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Here follows a variety of articles some by Philip Collins which may be of interest to barometer and weather lovers. If your interest is especially the weather follow this link to FROSTED EARTH website the home page of Ian Curries weather site, the private guru of all things on the weather front! and a great guy as well! Ball Lightning at Widecombe Church 1638 - a peroid account -A Great Storm at Clovelly in 1821 - in prose -Admiral FitzRoy's remarks on the Camphor Glass (or wind glass) from 1863 -Admiral FitzRoy - a very short account of him and his achievements. -Adie's Sympisometer - a few details. -The Magdeburg Expeiment - re-enacated at Great Torrington in March 2000 -Use of a Barometer by Fishermen -The Plain Person's Perspective on Barometers and a Few Other Things. by Nina Cooper, 1988 - List of Barometers issued by RNLI to lifeboats and harbours courtesy of the RNLI
Ball Lightning at Widecombe Church 1638 - a peroid account Weather
has always been our country’s fascination. Extreme weathers all the
more so. The following is an incredulous account of an occurrence of ball
lightning on the Church in Widecombe, A
Second and Most Exact Relation of those Sad and Lamentable Accidents,
which happened in and about the Parish Church of Wydecombe neere the Dartmoores,
in Devonshire, on Sunday 21st of October last, 1638 Psalm
46.8 Come,
behold the workes of the Lord, what desolations hee hath made in the earth Printed
by G. M. for R: Harford, and are to be sold at his shop in Queenes-head-alley
in Paternoster Row at the guilt Bible, 1638. To
the Reader. I
here present thee with a second Relation of that wonderful accident which
the printing of the former book has given occasion of. Having now received
a full and perfect Relation, as is possible to be hoped for, or procured,
assuring thee it is not grounded on information taken up second hand,
but those persons being now come to London, who were eye witnesses herein,
and the chiefest discoverers of the effects of the terrible accidents,
although thou hast the truth in part before, yet not the tithe thereof,
the full Relation whereof thou shalt find here annexed following after
the former Relation, supplied in all those particulars, wherein there
was any defect before, supposing it better to annexe it then to dissolve
and blend it with the former; what thou hadst not before shall only be
supplied now, and no more, and what thou findest not heard, take to be
true, as they are expressed there, and although it be larger then our
former, yet we desirest in penning thereof not to trouble thee with many
words but only the substance of this sad matter, as concisely as we could,
and though the price be more, yet suspend thy censure till thou hast perused
it, and then it may be thou wilt give him thanks, who hath been at the
pains to add this to the former, which he would not have done, unless
he could tender it upon very good authority and testimony of witnesses
more then needful: we know same and report varied exceedingly, not knowing
wherein to pitch our belief, for it much increases or diminishes by flying,
according to the apprehension and memory both of the givers out, and takers
up; but take this on his word, who only wisheth and intendeth thy good. Farewell.
A
True Relation of those most strange and lamentable Accidents, happening
in the God’s visible Judgement and terrible remonstrances (which every morning are brought to light) coming unto our knowledge, should be our observation and admonition, that thereby the inhabitants of the earth may learn Righteousness, for to let them pass by us (as water runs by our doors) unobserved; argues too much regardlessness of God in the way of his Judgements: not to suffer them to sink into our affections, and to prove as so many terrible warning pieces, which are shot off from a watch Tower, to give notice of an enemies approach, to awaken and affright us, are but a means to harden our hearts against the Lord, and to awaken his Justice to punish us yet more: but to hear and fear and to do wickedly no more; to search our hearts amend our ways is the best use that can be made of any of God’s remarkable terrors manifested among us. When God is angry with us, it ought to be our wisdom to meet him, and make peace with him. And where we see legible Characters of his power and wrath; to learn to spell out his meaning touching ourselves, to leave off all busy, malicious, causeless and unchristianly censuring of others, and to turn in upon ourselves, remembering, except we repent, we shall likewise perish. Certain it is that we do in vain expect immunity from God’s Judgements by sleighting, or contemning them, or increasing in our sinnings against him. If Pharaoh by the terror of thundering and lightning was so affrighted that he said to Moses, Intreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and Hail. And if Caligula, out of the fear of thunder, would run under his bed to hide himself, how much more should we Christians learn to fear and tremble before the most mighty God, whose voice only can shake the mountains and rend the rocks and divide the flames of fire; rends Churches, amazeth, and strikes dead at his pleasure the sons of men? As the Prophet David saith, He doth whatsoever he pleaseth in Heaven and Earth, He causeth the vapours to ascent from the ends of the earth, and maketh lightnings for the rain and bringeth the wind out of the treasures of the earth, so unsearchable is his wisdom and his ways past finding out. Therefore this should awe and humble our hearts before the Lord, rising up