometer the stem has the form of an octagonal prism, and upon each of the eight faces a scale is engraved, indicating the percentage strength of the spirit corresponding to the several divisions of the scale, the eight scales being adapted respectively to the temperature 35°, 40°, 45°, 50°, 55°, 60°, 65° and 70° F. Four small pins, which can be inserted into the counterpoise of the instrument, serve to adapt the instrument to the temperatures intermediate between those for which the scales are constructed. William Speer was supervisor and chief assayer of spirits in the port of Dublin. For a more complete account of this instrument see Tilloch’s Phil. Mag., xiv. 151.

Fig. 6.

The hydrometer constructed by Jones, of Holborn, consists of a spheroidal bulb with a rectangular stem (fig. 5). Between the bulb and counterpoise is placed a thermometer, which serves to indicate the temperature of the liquid, and the instrument is provided with three weights which can be attached to the top of the stem. On the four sides of the stem AD are engraved four scales corresponding respectively to the unloaded instrument, and to the instrument loaded with the respective weights. The instrument when unloaded serves for the range from 74 to 47 over proof; when loaded with the first weight it indicates from 46 to 13 over proof, with the second weight from 13 over proof to 29 under proof, and with the third