The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-14
AS TO BAROMETERS
Deceptive as to Markings, But Never
theless Trustworthy.
TELL WEATHER CHANGES
They Indicate Changes In the
Weather by Recording the
Changes In the Weight
of the Air.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
One day last summer, when everyone
was hot and uncomfortable enough
without undertaking any unusual exer-
ton, a man was noticed going down
Fulton street Juggling along a long
package, which evidently required TO
be handled with care. When he got In
front of a well-known instrument max
ers's shop he turned in and went up
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
mercurial barometer. Now, barome-
ter of this kind is about three feet In
length and awkward to carry, and the
man was evidently angry, besides be-
ing hot. He laid the barometer down
face upon a showcase, and pointing
finger at the lettered and divided dial,
exclaimed:
What did you want to sell that
thing to me for? Didn't you know that
IT wasn't any good? Look at 1t
Here il says Fair" cried the irate
customer, pointing to the lettering at
the upper end of the dial. and speaking
in tones of scorn, land here Change,
and there Rain and Storm. Why,
sir, the whole thing is lie, a fraud and
utterly worse. You ought to be ashamed
10 have sold me such a thing. Why!
could disturb 1t. and watched 1t care
fully, and IL deceived me every time.
When the mercury pointed to Fair II
was just as likely to be raining, and TO
be fine and pleasant when II went to
Rain
Change. said he with look Of
scorn as he put his finger upon that
word, is all right. If your darned old
machine would point to Change all
the time IL would be just as good as IL
is now. Change is what 1 want, and
want II right away. j want you to
change this no-good barometer back for
my money.
III the irate customer had expected to
startle or exasperate the instrument
maker. he was to be mistaken.
MY 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, /
should be able to get 10 times as much
money for them as do for these, and
1 would make fame and fortune both
out of them"
Then what in thunder does this have
the words on there for. and what do
they mean?"
They don't mean anything" said the
instrument maker, land 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 bet
ter reason than that they have been
used so long that people wouldn't think
the barometer looked right without
them. Your barometer is all right, but
you need to know a few simple things
about what IL was made to do. how it
does this and what its changes mean.
After that you will pe able to tell
weather by It,"
BY this time the customer was be-
ginning 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 barom-
eters time and again, and not seeing
any apparent connection between the
mystic words and the actual state of
the weather or what seemed to be COM
ing. have either turned away from the
device in bewilderment or else con-
cluded that the barometer was too
deep for them and that IL was no use
TO try to understand IL. AS the barom-
eter 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 cant well make a personal COM
plant TO those original manufacture
ers, and the old fellows may have
even had some faith in the marks
themselves.
But the aneroid barometer is a pro-
duct of very recent years. and yet IL
bears not only the same sort OF marks.
but i'm many cases even an aggravation
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 in
strument maker could give for continu-
ing 10 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.
although for real practical use they
need no marks except the graduated
scale Of inches and their subdivisions
The reading l mean was introduced by
Admiral Fitzroy of the British navy
Here II is"
He produced a barometer marked
besides the measurement scale, with
these words: