Inventory Thermometer Annotation

Even though this reference to a thermometer can be read as simply describing a physical object in Priestley’s study, McCarthy and Kraft suggest that this is an example of a “thermometer joke,” apparently popular in the 18th century (74). Terry Castle claims that “In the hands of eighteenth-century wits, [thermometers] became registers for measuring fanciful changes of all sorts-fluctuations in sexual desire, physical or emotional excitement, religious enthusiasm, and so forth” (2).

Barbauld uses the thermometer to satirically describe how Priestley goes about his writing, suggesting that he approaches all of his work with scientific precision.

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