MUSICAL BAROMETER.-A gent...
The Times, 1824-09-01T00:00:00

MUSICAL BAROMETEER.-A gentleman at Burkil, by the namc of Ventain, not far from Basle, in Switzerland, invented, wome years ago, a sort of masical bxromrner, whici has been called in German wrtter iharfe (weather harp), or riescn harfe rgiant iiarp), which possesses the singular property of indicating changes cof tht weather by musical tones. This genlmenma was in the habit of amusing himself by shooting at a mark from his vindow, end thna he niiEht rot be obliged to go after the mark at every shot, he fine& a piece of iron-wire to it, so as to be able to draw it to him at plea- surc. lie frequentlv remarked, that this wire gave musical tones, soun(ling exa:tly an octave, and lie found that any iron-wire, ex- tended in a dhsection parallel to the meridian, gave this tmoe every time the weather citanged. A piece ol brass wire ve no sound, nor did an iron wire extended east and West. In consequence of these observations, a musical barometer was constructed. I n the year 1787i Captain Hans. of Basle, made one in the following mannet rThir- teen pieces of iron-wire, each 3aO feet long, were extended from his summer-houtse to the outer cour;, crossitig a garden. They vrere placed about two inches apartr; the Isrgest were two lines in dia- meter: the smallest only one; axd the oth,rs were about one aoGi a, half. They were on the side of the house, and made an angle or 2V or 30 degrees with the horizon They were sutetc 'ed and kept tight by wheets for the purpose. Every timne the s-erehcr w Hmnghs, these wires make sn inucn noise, that it is impossible to contioite concerts in the parlour, and the sound sometimes resembles that of a tea-urn whl en boilin un.a_ metsnes titat of an harmonica. s distant belL tsr an organ. In the opinion ot the celebrated chemist, M. Dobereiner, a, stateLl in the Bulletin Terhnologiqusc, this is an electro-magnetical phenomenon. Do any of our readers know of such an instrurrent havinrg ever been tried in Britain ?-Tht Chlumist. CutIious DIsCO,VERY AND CAPTURr.-Mr. V. Erring- ton's brewer, of the Barley-mow, in the Milk-ma:ket, Santdgate5 having hequentlY observed his gill-vat disturbed during his absencrc without being ahle In anv way to account for it, was at length detcrr mined to secrete himself r.t the brewhoure, and watch arny intrudera He had not waited long wheti he perceived a thermometer, attached. to a cord. let down the wall fronm an aperttre near the roof by a secret htan!. This wts a source of gratification to, thie nrewer; he then discovered the grand secret, saw the end and object of the secret in- quisitor. He endeavoured to detach the instrament bv cutting tire I cord , but hiri knife failcd, and the thermmeter was quick'y drawn up agFain. Determined, however, to catch the instrument of the too curious intrud'er, he set ani iron fox-trap attached to the vat in as pro- per positior for the purpose, and continued patiendty his watch, It was not long: before hisingenuity was crowned with suces.s Sunday mornir Jr. the lSh inst., the same hand again iet doWir the instrument. which was fortunately caught in the trap, and sooer se, cured by the honest watchful brewer, who now exhibits it to hi5 neighbourR and friends as a trophy or reward of hit own vigilancee and an evidence of his neighbour's dishonesty. It appears that ano- ther brewer, envious of his rival's fame and prosperity, had in this nelarious wav endcavoured to discover the grand secrets of his tratdt -Dzirham pape7. fA singular occurrence took place in the churchyard at Fortir on Wednesday last A funeral came from the country pars of the parish, and the corpse was interred. When the relatives re- turned home, they reported that the grave was no! in their ownt portion of the burving-ground, upon which the feunole relatives positively insisted that the corpse should be removed- and thia mandate was actually obeyed, another grave being made, thNe body disiRterred, and rebtiried in a .second grave. Our " hoary.headed sexton" performed the office of resurrectionist with very grea -. I luctance._-Dsundee Advertincr. A IWONTAN COVEBiED NVWIT; METES.-A Woman about 40 years of age, having beett ill tor 20 years, and whose re-establisi_ |ment was given up, placed herself under the care of a physician who promnised to cure her bv a violent remedy. In fact, after a short time, she feit considerably better, but was touch trotrbled with a severe itciing over her whole body. Judge of' her surprise on ob- serving, whenever she scratched herself, that thousands of little brown aniials, ailmost inipereeptible, issued from beneatih the skin. These anisnals, on being examined by itt. Bory St. Vincent, a liv- ing author of reputatiotn, and whose veracity is above suspicion, sy means of a microscope which magnified 500 times, were found to be of the genus acarli.T. and closely allied with the species ixodes, but there were differences sufficient to entitle hirm to cal therm a new species. The unfortunate woman, who gave birth to them in thou- sands, particularly in warm weather, did not communicate any of this troublesome progeny to those who attended her, nor even to her husband, who continued to live with her. The improvement of her health did not last long, antd she died in conseqaence of theirruption of these tnicroscopic arcrrii_A plate, representing the woman's case, was subjoined by .11. Dory SL Vincent to the memoir rhich he presented on this subject to the Institute of France, in the transar. tions of which Society, for 1823, this extraordinary case is recorded. -The Chyryist. Gooi) OLD TtM Es.-For the satisfaction and edification of thiose who are so apt to declaim againbt the dissoluteness of the present day, and contrast all our evils-social, moral, and politi- cal-with the doings of what they are pleased to denominate the good old times, we quote the fllowing traits, which may suffice to prove, that notw ithstanding all the cant that has been uttered on the subject, our ancestors were not prodigies of virtue and chastity, and that we htavc not, all things considered, degenerated so very terribly: --?n the time of Richard II. a ord Mayor of the city of Lohndon imnported, '. not cachmercs nor laces, but women, from Flanders, arid kept stew-houses, wbere the dainty and the squeamiish ere to deal in this kind of merchandise." Henry III. also granted his license to 12 " bordelloes, or stews, having signs painted on their walls to distinguish them and invsitethepassenger."-Litcrary Chro- fltCit AMElR1cAx RtFLE-SIeOOTEtLs.---While the stage Was stopping a sflort time in order to water the horses, and to allow the passengers to take some refreshmeat,at asmall hill on thistmountain, I observed that two hunters, who had just come in with some tutrkies they had killed, were each of them carrying one of the long heavy rifles peculiar to the Americans. As one of them, an old man, was boasting of his skil as a marksman, I offered to put up huslf a dollar, at a distance of 50 yards, to be his if he could hit it. Accordingly, I stepped the distance, and placed the half-dollar in the cleft of a small stick, which I thrust into the ground. The hunter, slowly raising his rifle, fired, and, to my great astonishment, stnrult the half-dollar. This was the first specimetl I had seen of theuarivalled accuracy with which the American huntet uses his rifle, and which I had afterwards still greater reasons to be turprised at when itt Kentucky.-E.tcursion through the United States. HOW TO MtAKE IRON AeLD-HOT WITHOUT FriLt.- Take a piece of rounid iron, about an inch thick, at one end of which fix a round iron knob; then begin gently to hammer it under the knob : by turning it quickly round, and follwing yor srtrokes harder and harder. the iron will heat of itself, and begin to be red hot; the reason is, because the knob remains untouched, and the