unto more perfection in godliness, doing unto our God more and better services than ever hitherto we have done, reverencing and sanctifying his dreadful name in our hears: especially when his Judgements break in upon men, even in his own house, mingling their blood with their sacrifices, and that in a most terrible manner smiting and wounding and killing, as in this ensuing Relation may appear: which for the suddenness and strangeness thereof and in a manner miraculous considering the many circumstances, I believe few Ages can parallel or produce the like. The Lord teach thee to profit thereby that it may be as a sermon preached to thee from Heaven by the Lord himself. Upon Sunday the 21. of October last, in the Parish Church of Wydecombe near the Dartmoores in Devonshire, there fell in time of Divine Service a strange darkness, increasing more and more, so that the people there assembled could not see to read in any book, and suddenly in a fearful and lamentable manner, a mighty thundering was heard, the rattling whereof did answer much like unto the sound and report of many great Cannons; and terrible strange lightning therewith, greatly amazing those that heard and saw it, the darkness increasing yet more, till they could not see one another; the extraordinary lightning came into the Church so flaming, that the whole Church was presently filled with fire and smoke, the smell whereof was very loathsome, much like unto the scent of brimstone, some said they saw at first a great fiery ball come in at the window and pass through the Church which so affrighted the whole Congregation that the most part of them fell down into their seats, and some upon their knees, some on their faces, and some one upon another, with a great cry of burning and scalding, they all giving up themselves for dead, supposing the last judgement day was come, and that they had been in the very flames of Hell. The Minister of the Parish, Master George Lyde, being in the pulpit or seat where prayers are read, however he might be much astonished hereat, yet through God’s mercy had no other harm at all in his body, but to his much grief and amazement, beheld afterward the lamentable accidents; and although himself was not touched, yet the lightning seized upon his poor Wife, fired her ruff and linen next to her body and clothes to the burning of many parts of her body in a very pitiful manner. And one Mistress Ditford sitting in the pew with the Minister’s wife was also much scaled, but the maid and child sitting at the pew door had no harm. Beside, another woman adventuring to run out of the Church, had her clothes set on fire, and was not only strangely burnt and scorched, but had her flesh torn about her back almost to the very bones. Another woman had her flesh so torn and her body so grievously burnt, that she died the same night. Also one Master Hill, a Gentleman of good account in the Parish, sitting in his seat by the Chancel, had his head suddenly smitten against the wall, through the violence whereof he died that night, no other hurt being found about his body. But his son sitting in the same seat had no harm. There was also one man more, at the same instant, of whom it is particularly related, who was Warriner unto Sir Richard Reynolds, his head was cloven, his skull rent into three pieces, and his brains thrown upon the ground whole, and the hair of his head, through the violence of the blow at first given him, did stick fast unto the pillar or wall of the Church, and in the place a deep bruise into the wall as if it were shot against with a cannon bullet. Some other persons were then blasted and burnt, and so grievously scalded and wounded, that since that time they have died thereof, and many other not like to recover, notwithstanding all the means that can be procured to help them. Some had their clothes burnt and their bodies had not hurt, and some on the contrary, had their bodies burnt and their clothes not touched, and some their stockings and legs burnt and scalded, and their outward buskings not one thread singed. But it pleased God, yet in the midst of judgement to remember mercy, sparing some and not destroying all, yet very many were sorely scalded in divers parts of their bodies, and as all this hurt was done upon the bodies of men and women, so the hurt also that was then done unto the Church was remarkable. There were some seats in the body of the Church turned upside down and yet they which sat in them had little or no hurt; also a boy sitting on a seat had his hat on, and near the one half thereof was cut off and he had no hurt. And one man going out at the Chancel door, a dog running out before him, was whirled about towards the door and fell down stark dead: at the sight whereof he stepped back within the door, and God preserved him alive. Also the Church itself was much torn and defaced by the thunder and lightning and thereby also a beam was burnt in the midst and fell down between the Minister and Clerk and hurt neither, and a weighty great stone near the foundation of the Church is torn out and removed, and the steeple itself is much rent, and there where the Church was most rent, there was least hurt done to the people, and not any one was hurt either with the wood or stone, but a maid of Manaton, which came thither that afternoon to see some friends, whom Master Frynd the Coroner by circumstances, supposed she was killed with a stone. There were also stones thrown from the Tower and carried about a great distance from the Church, as thick as if a hundred men had been there throwing, and a number of them of such weight and bigness, that