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POPULAR SCIENTIFIC LECTURES. 
far the best instruments are those made 
lately for the measurement of mountains, 
where it is indispensable that we measure 
variations, not only the three or tour hun¬ 
dredths but even the thousandth part of an 
inch. Such Instruments have been used cx- 
the fact that the pressure is so much; but 
what does it mean? What does it mean 
with a wind from the north, the west, or the 
east: or what if you have moisture in the 
air, clouds in the heavens, great heat and so 
on ? You must consider all these circnm- 
omstk feconomin 
The Harometer. 
The third scientific lecture before the ' 
American Institute was given by Professor 1 
Guyot of Princeton College, N. J., on Fri¬ 
day evening, Dee. 11, and as his subject is 
one of great importance to all out-door work- 
era, whether on land or sea, we give a full f 
synopsis. . 
Our earth is composed of various elements, 
usually called the solid, the liquid, and the 
gaseous—three different states of the same 
matter, having very different functions in the 
whole system of the globe/considored ns one 
great individual. On the solid ground are ^ 
found by far t he highest, forms of life, whether ^ 
of plants or animals; and it is on land that 
man thrives, develops and civilizes, finding ( 
there alone all the elements for his work. 
In the water, which covers nearly three- ’ 
fourths of onr globe, are found nearly all the ^ 
species characterized by a low grade of or¬ 
ganization. It is, therefore,a lower element, 
yet indispensable to the life of the higher. 
The third, the gaseous atmosphere, which 
surrounds both, seems to be equally ncees- 
sarv to both; for man, animals and plants, 
high and low, need the oxygen of the atmos¬ 
phere to give power and motion; and it. is 
from that most impalpable of all llio parts ol 
our globe that we do actually derive, to a 
groat extent, the motive power—the com¬ 
bustion which takes place, giving us by res¬ 
piration the animal heat and powers neces¬ 
sary for motion. 
The atmosphere is a grand receptacle of 
all the physical influences which How from 
the outside and the inside of our globe, and 
which are the conditions or the nature of the 
life of organized beings. We sum up under 
the name climate, most of these influences, 
especially the beat, of the atmosphere, the 
amount of water indispensable to the life of 
animals and plants, which it contains in the 
shape of invisible vapor and, last, its density— 
the weight of the atmosphere. 
The atmosphere is, indeed, a simple gar¬ 
ment, for the earth, and apparently a very 
thin one, since its total height, so far as can 
be estimated, is only about forty-five miles; 
and this will account for the laws of com¬ 
pressibility to which it is subject. We find 
that the first three or four miles above the. 
level of the sea contains more than one-half 
the total weight of the atmosphere, and it is 
in that very thin layer that, the whole of life 
is performing its functions. On a globe of 
fifteen feet diameter tbe atmosphere would 
not be muck over two inches, and the life 
containing portion would be a small fraction 
of an inch. 
Barometer is from two Greek words, sig¬ 
nifying “weight measurer;” but it is only 
used for t he instrument measuring the weight 
of the air. Until the Seventeenth century 
veiy few believed the air to have weight. 
Aristotle tried to ascertain the fact; hut 
the experiment, not being well done, failed. 
Galileo first, ascertained the feet, by show¬ 
ing that water could not be drawn above a 
certain height with pumps; yet he could not 
give the measurement of its weight or tell 
how great it was. it was while engaged in 
this investigation, when old and broken 
down by persecution, that he died and left, 
hie young pupil, Torricelli, to discover an 
instrument which in: called a barometer. 
Torricelli thought that the same cause 
which raises water but thirty-four feet, ought 
to raise mercury, a fluid nearly fourteen 
times heavier, twenty-nine or thirty inches. 
Having sealed one end of a glass tube, he 
filled it with mercury and then turned the 
open end into a cup of mercury, when lo! 
instead of running out it remained at about 
thirty inches above the level of the mercury 
in the pot; ami there was the barometer in¬ 
vented and Torricelli’s theory proved true. 
