Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-11-09
spiders the Begt Barometerg.

/ In the connections which took place
/ in Holland when the Stakeholder was
reinstated by the Prussian arms, M.
1 Quatremere D'IsjOnval a Frenchman,
was arrested and imprisoned at Ut
recht, where he spent upward of seven
years, deprived Of his liberty. To
amuse himself during this long con
hnement, he courted the acquaintance
of spiders, studied their constitution
and temperament, and, after a long Sc
ries of accurate observation, ne ma dc
the important discovery that they were
the most Weather-Wise of all creatures.
Their DTese1tinlent of approaching
changes is inc0mparatively more re-
fined and certain than the variations
Indicated by by the best barometeTs,
thermonze4ters and hygrometers. A
weather glass pOilz4z nT1t Oulythe DrOb-
able state of the weather Tor the neAU
day but with respect to permanent
or lOng-cOntinued state Of the atmO-
sphere. this instrument cannot be re-
lied upOn. Spiders, however, have not
only an obvious sensation Of the ap-
preaching changes of the weather, sim
liar to that manifested by a barome-
ter, but they also indicate, with the
greatest eXactness, the more distant
changes for n considerable length of
time nay, they foretell with precision,
for a period of ten days or a fortnight,
those states of the atmosphere which
are of a settled nature. Of this III.
D'Isionval was enabled, IN the end, to
furnish a most striking proof
On Wednesday, the 10th of Janu-
airy, 1895, the wind changed to the
northWard on Thursday it began to
freeze, and the frost increased to such
a degree that the French were enabled
to enter Utrecht, and to release their
imprisoned countryman, M. D'Isjon-
val; but on the goth of January, an
unexpected thaW threatened to frus-
trate the design of the invaders, who
had advanced with all their heavy ar
tillery, accompanied by an army of one
hundred thousand men, te pass the
icy bridges which nature had appar-
emily constructed for facilitating their
hostile operations. The French gen
erals were filled with apprehension,
and began to think of the necessity of
retreating. when NJ. D'Isionval having
consulted his meteorological assistants,
the spiders, went aud told his country
men that they had no cause for the
least alarm, for that in a day or two
the frost would return with greater IN
tensity than had been known in Hol-
land for ages. The prediction was full !
ly verified. The very next day the
frost recommended with almost IN
equaled severity; and Holland, no |
able to avail itself of its pent-Up |
floods, became an easy prey to the rev. /
republicans.
The manner in which spiders carry /
on their operations, confOrmably to |
the impending changes of the atmo-
sphere, is simply this If the weather /
is likely to become rainy, windy, or Ia /
disagreeable, they fix the /
filaments, on which the /
whole web Is suspended, unusually /
short; and in this state they await the /
influence of "a temperature which IS re-
variable. On the contrary,
if the terminating filaments are made
uncOmmonly long, we may, IN proper
ton to their length, conclude that the
weather will be serene, and continue
so at least for ten or twelve days. But /
if the spiders be totally indolent, rain
generally succeeds though, On the
other hand, their inactivity during rain
is the most certain proof that it will be
Of short duration, and followed with
fair and very constant weather. Ac-
eordiug to further observations, the
spiders regularly make some alteration
IN their webs or nets every tWenty-four
hours if these changes take place be-
tween the hours of six and seven In the
evening, they indicate n clear and
night.