Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-03
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES 3. TRAcEwELL.

/ the feelings Of their own skins. Also
they are able to say, tits not the heat,
but the humidity" etc.
Yet even with these approximations
| they miss the happin SIS Of knowing
with some decree a accuracy. The hui
man skin Is subject to nervous and
other reactions, and no one can be sure
| Of temperature knowledges unless he
| has thermometer. No doctor or nurse
would think Of guessing at body tenn
| peratlire.
Perhaps the best use of q thermome-
| ter by the average person comes in
regulating the temperature of his home
during winter. With the lack Of bal
ance between heat and moisture en-
| countered in most places, 1t Is almost
| impossible for human beings to get
proper heating by rule-of-thumb meth
DDS. Many persons permit house heat
| to become excessive, without realizing
| it. Many q room, where the tempera-
| ture is IS degrees, far too hot, leaves
| occupants with a chilly feeling, be-
cause Of excessive invisible perspira-
ton and consequent evaporation.
4 \ X y
The trick about using barometer is
this:
Paw no attention to the exact read
| ing, which may or may not mean some
thing, but note only which way the
IF it is going up, It shows that con-
ditions are becoming right for fair
weather.
# going down, that the air pressure
is becoming of such a nature that rain
or change Is possibility.
Tapping the barometer, therefore,
rather than reading it. Is the correct
| x1r0nadiIra for the lavman.
Most Of the instruments have
RAINY stormy" Fair" 'Dry" and
"Chanee" marked upon them, and are
Accompanied by elaborate charts at
| tempting to show the meteorological
possibilities attending the passage of
the hand through certain readings.
either @up" or down" Unknown fac
tors. however. such as winds. etc., make
their use entirely haphazard.
tell the amateur, and win tell it to him
nicely, is whether the air pressure Is
growing heavier or lighter.
Tapping the barometer Is q regular
rite in many English clubs. Some Of
them have been tapped" by generations
of sport-loving men.
II the instrument hangs on the wall
a light tap on the rim Of the case VIII
cause the hand to move one way or the
OLlcT. II IL - VA 4Cec q zap OAA VAAS oNP-
porting surface is sufficient.
Even the finest gauges fail to register
minute changes Of their own will. II
you go aboard a naval vessel you will
see the engineers tapping their gauges
| to see which way they are going. They
invariably stick bit.
X y
The use of the hygrometer IS the
most doubtful of all. What 1t shows
must be left to the scientists, and We
have yet to read an understandable
account of relative humidity" It is
a phrase on everybodys tongue, but
which few can explain accurately, and
especially in way to make others un-
derstand.
Contrast, however, shows here as
, elsewhere. II you mind the heat" ter
ribly, and a glance at a hygrometer
shows 95, you can feel sure that there
Is lot of water in the air.
If it goes down appreciably you viii
know that the relative humidity is
growing less relative, as it were. The
best use of the ordinary type of n.y.
grometer for the laymap is to see what
It registers on some day which is "just
right for him and then to attempt to
keep 1t at that reading In his home
| during the Winter.