The portion of the tube above the mercury 
was’ free from water, was a vacuum, so far 
as a vacuum can exist, and Torricelli’s 
explanation, the true one, was that all masses 
of the atmosphere weighing upon the mer¬ 
cury in the cup, would push the mercury lip 
to that height, because that in the tube hav¬ 
ing no weight upon it, would have the whole 
weight of the atmosphere upon it. This 
simple, original instrument demonstrated to 
all eyes that air has weight ; and besides, it 
gives the area and measure of the weight 
wliieli equals that of the mercury in the tube. 
Supposing that the column lie one square 
inch in diameter, it would give us a little 
less than fifteen pounds to the square inch, 
as the weight of the atmosphere. This is 
the original form of the harometer, and being 
slightly modified, so as to insure perfect ac- 
i curacy of measurement, (which is absolutely 
I essential tor correct observations,) is still the 
* best form of the instrument. 
A good many different forms of the barom- 
eter have been constructed, but the simplest 
* is, after all, the best. One thing, however, 
tensively in this country since 1851 and have stances and know their connection. With- 
been gradually modified until they have been out knowing the conditions of the atmos- 
brouglit to their present perfection. pliere and the great, laws of heat and mois- 
On behalf of the Smithsonian Institute ture, and the relations they bear to wind and 
Prof. Guvot had the pleasure of introducing weather, you cannot understand the very 
and superintending these instruments which exa«t story of the barometer, and therefore 
arc now known as the “ Smithsonian instm- tho interpret era of the harometer are by no 
ment for meteorological observations.” They means as numerous as the observers. That 
have been used evtensively in our Pacific ig mainly what, gives the barometer its bad 
Railroad explorations and other surveys, and 
are found to be most, convenient for trans¬ 
portation. They are made by James Green 
of New York, who possesses remarkable 
skill in all such matters. Such an instru¬ 
ment can lie carried over the country by a 
careful person, The cistern is a separate 
part , arid the glass which contains tho mer 
reputation. But it Is all wrong. Besides, 
the barometer cannot always tell the weather, 
because tlio atmospheric variations arc ex¬ 
ceedingly varied. 
Redkikld’h law of storms has so well de¬ 
fined their track that by means of the barom¬ 
eter and telegraph their approach can be 
anticipated by twelve hours. The knowl- 
cury is separate also. The parts clamp to- edge of the law of storms is of the greatest 
get her and every part can bo kept perfectly 
clean—an indispensable condition, for very 
close observations. Instejul of a screw, 
whioli the French adopted, our simple clamps 
hold all portions together without danger of 
leakage, while of more than twelve of the 
best barometers made in Paris, which Prof. 
G. imparted for the Smithsonian, not more 
than t wo did not leak badly when used by 
him for mountain observations. In the 
Smithsonian barometer this leakage is en- 
tirelj* overcome. 
The so-called “AneroidBarometer,” which 
has been int roduced into this count ry of late 
years, is a metal box partially emptied of air 
and is therefore very sensitive to the press¬ 
ure of the atmosphere. It would be an ex¬ 
cellent instrument if the expansion of the 
metal were not a constantly changing ele¬ 
ment; so we are never sure what, we are do¬ 
ing with it. Ttis very liable to get. out of 
order from a simple knock or from sudden 
and great, changes of temperature. And it, 
does not tell you when it is out of order as 
the other form does at. once. It, needs to be 
constantly checked by the mercurial barom¬ 
eter, and therefore is not, an independent in¬ 
strument, The Aneroid is excellent for com¬ 
mon weather, at home, but- is a bad traveler. 
If the atmosphere would always be in its 
normal condition why should its weight 
vary? Why should not the column of mer¬ 
cury always show the same height? To un¬ 
derstand these variations we must enter 
somewhat into the general laws wliiah gov¬ 
ern the atmosphere—not only its weight, 
but the influences which disturb its equilib¬ 
rium. These variations may be *lassiflcd in 
a general way by saying that we have “ reg¬ 
ular” and “ irregular variations.” There are 
groat atmospheric tides each day, each 
month, and each year. These tides are con¬ 
stant in their operation, though they are not 
the same in all latitudes. Every day there 
is a vast tidal wave extending sout h and north 
to the sixtieth degree of latitude; beyond 
those degrees it is not so marked. 