the strongest man cannot lift them. Also one pinnacle of the Tower was torn down and broke through into the Church. Moreover the pillar against which the pulpit standeth, being but newly whited, is now by this means turned black and sulphry. Furthermore, one man that stood in the Chancel, with his face toward the belfry, observed as it were the rising of dust or lime, in the lower end of the Church, which suddenly (as with a puff of wind) was whirled up and cast into his eyes so that he could not see in twelve hours after, but now his sight is restored, and he hath no other hurt. The terrible lightning being past all the people being in a wonderful maze, so that they spake not one word, by and by one Master Raph Rouse, vintner in the town, stood up, saying these words, Neighbours, in the name of God shall we venture out of the Church, to which M. Lyde answering, said, it is best to make an end of prayers, for it were better to die here then in another place, but they looking about them, and seeing the Church so terribly rent and torn, durst not proceed in their public devotions, but went forth of the Church. And as all this was done within
the Church, and unto the Church; so there were other accidents without
the Church; of which I will give you a touch. There was a bowling alley
near unto the Churchyard, which was turned up into pits and heaps, in
manner almost as if it had been plowed. At the same time also at Brixton
near We are also certainly informed that at the same time as near as it can be guessed, there fell out the like accident unto the Church at Norton in Somersetshire, but as yet we hear of no persons hurt therein. Also it is related by a Gentleman who travelled in those parts at that time, he being since come to London, that where he was the lightning was so terrible, fiery and flaming, that they thought their houses at every flash were set on fire, in so much that their horses in the stable were so affrighted that they could not rule them. This Church of Wydecombe, being a large and fair Church, newly trimmed and there belonging to it a very fair steeple or Tower with great and small pinnacles thereon, it being one of the famousest Towers in all those Western parts; and there being gathered a great congregation, to the number, as is verily believed of at least 300 persons. Master Lyde, with many others in the Church did see presently after the darkness, as it were a great ball of fire, and most terrible lightning come in at the window, and therewithal the roof of the Church in the lower part against the Tower to rend and gape wide open, whereat he was so amazed, that he fell down into his eat, and unspeakable are the might secret wonders the Lord wrought immediately, of which, because thou hast the general Relation before; I will give thee this as near as can be discovered in the order and course thereof, which first began in the Tower, and thence into the Church, the power of that vehement and terrible blast struck in at the north side of the Tower, tearing through a most strong stone wall into the stairs, which goes up round with stone steps to the top of the leads, and being gotten in, struck against the other side of the wall, and finding not way forth there, it rebounded back again with greater force to that side next the Church, and piercing through right against the higher window of the Church, took the greatest part thereof with it and likewise some of the stones, and frame of the window, and so struck into the Church, coming with a mighty power it struck against the north side wall of the Church, as if it were with a great cannon bullet or somewhat like thereto, and not going through, but exceedingly shaking and battering the wall, it took its course directly up that aisle straight to the pulpit or set where Master Lyde sat, and in the way thence going up it took all the lime and same of the wall, and much grated the stones thereof, and tore off the side desk of the pulpit, and upon the pulpit on the side thereof it was left as black and moist as if it had been newly wiped with ink. Then it goes straight up in the same aisle, and struck off all the hinder part of the Warriners head, the brains fell backward intire and whole into the next seat behind him, and two pieces of his skull, and dashed his blood against the wall, the other piece of his skull fell into the seat where he sat and some of the skin of his head, flesh and hair was carried into the Chancel. Some of his hair to the quantity of a handful, stuck fast as with lime and sand newly tempered upon one of the bars of the timberwork partition between the Church and Chancel. And one man who sat next to the Warriner in the same seat, was scalded and all burnt on that side next the Warriner, from the very head to the foot, and no hurt at all on the other side. And in the second seat behind him was another struck in a most fearful manner, for he was so burned and scalded all over his body, from his forehead downward below his knees, insomuch that he was all over like raw flesh round about, and which is most wonderful his clothes not once hurt; neither his head nor hair, who notwithstanding died not then, but lived in great misery above a week after. But to go on in our Relation. It is supposed (it having been since by divers judiciously viewed) that here the power or force divided itself two ways; one part whereof struck out of the window over their heads, which tore out and carried away some great stones out of the wall with the window, and further they could not trace it, but with the force of the stroke at going forth, it struck the lime and sand