The way I read it, that’s why you’re supposed to imagine it’s the 1800s. All you have is the simple-sounding concept of “boiling”, and you’re trying to codify it by finding the temperature beyond which water will not go. At which point you start really paying attention and find the phenomenon is way more complex than your initial model of “water is either boiling or it isn’t”.
But it rather isn't. The temperature keeps going up as you add more fire. And then it stops going up even if you add more fire. That point is the temperature of interest and was from the very start. It isn't hard to find. It isn't hard to understand. It's just a bad example for this essay