After discarding all irregularities, and by a. 
long series of observations we find the mer¬ 
cury to rise and fall like a tide; and the mer¬ 
cury stands, on an average, the highest about 
nine A. M., and lowest about four P. M. It 
rises during the evening until about ten 
o’clock; then sinks to tbe minimum and rises 
again until nine o’clock the next morning. It 
is a constant tidal wave, repeated twice every 
twenty-four hours. The difference between 
tho maximum and minimum is not, very 
great, only the two hundreth part, of an inch, 
or less, in our latitude; but it increases to¬ 
ward the tropical regions, and about the 
tropics and on the Equator you have the 
greatest amount of tidal wave. This rise 
and fall are so dearly remarkable that Hum¬ 
boldt, while traveling in South America 
could tell the time by his barometer. This 
variation is of a character to increase toward 
the tropics, or as the heat increases, and de¬ 
crease toward tho cold. The regular varia¬ 
tion with the month is of a similar character. 
In the Summer months the barometer is gen¬ 
erally lower than during the Winter; and 
on an average it is lower in all the warm re¬ 
gions than in the colder. It is always lower 
too, in wet seasons than in dry. The annual 
variations are not yet perfectly well defined. 
The irregular variations arc by <ar the 
most important we know in our latitude; the 
barometer is rising and falling all the time. 
If you had a harometer of water, which 
would lie thirty-three and a half feet, leng, it 
would lie seen to be in almost constant mo¬ 
tion, showing that there is no such tiling as 
a calm in the atmosphere, but that the normal 
condition Ls motion. These irregular varia¬ 
tions are almost always, in our climate, con¬ 
nected witli changes of weather; and that, 
is what lias made t he barometer a weather 
glass. People keep it as a prophet of the 
weather, and oftentimes are exceedingly dis- 
! satisfied with their barometer, and accuse it 
of being a great liar. But the barometer is 
• no such thing. It tells what it purports to 
tell — the pressure of the atmosphere; but, 
, as that pressure Ls always connected with 
importance to sea captains, and if better un¬ 
derstood by them hundreds of millions of 
dollars might be saved by their avoiding 
storms in which tlieir vessels are so often 
caught. One ship was caught, in the center 
of a storm and borne helplessly across the 
Atlantic. This was a rotary storm, which 
tho lecturer showed was very easy to escape 
from by those who understood the Redfield 
law. 
Ih conclusion Prof. Guvot showed the 
value of the barometer in physical geography, 
especially in measuring mountains, on ac¬ 
count. of the rapidity with which observa¬ 
tions could be carried on. The height of a 
mountain can now be ascertained by a few 
minutes observation, and a quarter of an 
hour’s calculation afterward. To show Its 
accuracy he instanced a mountain in Ver¬ 
mont which ho measured with a barometer, 
which was also measured by surveyor’s in¬ 
struments, and the results varied less than 
four feet. This gratifying progress in science 
is due entirely to the barometer. 
-- 
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 
Velocity of Cannon Bolls—At the recent 
ordnance experiments at. Fortress Monroe, 
the initial velocity of cannon balls was tested 
by a very delicate instrument, the “ Schultz 
Chromoscope.” The apparatus, which is 
operated by electricity, is thus described; 
CONDUCTED BY MARY A. E. WAGER. 
WINTER DINNERS. 
The majority of farmers differ from the 
Polar bears in reversing the season in which 
they make store-houses of their bodies. The 
winter months give tho bulk of the sinew 
and endurance that the summer expends. 