on the wall with many small stones, or grit, so forcibly that the lime, sand and grit returned back like hail-shot to the other side of the wall where men did sit and struck into their faces, much disfiguring them, and smote into the wall and into the timber of the partition, some of which stones could not be picked out till the next day following. But the other part of the force descended to the bottom of the wall just before the Warriners seat, and there pierced in, heaving up all the wall in that place, rending and tearing it from the very ground, as high almost as the height of a man, there it broke through into the Chancel and about the number of eight boys sitting about the rails of the Communion Table, it took them up from the seats and threw them all on heaps within the rails, and not one of them hurt, and one of them having his hat lying upon the rail, it was cut and burned half away. Then it went directly over to the other side of the Chancel, and struck Master Hill mortally in his head, so that he died that night; but his son, sitting as close by him as one man can sit by another, for the seat would hold but two, he had no harm at all, not so much as once singed. But it struck against the wall so forcibly, that it bear in the wall behind him as if it had been shot against with a cannon bullet, as it is expressed in the former Relation; but there not going through, it recoils back again, coming about the Chancel, as it is conceived, and tore out violently one of the great side stones of the Chancel door against which it smote, cleaving it all to pieces, and there it is supposed it went forth; but some reasons there are to think it did not, for none of the pieces of the side stone were carried out with it, but fell down within the Chancel: besides, the consideration of the mighty strange and secret works thereof in the body of the Church, for there it had rent and tore and flung about marvellously. The seats where men and women sat were rent up, turned upside down, and they that sat in them had no harm; also many of those pews and seats rent quite from the bottom as if there had been no seats there, and those that sat in them, when they came to themselves, found that they were thrown out their own into other seats three or four seats higher, and yet had no harm. And moreover all the wood, timber and stones were torn all to pieces, and violently thrown every way to the very walls of the Church round about. One man sitting upon the Church Beer, at the lower end, the beer was struck and torn, and he that sat thereon was thrown into one of the pews by the wall side, a good distance off. Many also, both men and women, being very much burned and scaled in divers places of their bodies, and after diver manners, to the number of fifty or sixty, among whom Mistress Lyde, the Minister’s wife was one, who suffered herein as it is related in the former, and also Mistress Ditford her gown, two waistcoats, and linen next her body, burned cleaned off; and her back, also very grievously down to her waist burned and scalded, and so exceedingly afflicted thereby, she could neither stand nor go without help, being led out of the Church. And one ancient woman was so terribly burnt, and her flesh torn, especially her hand, the flesh was so rotten and perished, her hand is cut off that it might not endanger her arm; and many of those that were then burned and scalded have since died thereof. And furthermore, all the roof of the Church is terribly torn, and a great part thereof broken into the Church by some great stones that were torn off the Tower; and all the other part hangs fearfully, all ragged and torn in divers places, ready to drop down; it tore likewise all the windows, shook and rent the Church walls in divers places, but the Chancel roof had little or no hurt. Moreover, a beam was burst in sunder which fell down between the Minister and Clerk, yet hurt neither. Nor was there in all this time anyone hurt either with stick or stone, but only one man that had a little bruise on his back; and as there was least hurt done where the timer and stone fell most, so on the contrary, where no timber nor stone fell, there was most hurt done. And all this while, after the first terrible noise and lightning, not one in the Church can remember they either heard or saw anything, being all deadly astonished. And when the lightning was past, the people being still in amaze, not one could speak a word to another, but by and by Master Rouse came a little to himself, standing up, spake as in the former Relation, and speaking to Master Lyde, he also thereupon began to recover himself, and answered as well he could tremblingly, as is expressed before, not knowing of any hurt that was done either to his wife or any else; but they looking about them, saw a very thick mist, with smother, smoke and smell, insomuch, that they nor any there saw the danger over their heads. But they too going forth together at the Chancel door, they saw the dog whirled up some height from the ground, taken up and let down again three times together, and at last fell down stone dead, all the lightning being past, neither could they see anything at all near the dog. Then presently the rest of the people scrabbled forth the Church as well as they could; the mist and smother going away by degrees, but not quite gone in half an hour after. And being come forth they saw their danger, which before they knew not; for the Tower and Church was grievously cracked and shattered; And some of the stones on the Church and Tower torn off and thrown every way round about, and huge weight stones split