Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-08-02
White House cIoeks.

White House CIocks-
 '.The clocks in the white house" re- marked an official clock -winder to 6 Washington Star reporter, "are by no means the most uninteresting things about the house, though but little has ever appeared about them in the news papers. Strange as it may appear, but one of the old clocks Is of American manufacture, though all that have been purchased of late years are. The one clock referred to was made in New York and was purchased when James Monroe was president. It is one of the permanent fixtures in the green room and has been there ever since it was purchased. As timepiece it com pares favorably with any of the for ei9n made clocks, though it was made al time when America was not as famous for its timepieces as it is now. The most interesting clock there, of course, from it's history is the clock In the blue parlor, which was once the property of Napoleon Bonaparte, who presented it to General Lafayette, and the latter presented it to General Washington. The frame of 1t is made of alabaster and French gilt bronze. It has to be wound but once a month. It keeps time today as accurately as when first made.
 'tWhat is known as the Lincoln clock, purchased when President Lin- coin was in the white house, is an ob- ject of interest in the red room, and is of ebony and gold. It strikes the quarters, halves and hours. Tn Mrs. McKinley's room is a clock which has been running without the slightest in- termissien for nearly thirty years. The clock at the foot of the stairs leading up to the presidents office is the one that the public generally sees. It Is rather modem in construction, of the regulator pattern, and is very reliable.
 'The clock in Private Secretary Por- ter's room is admired for It's cathedral gong rather than anything else, but it is a good clock and has so proven itself for the ten or fifteen years it has been there
 Atmospheric Changes ForotoId by Stone
 In Finland, species of stone. known as semakuir,'' actually foretells the probable changes in the weather. In dry, fine weather the stone is of a dark gray color mottled with white spots, but before approaching showers of thick mists it blaokens all over-most conspicuously,a of course, at the. spaces which were previously White-and gradually returns again to it's former state as the weather improves. Its prophetic warnings are regarded by many as having superstitious origin, but a recent analysis of the stone ex- plains the cause and shows that there is nothing whatever mysterious in it's action. IL is composed of a ground mass of clay and fossilized organic matter, with little rock salt and nj ter scattered throughout in grains and small patches. These salts absorb the aerial moisture as it increases in amount, and dissolve in it, forming black surface films, while they regain their white color as the drier atmos- phere evaporates the moisture from them. The cast-off shell of a species of crab in Chilli answers the same pur- pose, being extremely sensitive to at mospheric changes. It remains quite white in fair, dry weather, while ap- preaching rain is indicated by the ap- pearanee of small red spots, which grow both in number and size as the moisture of the air increases.