With barns, cellars, and pantries full, a wife 
who knows how to cook and manage, and 
with plenty of leisure and disposition to eat, 
the American Farmer is the very prince of 
sumptuous living, Such stocks of pies and 
doughnuts and beef sirloins as make their 
disappearance every winter is wholly respec¬ 
table in a quantity sense. 
In the matter o (pies, no nation exceeds 
ours. We are pre-eminent as pieists. We 
remember spending one winter in Southern. 
Ohio (where the people have large hearts as 
well as generous stomachs), and at being 
daily astonished at the amount of pastry con¬ 
sumed. Bio was the Alpha nud Omega of 
each day. If everybody didn’t dream of 
Dutch Uncles it, was from no lack of mince 
or pumpkin pies that passed to the mysteri¬ 
ous bourne about nine P. M. each night. No 
matter iiow nice their apples or other fruits 
were, they were not considered good enough, 
or properly prepared for tho table, until 
sliced and spiced and stewed between two 
crusts of pastry. 
Then cooks make pies of eocoanuts, rais¬ 
ins, grapes, peaches, canned fruits and the 
like, when those very tilings, individually or 
collectively, would be much better, more in 
keeping with good sense and good taste, if 
served as dessert, uncooked. A bunch of 
grapes is a nicer dessert than all the pies and 
pudding iu the universe, and every farmer 
can have them if he chooses, for they arc 
easily raised, and cun be kept nice and fresh 
nil winter with a very little trouble. A dish 
of canned fruit, is a hundred per cent, better 
outside of pastry than in it, and, with a slice 
of cake added, makes a dessert nice enough 
for an — Editor. And editors arc a dear 
tribe of epicureans, to say the least,. Nice 
ripe mellow apples, or nicely baked ones, 
with sugar filled in where the core was dig¬ 
ged out, make nice dessert Fruits on tho 
table always give it a wholesome, healthy 
commends itself to all lovers of those lov¬ 
able bivalves. It is nice for flavoring soup, 
if not used for the body of the soup. 
We have caught a turkey for our next dinner. 
--- 
European Washerwoman.— Washing is 
done almost altogether out of doors in Eu¬ 
rope, by the side of rivers and creeks and 
brooks, wherever there is a body of water, 
good, bad or indifferent. As you look from 
your ear window or from your hotel balcony 
you will see the inevitable washerwoman, 
her only apparatus being her hands for a 
wringer, and her knees for a washboard. 
Strange that the pearly whiteness of your 
shirts can come from a washing where there 
is no heat or steam, except such as rises from 
friction; but so it. is. More strange, how¬ 
ever, is the tender consideration for the male 
species in all this—for of course there is no 
weekly washing day—with a house turned 
into chaos and a. dinner half fit to eat. Oil! 
happy Europe! Would that America could 
learn that the place to do washing is by the 
’side of rivers.— Selected. 
-- 
Strain* tile Buttermilk.—A correspond¬ 
ent, of tho Germantown Telegraph says: 
Place a common wire sieve over a pall, 
draw or turn the buttermilk into it, gently 
stirring the bottom with a spoon; what is 
saved in the sieve can be put into a jar, and 
when a quantity accumulates it can be stewed 
out, by placing it in an iron kettle and sim¬ 
mering slowly until the oil or butter rises on 
top and the sediment settles to the bottom. 
It makes good shortening for pie-crust, and 
Where there is a large dairy it, may be used 
to fry in. Before it, is tried it makes excel¬ 
lent cream-biscuit. 
-«-*-♦- 
Recipe for Curing Hams, &c., wanted. 
—Can any reader of the Rural give a relia¬ 
ble method of curing hams in the best man¬ 
ner ; also the. right, proportions for seasoning 
sausage meat.— E. m. s. 
} ggbttic J nfoxnmtim. 
SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS. 
BY A MYBICIAN. 