all to pieces, some thrown distant from the Church at least an hundred yards. And one great stone like a massive rock, was carried off the pinnacle all over the east end of the Church and over the Churchyard and into another close over the hedge, there it grazed, breaking up the ground deeply, and as it is imagined it was done by that massive stone, which was carried at least ten yards beyond, and there bruised the ground very deep, where it lay unmoveable. And on the other side of the Church, there is a bowling green, torn up and spoiled with stones as before; among many others there fell therein one great broad stone, like a table, and in the fall was broken all to pieces, they being struck edgeways into the ground, also many great stones were sunk so deep on all sides the Church, that some were struck in even with the ground, and some lower. Some stones were thrown over Master Rouse his house an hundred yards from the Church, and sunk into the earth not to be seen, but only the hole where the stone went down; and Master Rouse his house, on that side next the Church, was torn up, the covering carried off, and one of the rafters broke into the house. Then a while after, before night they adventured into the Church to fetch out the dead bodies, some whereof being brought forth, and laid in the Churchyard; there was then present a woman, being till that time much astonished, coming better to herself, upon sight of the dead bodies remembered that she brought her child to Church with her, they then going in to seek for it, found her child going hand in hand with another little child, being met coming down one of the aisles, and had no hurt, nor seemed not be anything frighted by their countenances; neither was there any children in the Church hurt at all: but the other child’s mother was gone home, never remembering she had a child till it was brought to her. But as strange a thing as any of these was that, concerning Robert Meade the Warriner; he being not missed all this while, immediately Master Rouse his dear acquaintance remembered him, and seeing him not, nor none knowing what was become of him, Master Rouse stepping to the window, looked into the Church, where the Warriner used to sit, and there saw him sitting in his seat, leaning upon his elbow, his elbow resting upon the desk before him, he supposed him to be asleep or astonished, not yet come to himself, he calling to awake him, wondered he made no answer, then his love to him caused him to venture into the Church, to jog him awake, or to remember him, and then to his much grief he perceived his friend to be a dead man; for all the hinder part of his head was clean cut off and gone round about his neck, and the forepart not disfigured, as they supposed when they drew near him. The Lord of the Manor of Wydecombe hearing of this sad accident, sent his man, David Barry, that night thither, to hear what news and to see what hurt was done, but it being dark, he could see nothing that night, but only hear their Relations. But on Monday, the day following, they came to take notice, and view the ruins of the Church, and what accidents had fallen out; then all this Relation was made apparent to him, and I may safely say, to thousands more of witnesses, that are ready to give testimony to all this Relation. But having seen and observed as much as they could about the Church; the Tower being locked up, what hurt was done there, was as yet unknown, there being then a motion made to open the door to see what hurt, no man was found willing to adventure, much less ascend up therein, all the people being as yet in a terrible fear; the remembrance of their great hurts and dangers, being so fresh in their minds; for some being to be buried in the Church that afternoon, as namely Master Hill, and Robert Meade, their graves being close by one another; the Minister read the burial to both at once, and when he came to those words, Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, the fall whereof making a sudden noise upon the coffins, made them all in a great fear run out of the Church, tumbling over one another, supposing that the Church as falling on their heads. But the said David resolved to venture himself to discover what he could, and calling for the key to open the door, it was brought by the Sexton, yet they all persuaded him not to venture, for the Tower was so crazy, torn and shattered, that they were all of opinion it might fall, as they might well judge by the outside; but he putting in the key to open the door, it would not unlock it, but run quite through; then the Sexton, he trying also could find no lock, and yet the door still fast, then an iron bar being used to force it off the hinges, it could not be done thereby, till at last he espying the bolt of the lock shot into the staple, desired them to hold the door up with the bar, that he might put in his arm to put back the lock, and found there all the wood and wards of the lock gone; then the door being with much ado forced open, the said David was to go up first, and the Sexton to follow him, where he found so much rubbish and stone tumbled down, that he could hardly creep up; he having his sword by his side, it troubled him, he put it off, wishing the Clerk to hold it while he made way; but as they ascended, there came down the stairs a most loathsome smell beyond expression, as it were of brimstone, pitch and sulphur; he notwithstanding adventured higher, but the Sextons stomach and courage being overcome, partly by his fear, and also by the smell, he returned back in a great fright, complaining he was poisoned. A multitude