BARON 



598 



BARR 



will be found in the article WEATHER BUREAU. 



Different Kinds of Barometers. The barom- 

 eter in Fig. 2 is exactly the same in its prin- 

 ciple as the tube and cup in Fig. 1, but is fitted 

 with appliances to assist accurate reading. By 

 turning the thumbscrew at the lower end, the 

 .bottom of the mercury chamber can be raised 

 or lowered so that the surface of the fluid in 

 the reservoir will be level with the zero mark 

 of the scale. Such an adjustment is necessary 

 because this surface rises whenever the mercury 

 in the tube falls, and falls when the latter rises. 



Barometers can be made without mercury; 

 Pascal filled one with wine, but it had to be 

 forty-six feet long, because wine has little 

 weight. Barometers built without any liquid at 

 all are called aneroid, which means dry. They 

 are not as accurate as mercury instruments, 

 but indicate much slighter changes in the 

 atmosphere. An aneroid barometer is shown 

 in Fig. 3. 



Scale 



'ANEROID BAROMETER 



(Fig. 3) 



_^ 



An aneroid barometer may be made to pre- 

 serve a record of changes in the weather by 

 fitting the end of the pointer with a pen, which 

 draws a line upon a slowly passing paper. A 

 mercury barometer will perform the same task 

 through continuous photography. C.H.H. 



BARON, bair' un, the title held by noblemen 

 in the lowest rank of the British peerage. It 

 was introduced into England at the time of the 

 Norman Conquest (1066), when it was applied 

 to those who received grants of land from the 

 king in return for military services. The barons 

 eventually became divided into "greater" and 

 "lesser" barons, according to the amount of 

 land held. They gradually assumed consider- 

 able power; their grants of land were considered 

 hereditary and were handed down from father 

 to son, thus establishing the feudal aristocracy. 



Fig. 2. Standard Mercurial Barometer. Scale 

 at left . is marked in inches ; at right in centi- 



. meters.. 



S-m 



ts* 



(Fig. 2) 



The greater barons became 

 carls or dukes, with the 

 lesser barons as their re- 

 tainers (see EARL; DUKE). 

 The title of baron is now 

 conferred by the king, 

 usually for distinguished 

 service or in recognition of 

 distinction in art or let- 

 ters; the holder is ad- 

 dressed as "Lord" and is 

 entitled to a seat in the 

 House of Lords. 



Baronet. A title taking 

 rank between that of baron 

 and knight is that of bar- 

 onet. King James I, when 

 sorely in need of money, 

 introduced this title to be 

 sold to a limited number 

 of persons. The king's 

 need of money was such, 

 however, that the limit was 

 very elastic. The title is 

 now conferred by the king 

 on thoss he wishes to 

 honor. It is hereditary, 

 but does not entitle the 

 holder to a seat in the 

 House of Lords. A bar- 

 onet is addressed as "Sir." 



BARR, AMELIA EDITH 

 HUDDLESTON (1831-1919), a 

 popular American novelist 

 whose reputation was not 

 established until she was 

 past fifty years of age, and 

 who has since then written 

 about sixty books. She 

 was born in England and 

 educated in that country 

 and in Scotland, emigrat- 

 ing to the United States in 

 1854, four years after her 

 marriage. In 1867, while 

 living in Galveston, Tex., 

 she lost her husband and 

 three sons in a yellow- 

 fever epidemic, and it was 

 the urgent need of earning 

 a living for herself and 

 three daughters that caused 

 her to take up writing as a 

 profession. 



She removed to New 

 York City in 1869, and for 



