concept
Réaumur Thermometer
the Réaumur
also: Реомюр
A temperature scale (0-80 degrees between freezing and boiling) common in 19th-century Russian households; used here to comic effect as the heat overwhelms even the instrument meant to measure it.
Reading notes
- Ferment of Minds §3 Réaumur thermometer
A temperature scale once common in Russian households, with 0 degrees at freezing and 80 at boiling. Chekhov's comic image is of the instrument itself losing its nerve in the heat.