1 897-] - "Weather." 4; 



Lakes as shown on tide guages. In passing, it may be men- 

 tioned that both solar and lunar tides are observable too on the 

 lakes. A high barometer at one end of the lake would tend to 

 press the water towards the other end and consequently raise it 

 there. Besides the readings of the barometer at stated intervals 

 there is a continuous record made too by means of photograph 

 at the chief meteorological observatories. The instrument is 

 then called a barograph. 



Let me tell you of an interesting record of the barograph at 

 Toronto on August 27th, 1883. You all recollect the frightful 

 cataclysm of Krakatoa, a small island in the strait of Sunda 

 between Sumatra and Java. In this catastrophe over 3o,ooo 

 lives were lost, and the eruption was followed by extraordinary 

 atmospheric phenomena — notably the peculiar red sunsets of the 

 following year — visible over the whole globe and attributed to 

 the presence of volcanic dust. As soon as the news reached 

 England — science ever on the alert — the Director at Kew 

 immediately sent to the various head meteorological stations in 

 the numerous colonies for the barograph record of that and 

 succeeding days. That terrific and awful explosion launched an 

 atmospheric wave on its journey around the world, which not 

 ouly recorded its passage at Toronto, but after its concussion, 

 presumably at the antipodal point of Krakatoa, left its record 

 on its return, on the mercurial column, and a second rebound 

 too was recorded. I had the pleasure of examining the original 

 record at Toronto. From an examination of this record I infer 

 that the atmospheric wave must have travelled at the enormous 

 rate of about 800 miles an hour, being about the velocity of 

 sound. 



The thermometers ordinary used for exact observation are 

 the dry, wet, maximum and minimum. The wet thermometer is 

 only a dry bulb covered with soft muslin well wet with rain or 

 clear water drawn from an attached cup by a wick, and is used 



