116 SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. 



cloud or mist, and the barometer falls just at the same time 

 and same rate as this is produced; but the rain comes some 

 time afterwards. Hence the use of the barometer as a 

 <' weather glass." When intelligently and properly used it 

 is very valuable in this capacity; but, like most things, it 

 may easily be misunderstood and misused. 



The most common error in the use of the barometer is 

 that to which, people are naturally led by the words en- 

 graved upon it, "Stormy, Much Eain, Rain, Change, 

 Fair, Set Fair," etc. A direct and absolute blunder or 

 falsehood is usually short-lived, and deceives but few peo- 

 ple; but a false statement, with a certain amount of super- 

 ficial truth, may survive for ages, and deceive whole gener- 

 ations. Now this latter is just the character of the weather 

 signs that are engraved on our popular barometers; they 

 are unsound and deceptive, but not utterly baseless. 



Stormy, Much Rain, and Rain are marked against the 

 low readings of the barometer, and Very Dry, Set Fair, 

 and Fair against the higher readings. A low barometer 

 is not a reliable sign of wet or stormy weather, neither is a 

 high barometer to be depended upon for expecting fine 

 weather; and yet it is true that we are more likely to have 

 fine weather with a high than with a low barometer, and 

 also the liability to rain and storms is greaier with a 1 nv 

 than witli a high barometer. 



The best indications of the weather are those derived 

 from the directidn in which the barometer is moving 

 whether rising or falling rather than its mere absolute 

 height. 



A sudden and considerable fall is an almost certain indi- 

 cation of strong winds and stormy weather. This is the 

 most reliable of the prophetic warnings of the barometer, 

 and the most useful, inasmuch as it affords the mariner 

 just the warning he requires when lying off a dangerous 

 coast, or otherwise in peril by a coming gale. Many a 

 good ship has been saved by intelligent attention to the 

 barometer, and by running into haven, or away from a. 

 rocky shore when the barometer has fallen with unusual 

 rapidity. 



The next in order of reliability is the indication afforded 