of people being there to observe the discovery, come from divers places thereabouts, to see and hear of this spreading ill news, as daily multitudes do resort thither for that purpose, they all stood at a distance, waiting what could be found, but they not knowing what was become of him, because the Sexton was so frighted, none daring to come near to look after him, But he getting (with great difficulty, and danger of his life at every step) up to the first story, there he viewed it, and found no hurt done, but getting with greater difficulty up to the bell room, he tolled all the bells to see if they were sound or no, then the people much rejoiced, supposing he was well. Then looking overhead he saw all the joists and timber under the leads carried away, all rent and torn fearfully, except one beam under the middle which was bowed down, and a great number of stones lying on the leads in a very strange and dangerous manner, but his heart encouraging him to venture yet higher, he attempted the leads, and getting up to the door, he saw a great danger over his head, at the sight whereof his heart began to fail him, for the stones were carried clean away under the inside next the Church, and on the outside so shaken that very little upheld them, then espying yet more danger then before, he saw a great stone over his head, (as he supposed) ready to drop down upon him, that he knew not whether to stay or go down, for fear of the falling thereof, then attempting to throw it down, cried as loud as he possibly could, being at the top, to stand clear, for fear of danger he catching hold on somewhat over his head, hung by his hands, and with his feet touched the weighty stone, which tumbled down the stairs, never resting till it cam to the bottom; then all the people at the fall thereof thought he was killed, but he presently coming down into the bell room, tolled the bells again, and thereby removed their fear. The coming down lower, in one place in the stairs, close by the place where the Tower was most rent and shaken, there he espied a thing very strange to him, as if it had been a cannon discharged full of powder, and as if a bullet withal struck and shook it, and finding no way out, recoiled back to another side, and there rent out a great part of the Tower, with mighty stones; and but a little above it, there was a round patch, as broad as a bushel, which looked thick, slimy and black, and black round about it to which he put his hand, and felt it soft, and bringing some thereof in his hand from the wall, came down the stairs to the people, and showed them that strange compound, all much wondered thereat; and were affrighted, none knowing what it might be, it was like slimy powder, tempered with water, he smelling thereto, it was so odious even beyond expression, and in a far higher degree of loathsomeness, then the scent which was in the Church or Tower when they first smelt it, it being of the same kind; they supposing that strong smell come from that, which did overcome the Sextons and this fearchers stomach almost. Yet all this while found himself reasonable well, though much offended with smells; and going home with Master Lyde to supper, he lodged at Master Rouses, and went well to bed, and an hour after, he felt something upon him (as he thought) on the outside of his waistcoat and belly, as if it were a cord twisted about him, two men pulling it with great strength, which gripped him in that unspeakable manner three or four times, that he though himself cut in sunder therewith, not having any breath, nor none knowing what to do to him; he could take nothing down at present to ease him but by and by ridding his stomach by vomiting, being in a great and terrible sweat all this while, in so much that the sheets wherein he lay might have been wringed, at last came up such a loathsome vomit that smelled of the same nature than that did which he brought of the steeple, and after this taking some rest he was very well in the morning. All which most sad and lamentable spectacles were done (as it were) in a moment of time. This is the sum of those dismal accidents and terrible examples happening in the place aforesaid. And the main drift in the publication of this great judgement, is for thy humiliation and edification, not only to acquaint thee with the great and mighty works of Gods power and justice, who in a moment can do mighty things to us, and arm the creatures against us at his own pleasure, but also to move pity and compassion in us towards our brethren who were patients therein, not judging them greater sinners then ourselves, but believing, That except we also repent and sin no more, we shall likewise perish, or worse things befall us. Which Relation you can difficultly read without sighs, nor understand without tears. I know it is the fashion of too too many to question and talk, and make things of this nature, but a nine days wonder: But let us not deceive ourselves any longer, but consider, we have been lookers on a great while and others have been made our examples, and felt the smart at home and abroad, whilst we have gone free, but we know not how soon our turns and changes may come; those accidents might as well have happened to us as them, but the Lord therefore in much mercy fit us both for the worst of times and the best of ends. I end all with that prayer in our Letany, commending thee and this to the blessing of the Almighty. From
lightning and tempest, from plague, pestilence
and famine, from battle and murder, and
from sudden death. Good
LORD deliver us. FINIS. Imprimatur Tho.
Wykes. R.P. Ep.Lond. Cap.
Domest.
A great storm in 1821 wrought havoc to the Clovelly fishing fleet. These were the days when newspapers were few and far between and not easily circulated. Accounts of such exceptional events were produced on small handbills and often kept for years in the neighbourhood. These descriptions were usually in prose, but sometimes verse was employed, with quaint halting and abrupt lines. Events like these were reasons why Admiral FitzRoy's Storm Barometers were installed around our coasts for public safety. The following was issued by T Eyres of Launceston. ON THE MELANCHOLY EVENT Of the STORM ON THURSDAY NIGHT Which destroyed nearly all the Fishing Boats and Nets at CLOVELLY and PEPPERS COOMBE, with a loss of Thirty Lives. Painful the task is to record Thursday's fatal stormy night! Dispensations of the Lord, Whose commands are always right. To relate the various Wrecks, Or pangs of friends, and sufferers say, Is more than my muse expects, In this inefficient lay. Ships at sea becalm'd were rolling, Ere the direful storm began, Since its pow'r -the bell is tolling, For each mangled, lifeless man. Home-bound Barks, strove for their havens, Hoisted every sail they could, As the homeward steering Ravens, Seek at night the shelt'ring Wood. From the South' calm, quick did advance The North's bleak devouring gale, Embitt'ring all! – Death's fatal lance Hundreds did alike assail. Ship's embay'd were cast on shore; Others foundered at sea; Ah! Lost seaman! You no more Another tempest will survey. O! Clovelly! Neighb'ring Creek, Thy Fishermen with hearts serene, Elate with hope, that day did seek, To profit by the Herring-seine.
Sixty boats or more they put out, With nets complete and boats well-mann'd With Sea or Landsmen free from doubt, That they should feel God's chast'ning hand. At The Boats were then in the offing, Soon, consternation to a man It shed, - and make their bosoms wring! In haste they got their nets on board, For three hours row'd, tow'rds the Pier, Trusting for safety from the Lord, To whom was made the heartfelt pray'r. At last they anchor'd off the shore, Anxious their property to save, Waiting tide in the Pier to moor, Which brought them to a Wat'ry grave. Those who saw their fellows sinking, Whilst in angry waves they rode, Had little time, or pow'r for thinking, How to reach their dear abode! Some their anchors partly weigh'd And some few did cut their mooring, Time was not to be delay'd, Tempests louder still were roaring. All around was devastation! Drowning men, with wild dismay, Cry'd to those who kept their station, And those upon Clovelly Quay. Mingled shrieks, and hollow groans, Pierced the hearts of those on shore! Deep was heard the Widow's moan, Mothers wail, and Friends deplore. Pitchy-dark the night became, Raining though each trying hour, Horrid howling sea, the same, Threat'ning each boat to devour. Alas! But few Boats reach'd the ground, Out of all their little Fleet, Where the living could be found, Kneeling all unto Death's feet. Mountain-breakers lav'd the shore, Here they did encounter much, More than anguish felt before, To trust the waves the feelings touch. This was all that they could do, Leap into the foaming strife, Hurl'd to the shore, in hopes to view, Mother, Lover, Friend or Wife On each rough returning wave, Grappled they the pebbly strand, Creeping whilst it did not lave, Nails worn off an either hand. Ev'ry Landsman did his best, And rush'd amid the dashing foam, To rescue lives, bruis'd and distrest, That few more waves would be their doom. Many souls that in were wash'd, And their cries distinctly heard, Were on the rocks in pieces dash'd, Were none could help the most endear'd. Awful, indeed, in the extreme, "Help and mercy" was the cry, beating on rocks, life's little stream full-soon was spent – and doom'd to die. One kind Father, with his Son, In his boat so terrified, Exclaim'd, "my lad, my life is done!" Dropt in the Boat and sudden died. Sev'ral Boats crowded together, Like the weather-beaten sheep, Trying to assist each other, But were all lost in the deep! Such tremendous surges dashing, Danger was increased thereby, Dismal! Boats each other crashing! Sinking-souls met their destiny. When the morning dawn'd to see Wrecks and Corpses line the coast, Who could a spectator be, Or hear, and not bewail the lost! Thirty souls alike did perish, More than Forty Boats were wreck's, Wives, Friends, Children, let us cherish, Nor treat them with cold neglect. Poor Clovelly's sole dependence, Nets and Craft thus gone – their whole, Many poor souls must needs defendants, With hearts their mis'ry to console. Some that were lost
belong'd to
