The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-22


ForeteIIs weather Changes.
From the New York Sun.
one day last summer. when everyone
vas hot and uncomfortable enough with
mt undertaking any unusual exertion, a
man was going down Fulton street lug
cling along a long package, which evident
IN required to be handled with care. When
he got in front of a well known instru-
ment makers shop he turned in and went
I'D stairs. In the office Of the instrument
maker he began to undo the wrappings,
and when they were removed it was seen
that the package had contained a mercu-
rial barometer. Now, barometer of this
kind is about three feet in length and
awkward to carry, and the man was evil
IDENTIFY angry besides being hot. He laid
the barometer down face upward upon
a showcase. and pointing a finger at the
lettered and divided dial. exclaimed;
What did you want to sell that thing
10 me for? Didn't you know that it
wasn't any good? Look at it,"
Here it says Fair cried the irate
customer, pointing TO the lettering at the
upper end of the dial, and speaking in
tones of scorn, and here Change and
there RAIN and Storm Why, sir, the
whole thing is lie, a fraud, and utterly
,,-ortbIess. You ought to be. ashamed to
ps,e sold me such a thing. Why; l have
kent the think where nothing could dis
tuTb it, and watched it carefully, and 1t
deceived me every time. Nneh the mel
curv pointed to Fair it was just as likely
10 be raining, and TO be fine and pleasant
when it went to Rain
Change said he with look of scorn
ms he put his finger upon that word, rs
an right. If your darned old machine
would point to Change. all the time it
would be just as good as 1t is now
right away. l want you to change TINS
n6-good barometer back for my money"
If the irate customer had expected to
startle or exasperate the instrument
maker he was to be mistaken.
INV dear sir" said the instrument
maker, IF | could make barometers which
would point out on their dial what the
weather was going to be, as you expected
this one would do. l should be able to get
ten times as much money for them as |
do for these, and l would make fame ana
fortune both out OF them.
ssThen what in thunder does this have
the words on there for, and what do they
.sThey don't mean anything said the
instrument maker, and l guess nobody
that is now alive could tell you why they
were first put on the dial. They are put
there now for no other or better reason
than that they have been used so long
that people wouldn't think the barometer
looked right without them. Your barom-
eter is all right, but you need to know a
few simple things about what it was made
10 do, how it does this, and what its
changes mean. After that you will be able
to tell weather by it.
BY this time the customer was beginning
TO get cool, and the instrument maker
presently proceeded to tell him the things
he didn't know about the barometer.
There are a great many other persons
who have stared at the faces of barome-
tiers time and again, and not seeing any
apparent connection between the mystic
words and the actual state of the wealth
er or what seemed to be coming, have
either turned away from the device in be-
Wilderment or else concluded that the
barometer was too deep for them and that
II was no use to try to understand it. AS
the barometer was invented about 200
years ago, and the custom of putting on
the weather marks was perhaps begun
about that same time, we folks of to-
day can very well make a personal COM
plant 10 those original manufacturers,
and the old fellows may have even had
some faith in the marks themselves.
But the aneroid barometer is a product
OF very recent years, and yet it bears
not only the same sort of marks, but In
many cases even an aggravaton of them
IN these terms: stormy, much rain, rain,
change, fair set fair, very dry" The
word stormy" begins on these dials at
about the 2S-inch mark, and very dry
is beyond the 31-inch mark.
They would look too plain without
something" is the only excuse the instru-
ment maker could give for continuing to
put these misleading marks on the dials
There is one way of marking them =
he continued, which has some value and
Is therefore open to less objection, al
though the real practical use they need
no marks except the graduated scale OF
inches and their subdivisions. The read
ing l mean was introduced by Admiral
F1tzroy of the British army. Here it is:
He produced barometer marked, be-
side the measurement scale, with these
words: