concept
Tralles apparatus
also: Траллес, Tralles
An alcoholometer (hydrometer) calibrated on the Tralles scale, the standard instrument an excise official would use to measure the alcohol content of spirits for tax purposes at a distillery; Susanna's irritated dismissal of the excise man 'pestering' her about his Tralles apparatus is a small realist touch establishing her as the distillery's new owner and target of routine bureaucratic inspection.
Reading notes
- The Mire §18 his Tralles apparatus
An alcoholometer (hydrometer) calibrated on the Tralles scale, the standard instrument an excise official used to measure the alcohol content of spirits for tax purposes at a distillery; Susanna's irritation with the excise man establishes her, within a few lines, as the estate's new owner and a target of routine bureaucratic inspection.