frigoric

English

Noun

frigoric (uncountable)

1. A hypothetical fluid medium of cold, in analogy to caloric.
   • 1750, Thomas Short, New observations, natural, moral, civil, political..., page 425:

     The Insinuation of this cold Moisture by the Skin into the Body, is a very likely Cause of cold-catching, as the Attack of that Indisposition is most common and general at the off-going of Frost or Storms by Rain, misling, or thick Fogs. And perhaps in this cold moist Air may be a Mixture of some frigoric Principle or Matter, which may some how or other vitiate our Blood and Lymph. For to say that Cold is only a Privation of Heat, is saying nothing ; or may be retorted, that Heat is only a Privation of Cold.
     But it is more probable, that there is an Addition of some saline Mixture with the Air ; Why otherwise cannot artificial freezing be performed without Salts ? Why otherwise does Water fo expand itself by freezing, as the intense Cold makes the intermixed Air shrink into less Space, as fuzed Metals expand by the Interposition of igneous Particles that have separated the Cohesion of the Parts of the Metals? Why otherwise does Water sometimes freeze in a warmer Air, when the Spirits in the Thermometer stand in 55 Degrees, at other times it freezes not in a much colder, as when the Spirits are sunk to 65? Will Water freeze at all, or as soon, in vacuo, as in the open Air ? Do not Snow Waters, or. Water from melted Ice, produce greater Mischiefs in animal Bodies than other Water? If Congelation be only a Privation of Heat, then are the Stiria, or Hairs, in a beginning Congelation of all congealable Liquors of the same Figure? Is not the dissolved Water of Ice much colder than before it was frozen, and unfit for several Purposes?

   • 1806 M. Dispan, Professor of Chemistry at Toulouse:. "Observations on the Congelation of Water". А Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts. VOL. XV. pp. 251-253

     However abundant may be the deposition of hoar frost, the water beneath a bridge will receive no part of it. The surface of the water has therefore this cause of refrigeration less than at the other parts. Its caloric is not taken away but by the mere contact of the air. This condition would be sufficient to render its congelation much more slow; but its fluidity is not less preserved by its surface being defended from the predominating action of the hoar frost, which would follow if that obstacle were not interposed. These facts enabled me to explain certain experiments urged by a philosophical gentleman at Paris a few years ago, to support his opinion on the existence of a material principle under the name of frigoric. The author of these experiments assured me, that in a frosty night the frigoric fell perpendicularly from the atmosphere upon the surface of the earth; and he offered the following proof. If plates filled with water be exposed to the open air at night, and it be cold enough, the water will freeze; but if one of these vessels be covered with a pane of glass, or any other body, that water will not freeze, even though the covering body do not rest immediately upon the plate. It is sufficient, continued the author, that the fall of the frigoric be interrupted, no matter whether from an higher or lower distance; and to complete his demonstration, he added the following experiment, which at first aspect seems very cogent, and is certainly very interesting. It is as follows: place in the evening, at a certain distance above a plate filled with water, a funnel, of which the diameter shall be less than that of the plate, you will find the next day a ring of ice formed round the circumference; but all the water situated perpendicularly beneath the funnel will remain fluid.

   • 1815 April, K., “On Caloric and Frigoric”, in The Monthly Magazine, volume 35, page 213:

     It is a fact, that any liquid, (perhaps I might have said, any species of matter,) whilst at a temperature higher than that at which it attains its greatest density, decreases in volume as it absorbs frigoric.

   • 1845, Edward King, Bliss not riches:

     The frigoric which is rendered latent in water, on its becoming ice, can be extricated or liberated in very amusing ways, by various frigorific mixtures.

   • 1996, The Grolier Library of Science Biographies:

     If, as was widely believed at the time, heat was a fluid, called caloric, which flowed from hot bodies to colder ones, then it was reasonable to suppose that cold was also a fluid, "frigoric," which flowed from cold bodies to warmer ones.

Usage notes

Neither frigoric nor caloric has been taken seriously since the establishment of the theory of thermodynamics in the nineteenth century.

See also

• caloric