, 1913-02-01
7 HE AVIS.
Caristiansted, st. Ereix,
Saturday, Ist February, 1913.

The $. $. koroaa for New York is due Mt
Frederiksted at 6 o'clock on Monday morn
ING and VIII leave Mt 7 n. IN. The mail by
her will be closed in Chri,tiansted's Post
Office ut t o'clock this afternoon.
The weather Of the month just closed has
been In some respects more than usually in
terestiug. Cool and hign winds have been
common and are indeed characteristic of
this season OF tho year. The rainfall (iu
Christansted ut nil events) has been little
more than the long-perioI average for Janu-
uary, having amounted to % lines while the
average of 81 Years for 3 stations was 1911
lines. But though not much above the usual
amount, it has probably been of more than
usual efficacy, on account of the way i'll
which it has been spread ont over nearly tho
whole month. OF the 81 days in January,
rain WAS recorded ON no less than y. 1t
may be that heavier rams at longer Intervals
would have been more boueti 'ial to the
cares, but we are told that the lighter show
ers have b0on lust what was wanted for the
cotton, and the proSp cts Tor a fair return
for that crop have been greatly improved
An incident which illustrates how unrc-
liable the generally trusted signs are Is "a
maaus of toretelliug the weather, for even n
single day IN advance, and even when reIia-
bic ms ruments are used, occurred in the
course OF the IN NTH, aud is worth Il few
words of description aud comment. Many
Of our readers ure familiar with the baromn-
ter and know that Il high barometer MS Il rule
indicates fine dry weather, while a low b.
rometor is likely to be followed by ram.
There are, however, so many departures from
4lI, r,i, fh,f - a,, HANDLE. l.. ..l.I $50. ,
guide for the morrow. O,her instruments
that are supposed 10y some to be infuIlible
are the various kinds Of hvgrometers, in
strumeuts which tell the condition Of the mir
as regards the amount of water i. the form
Of vapour which it contains. some of these
Instruments have for their PRIME pal prrt i
hair Or string of some kind and owe their
usefulness to the fact that such substances are
influenced by the moisture IN the uir t8- ex-
pand when the amount Of moisture increases
and to contract when it decreases. One well
known instrument of this class is in the
form Of tiny cottage, from which II man comes
out if the air IS moist and a woman comes out
if the air is dry. We believe that this de
ponds on Il strip of seaweed or some slch
substance, which is acted upon MS above men
toned. \ more delicate instrument, called
Saussure's Hygrometer, from the name Of
the inventor, consists essentially OF a single
human hair, one enid of which is fastened i'll
the top Of the instrument while the Other
hangs down and carries a small weight. just
above where the weight is attached the hair
is passed round a wheel, to the axis of which
Is attached an index resembling the hand of
a watch. When the moisture Of the atmos-
phere increases the hair lengthens and the
hand moves up, and when the moisture be-
comes less the hair shortens and the hand
goes down. Although this instrument can
only shew in a general way the condition of
the air as to moisture, and cannot be relied
on to measure the amount, yet it is used in
RUSSIA IN the writer, as Sir John Moore tells
Us in his "Meteorology practical and applied"
in order to get over "a difficulty connected
In winter with the use of the instrument
now to be described, namely the Dry and
Wet Bulb H~ygrometer. The action Of this
instrument is based on the fact that eyapo-
ration reduces the temperature 1t consists
of two thermometers fixed three or four
inches apart, one of which is kept constantly
wet, while the other is left dry. The wet
bulb is kept in that condition by a muslin
wrapper connected with a NAL vessel OF
water hy means Of O few threads of lamp