Thermometers with cognac

In 1654, the Grand Duke Fernandine II solved the problem of the first glass thermometers with liquid, as which water was used.

These thermometers were very impractical due to the fact that the freezing water burst glass. The Duke proposed to replace the water in the product with cognac, or rather, wine alcohol.
This type of temperature meters was quite large, inconvenient for many experiments, in addition, it was impossible to compare the degrees of different thermometers. To this day lived a few copies of thermometers "cognac". They can be viewed in the Museum of Galilee in Florence, which describes in detail their production.
The progress of science, as you know, does not stand still, to replace their cognac predecessors in 1703 came mercury analogues.