Treatment of Colds .—As many people will 
he so unfortunate as to catch cold, it will not 
“Two wire targets are placed, one about look, and the time to eat them is soon alter be amiss to give them a fmv hints as to the 
twenty yards from tho gun, and the second 
about the same distance further on. These 
are connected by a fine insulated wire with 
the instrument, which is about four hundred 
yards in the rear of the ordnance, 'flic in¬ 
strument is adjusted on a plan similar to an 
dectro-balistic machine. Whan the shot is 
fired, it cuts the wire in the first target, and 
then in like manner cuts the wire in the 
second target , the instant each wire is sev¬ 
ered being recorded by the instrument. The 
interval of time occupied by the ball in pass¬ 
ing from one target to the other furnishes 
the data for obtaining the initial velocity of 
the shot. 
Remarkable Electrical Phenomenon. — The 
following curious communication, with re¬ 
gard to a remarkable electrical phenomenon, 
has been recently made to the Paris Acad¬ 
emy of Sciences. A woman was crossing a 
canal bridge near Nantes, when a powerful 
flash of lightning seemed to envelop her. 
She was in no way injured, but the contents 
of her purse underwent an extraordinary 
change. A ten-franc gold piece was in the 
small minor pocket of 1 her portcmomiaie, and 
two silver (joins in the larger division of the 
same. A certain quantity of the silver was 
vaporized by tlie action of the lightning, and 
passing through the leather lining of the 
purse, was deposited with great, uniformity 
on the gold coin, which had all the appear¬ 
ance of silver, while the. surface of t he silver 
coins had assumed the appearance of having 
been matted or frosted. M. Bobierre said 
that he had examined tho gold coin with a 
microscope, and found that the silver was 
uniformly deposited, apparently in the form 
of globules, without any intervals between 
them. Having removed a small portion of 
the silver by means of a weak add, he found 
that the surface of the gold coin had been 
affected, and presented a very different ap¬ 
pearance to that produced by the coining 
press, and was, in fact, nearly in the same 
condition as the de.pcsil.ed silver; fusion bad 
in fact, commenced, but the effect had been 
instantaneous, ancl purely superficial. 
Coining. — Coining was carried on in tbe 
time »f Athelstan in a very curious manner. 
The melted bullion was passed through a 
kind of colander or sieve—as in the modern 
plau of easting lead shot —and the resulting 
globules of metal having been placed ou a 
stone and struck by a stamp witli force of 
hammer, receiving blows which at once flat¬ 
tened and impressed them with the necessary 
devices. The same process is still pursued 
iu several mints belonging to independent 
princes in India. 
dining. We have very distinct remem¬ 
brances of apples and cider in the evening, 
and the jolly story telling accompaniment; 
but it. is an excellent and appropriate finale 
to the dinner, which should consume an hour. 
Well cracked nuts, such as grow on the 
farm, were made to finish off a dinner on. 
If eaten between meals, one is very apt to 
cat. too many, and a dull headache ensues. 
Puddings have a license to lie thoroughly 
cultivated and enjoyed, of which more anon. 
All this chat about dessert is putting tho 
cart before the horse, for we intended only to 
talk about vegetable soups—just what we 
al! need more of than we get. 
As a rule, the moat (beef is ties!) should he 
partially boiled before the addition of vege¬ 
tables. Some veiy good cooks, however, 
put all llic ingredients in at once. Put meats 
in cold water if you want the virtue of nu¬ 
trition in the soup. Potato, parsnip, onion, 
turnip, and finely chopped cabbage may lie 
put in one soup. The vegetables must be 
cut fine. The addition of tomatoes is a 
marked one — they give flavor and charac¬ 
ter. Rice may be added, or hulled barley, 
or chopped hard-boiled eggs. Where so 
great a variety is used only a little of each 
is necessary. 
The variety given to hotel soups is accom¬ 
plished in a very simple manner. The soup 
is made in one vessel, and the vermicelli or 
okra, or whatever defines it, is added, as 
preference requires. Vermicelli is an Italian 
manufacture, and is substantially the same, 
as maccaroni, only in different, form. It is 
made of flour and water, kneaded severely, 
rolled very thin, cut in slender shreds and 
then dried. 
