1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hypsometer

HYPSOMETER (Gr. ὕψος, height, μέτρον, a measure), an instrument for measuring heights which employs the principles that the boiling-point of a liquid is lowered by diminishing the pressure, and that the barometric pressure varies with the height of the point of observation. The instrument consists of a cylindrical vessel in which the liquid, usually water, is boiled, surmounted by a jacketed column, in the outer partitions of which the vapour circulates, while in the central one a thermometer is placed. To deduce the height of the station from the observed boiling-point, it is necessary to know the relation existing between the boiling-point and pressure, and also between the pressure and height of the atmosphere.