Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-10-06
The storm Glass.

| An article or Instrument known as a
| "Storm Glass" has been more or less In use
for so many years that it Is d m cult To trace
| its origin. IL II glass tube, or inches
! long, and about or \ inch dian con
| taiIil z Quid. In the bottom of which L. "A
whitish sediment 1t is claimed that the in-
CO. ase ana motion OF this sed meut la some
manner indicates the XII d OF weather TO be
expected We had not heard of the thing for
/ n any years, until last winter, when iuqui-
rie> concerning IL came in great numbers
| and We som found that some one was offer
| lag this, or what is essent ially this as q
", atber Indicator: under the name OF the
"Slgnal Service Barometer" Wishing To
give an answer at once TO our correspond
euis, we applied TO gentleman widely
known for his Knowledge OF. and reese arches
I'D meteOrology, for some account OF IL, and
reference 10 some work which would give its
history. The reply WAS, in substance,
u At the contrivance WAS very old, aud the
weather, he had forgotten all about its orr
GIN. We then made two or three OF
The glasses, and soon after two OF those
made for sale came to hand, and they have
b. en- under observation for several mouths
DIRECTIONS for making the "StOrm Glass"
are given In varfour works, and though the
PROPORTIONS vary slightly, they are essen
tally the same: ~ drms. OF camphor are
dissolved In IL dIms. OF alcohol, in a long
tube like that already described or an old
lashloued tai and narrow German colog ne
tottle Will answer Then dissolve IS grams
each OF saltpeter and salsmmpniac, in
drms. OF wafer, and add tins solution TO the
mouth OF the tube may be closely cor ked. or
n small role may be made in the cork: we
nave not been able to see any a iffarpncs in
nose closed elmer way. After while the
upper portion of the liquid will bacoma clear,
leavlng more or less sediment at the bo;to n
In lOoklig up the matter, we found by in
curing OF the proper officer that no intru-
htit of me Kind Was known in the II. -. = Y
nsl Service. Naming a storm glass like the
one Described, or any thing resembling H. "A
'Signai Service Barometer" is calculated to
AZ. fn fhng -
signal Service, which is not the case nor i
IL IN any proper sense of the word .'barDm c
eter." We have watched our various glass
es, and find The sediment i'm feainery crys-
tails. sometimes half or more filung them,
and at other times occupying only an inch
or less, at The bottom. We had much seti-
ment during perfectly mild weather ani
little GuIlig the most fearful storms. One
( lass IN the room would show perfect tran
guilty, while one outside, hut n lew feet of.
hould Indicate great cOmmot ION, whereas If
The Thing Ike tie barometer, was affected
by atmospheric pressure, there should
be 10 apprecIable difference between
the two glasses inside and out. We
noticed that the inside glass would by
much sediment. indicate "A storm i'm the
morning, but that after few hours he storm
IN the glass would clear up. though the
weather outside remained Unchanged, "A cir
cumstaLce that we found to b not uncon-
Dected with the making Of fires and the
warm IN < of the house. After some months
of daily observation. during the most change
able season of the year, We could not fiul
that IL Indicated anything except that i'm cool
day : there WAS more sed Iment Than in hOt
ones, aud ST ce hot weather has set in, no
matter now fierce the thunder storms. the
glass maintains the utmost COmpO> ure-Stili.
II one wishes 10 get mp IA storm 10 order, in a
hot July day, he has only Ia set the thing In
the Ice tox; there vail soon be a great com
motion of The elements-inSideo of the IN be-
That sometimes the disturbance within the
lube may take place at the approach of "A
storm Is very probable, as "A change OF
weather Is often accompanied ny lower
temperature, but SO far as we can see the
chaUg &c ia the contents of the glass are en-
tlrely due TO the fact that the solubility OF
the materials is affected by slight change
in temperature; when IL Is cool, crystals
form, and appear as feathery clouds in the
liquid, but as soon as IL gets little warmer,
these crystals dissolve again. The storm
glass Is, In our opinion, OF no use Whatever
AS indicating what the weather Will be, nor
does IL even correctly show what IL is
american A OTicuLft11st,