In making soup, if one prefers to have the 
meat for hash free from the vegetable flavor, 
it. must be taken out, prior to adding them. 
But, even for hash, the addition of vegetables 
is an addition rather than a detriment. But 
at, all events have. soup. Have, it often. Get 
in the habit of having it. Consider it a ne¬ 
cessity. Regard it. as an evidence of civiliza¬ 
tion, and you will appreciate its nutritive 
and healthful properties. 
A housewife who has a prophetic sense of 
what will constitute her dinners for a week 
in advance, saves herself a deal of worry 
and speculation just at the time when she 
wants to be enforcing rather than promul¬ 
gating dinner laws. Take in the whole 
comprehensive conclusion of your resources, 
the natural products of the farm and appor¬ 
tion a specific portion to each day. The de¬ 
tails may be decided upon more leisurely, if 
treatment of various conditions — not that 
we mean to use up the place of Hieir regulai 
medical attendant, to whom all colds had 
better be referred in the first instance; but 
the hints we give in this column, if general¬ 
ly known and acted on, will often save the 
doctor much trouble, and never do any hurt. 
Every grown person through the country 
knows the good old-fashioned way to pro¬ 
cure a thorough and free perspiration, called 
in the vernacular “ taking a sweat,” and 
most of them know how it, is applied. Noth¬ 
ing can be more commendable, especially if 
the patient has in mind that he is liable to 
increase Ida troubles on the least exposure 
afterwards. Ttis in children that colds ex¬ 
cite most apprehension, for various reasons, 
and it Ls well to watch the little ones closely 
when they are so afflicted. When the trouble 
is entirely catarrhal, that Is, confined to the 
air passages of the nose, (technically termed 
“snuffles” by the old ladies), there is not 
much ground for worry; in fact, children 
who are so afflicted most of the time seem 
to enjoy a sort of immunity from the more 
serious manifestations of cold. When, how¬ 
ever, the little patient is feverish and has 
sore throat, difficulty of breathing, or pain 
about tin' chest, tho indications are more se¬ 
rious, and may betoken danger. How dan¬ 
gerous the case may be, can only be. deter¬ 
mined by a personal examination by a com¬ 
petent physician ; but it is not necessary to 
stand idle until lie comes. If the trouble is 
chiefly about the chest, there is danger of 
pneumonia (inflammation of tho lungs); and 
in the case of a very young child it is well 
to wrap the whole cheat in a warm poultice. 
The poultiee should bo placed between two 
cloths, and may be kept on by “ shoulder- 
straps,” ami fastened on in a minute. 
In case of an adult or an older child put 
on a mustard poultice, over the scat of most 
pain, and let it stay there until the surface 
be thoroughly well reddened, or the pain 
disappears. 
These things thoroughly done, you may 
wait with patience until the doctor comes to 
relieve or confirm your fears, satisfied that 
you have done your duty. 
Treatment of Rods.— People afflicted with 
boils, at some portion of their lives, do 
not always know how to treat their unwel¬ 
come guests. Our instructions are, mollify 
them, with good, warm, thick poultices, and 
ask your doctor to open them as early as 
possi ble. Don’ t try your own kn i fe on them, 
because there arc arteries in various parts of 
you like. Such a course insures harmony, the system, and to wound one might lead to 
variety, and promptness. results more decided than agreeable. Wliat- 
Ono item more about soup. The excellent ever you do, don’t, put “ soap and sugar ’ on 
is indispensable—to measure the actual dis- changes of wind, of heat and moisture, all Hydroyetimm^ the long-sought metallic base One item more about soup. 1 he excellent evei >ou ( <>, c i - ,u 1 
tance between the surface of the mercury the elements of climate, you see that it needs of hydrogen, has at last been discovered by manner in which condensed clam and oyster them; it only aggravates what is trouble 
below and that of the mercury above. By an interpretation. The barometer gives us Prof. Graham of London. is put up, its cheapness and convenience, ic- some enough emgapoweru lrntant. 
