THE NEW THERMOMETER AND A SLICE OF EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE EARLY QING COURT

摘要

In the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, there is a Chinese manuscript on the structure, functions and underlying principles of the liquid thermometer. The manuscript turns out to be by some Jesuit Missionary at the court of Emperor Kangxi. It gives a clear introduction to the new experimental philosophy on the properties of the vacuum and air established by physicists in Europe from Galileo to Boyle, and therefore reflects a very interesting aspect of Jesuit science at the early Qing court.