Mar. i6, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE\A^S. 



249 



I 



GAS HEATED KETTLE. 



N a previous number (p. 171) we described a gas-heated 

 circulating boiler, made by Mr. Fletcher, of Warrington ; 

 and we now illustrate a kettle constructed by him on the 

 same principle. In the case of the boiler we pointed out 

 that its efficiency was very great, owing to there being 

 copper rods, or studs, attached to the bottom of the 

 boiler, so that the gas flame underneath could be in con- 

 tact with surfaces less affected by the cooling influence of 

 the water than the bottom of the boiler itself. The 



important point being to prevent, as much as possible, 

 the flame being cooled, so as not only to insure more 

 complete combustion of the gas, but to obtain a quicker 

 heating effect. In the case of the kettle now before us, 

 the bottom is furnished with a series of curved heat 

 conductors, as well as some projecting studs in the 

 middle, as clearly shown in the plan view of our 

 illustration. The principle of extending the heating sur- 

 face, in the Vi'ay described, is certainly a move in the 

 right direction, and this is proved by the fact that with 

 one of these kettles water can be boiled much more 

 quickly than in any other kettle with which we are 

 acquainted. 



»^»»^^5tf-» 



Glasgow University.— The Senate of the University of 

 Glasgow has elected Professor Max Muller to the Gifford 

 J^ectureship of Natural Religion, 



THE WEATHER GUIDES OF NATURE. 



A LTHOUGH in these days of admirably-contrived 

 ■^ *- meteorological instruments the signs afforded by 

 Nature of the coming weather may not possess the 

 importance they had in old days, when the publication 

 of daily weather forecasts was undreamt of, they are by 

 no means to be despised, and to people living in the 

 country such signals have the advantage of being always 

 come-at-able and of costing nothing, save the labour of 

 observing them. It seems rather a pity that a little 

 more systematic attention had not been given to this 

 particular branch of meteorological science ; for although 

 Nature's weather guides do not possess dials and hands, 

 or graduated tubes and so on, like the humanly-contrived 

 instruments, there appears no reason for doubting but 

 that, with care and judgment, they could be read oft" with 

 considerable precision and readiness. To deal exhaus- 

 tively with such a very wide subject would give ample 

 employment to a large number of enquirers, and the 

 writer therefore makes no pretension of giving in this 

 article other than a brief recapitulation of the chief points 

 in connection with natural weather wisdom which have 

 come more or less under his own personal cognizance. 



Beginning with the sun, it is a very common belief 

 that when that luminary sets in so watery and white a 

 glare that his disc can with difficulty be discerned, wind 

 and rain may be expected. Wind also is considered to 

 be portended when the northern sky is red at sunrise, 

 or when the first indications of dawn appear above a 

 bank of clouds, and rainy weather may be expected if 

 twilight is unusually protracted. The old couplet — 

 The evening red, the morning grey, 

 Are the sure signs of a fine day, 

 and its equivalent — 



Red at night is the shepherd's delight, 

 Red at morning is the shepherd's warning, 

 are widely known and self-explanatory. 



The phases of the moon have been from very early 

 times credited with exercising great influence on the 

 weather, but this point is so debatable and difficult of 

 satisfactory proof that it must suffice for the present 

 occasion to say that when the moon's orb is brightly and 

 clearly defined, fair weather is held to be presaged, and 

 that a blurred and ill-defined look, especially about the 

 cusps when our satellite is in her quarters, is, on the 

 contrary, considered a bad sign, presaging wind and 

 rain. A halo round the moon, with low clouds, generally 

 means unsettled weather ; with high clouds, wind. 



In summer, when the stars seem especially bright and 

 numerous, with well-defined twinkling, fair weather may 

 be expected ; and in winter the same appearances are 

 held to denote frost. When the stars have a dull ill- 

 diffused appearance, with scarcely-noticeable twinkling, 

 wet weather may be looked for. 



Coming now to terrestrial signs, we find that when 

 remote objects appear near, and when distant hills, 

 trees, and buildings show out sharp and clear against the 

 sky-line, rain is portended. This clear appearance is 

 sometimes very noticeable during the breaks occurring 

 in showery weather. The rain seems to cleanse the air 

 of all dust and floating particles, and the resulting trans- 

 parency is sometimes quite remarkable. The way in 

 which the smoke ascends from the chimney-top is a very 

 widely-acknowledged weather portent. When it rises 

 straight and column-like into the air, a continuance of 

 fair weather may be expected ; when it seems prevented 

 from ascending and appears to be forced down on the 

 surrounding housetops, the contrary is augured. 



