Delisle chose his scale using the temperature of boiling water as the fixed zero point and measured the contraction of the mercury ( with lower temperatures ) in hundred - thousandths .
In 1732 , Delisle built a thermometer that used mercury as a working fluid .
Delisle chose Delisle 's scale using the temperature of boiling water as the fixed zero point and measured the contraction of the mercury ( with lower temperatures ) in hundred - thousandths .
In 1732 , Delisle built a thermometer that used mercury as a working fluid .