And different parts of Let us hope their earthly downfall, May exalt their Souls to Heaven. A Tribute to Victorian Inventiveness and Extravaganza This extraordinary weather predictor was originally designed by Dr George Merryweather who, from studying the instincts of the natural world, devised an apparatus with leeches to ring a bell in advance of severe weather. Because of the leeches’ natural desire to rise to the top of a jar or tank in advance of thunderstorms and heavy rain, he designed the bottle to have a kind of ‘mouse trap affair’ at the top. When the leech tried to go to the very top of the bottle, he would surely set the trap off and this would cause the corresponding hammer to ring the bell at the top. Once rung, the hammer would need resetting so the observer would always know, even after an absence, that the bell had been rung. The more leeches that rang the bell meant that a storm was more likely. He called these twelve leeches a ‘jury’ Its proper name was the "Atmospheric Electromagnetic Telegraph, conducted by Animal Instinct" The result was exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851. Dr Merryweather tried to persuade the government to put these ‘instruments’ around the coasts of Britain and instruct people in their use. Fortunately for our modern day weather forecasters, Admiral Fitzroy’s’ Storm Barometers were used instead! A more scientific approach to weather forecasting. Perhaps if Dr Merryweather had been successful we would see our modern day forecasters consult their leeches along with sea weed and fir cones!!! We have taken nearly 3 years of research and development as well as many hundreds of hours work to produce this replica, which is the only workable model in existence. The design is based on Dr Merryweather's essay to the Whitby Philosophical Society, which he read on 27 February 1851. The pillars and base, as well as the originals for the cast metal items, were hand carved in our workshop – several parts have been 24 carat gold plated – and the bottles were blown in our own glass room. All the metal work was specially produced by our craftsmen. Leeches have long been known to be sensitive to weather changes and during dedicated research for the Prognosticator Philip Collins has kept leeches himself, to note their habits, and even offered his arm for their feeds! His comment on them is ‘’ Leeches have an uncanny ability to sometimes predict the weather; they are unlikely to replace barometers despite their lower cost and small size, due perhaps to their unattractive appearance and a rather disturbing method of maintenance, (although they do not hurt much). Barometers only cost money, not Blood!’’ There is another copy (a non-working facsimile), made in 1951 for the Festival of Britain, which is housed at The Whitby Museum. We are very grateful for the assistance during research of this device of the curators and staff of Whitby Museum, do visit them if you can they are a great bunch of folks. find out more about them by following this link http://www.durain.co.uk/
ADMIRAL FITZROY'S REMARKS ON THE CAMPHOR GLASS(taken from "The Weather Book" dated 1863)
Having often noticed peculiar effects on certain instruments, used as weather glasses, that did not seem to be caused by pressure, or solely by temperature, by dryness, or by moisture - having found that these alterations happened with electric changes in thatmosphere that were not always preceded or accompanied by movement of mercury in a barometer, and that, among other peculiarities, increase or diminution of winds, in the very 'heart' of the trades, caused effects on them, while the mercurial column remained unaltered, or showed only the slight inter-tropical diurnal change (as regular there as a clock), we have long felt sure that another agent might be traced. Considerably more than a century ago what were called 'storm glasses' were made in this country. Who was the inventor, is now very uncertain; but they were sold on old London Bridge, at the sign of the "Looking Glass". Since 1825 we have generally had some of the vials, as curiosities rather than otherwise, for nothing certain could be made of their variations until lately, when it was fairly demonstrated that if fixed, undisturbed, in free air, not exposed to radiation, fire or sun, but in the ordinary light of a well-ventilated room, or, preferably, in the outer air, the chemical mixture in a so-called storm glass varies in character with the direction of the wind - not its force, specially, though it may so vary (in appearance only) from another cause, electrical tension. As the atmospheric current veers towards, comes from, or is only approaching from the polar direction, this chemical mixture - if closely, even microscopically watched, - is found to grow like fir, yew, or fern leaves - or like hoar frost - or even large but delicate crystallisations. As the wind, or great body of air, tends more from the opposite quarter, the lines or spikes - all the regular, hard, or crisp features, gradually soften and diminish till they vanish. Before and in a continued southerly wind the mixture sinks slowly downwrd in the vial, till it becomes shapeless, like melting white sugar. Before or during the continuance of a northerly wind (polar current), the crystallisations are beautiful (if the mixture is correct, the glass a fixture, and duly placed); but the least motion of the liquid disturbs them. When the main air-currents meet, and turn towards the west, making easterly winds, stars are more or less numerous, and the liquid dull, or less clear. When, and while they combine by the west, making westerly wind, the liquid is clear, and the crystallisation well defined, without loose stars. While any hard or crisp features are visible below, above, or at the top of the liquid (where they form for polar wind) there is plus electricity in the air; a mixture of polar current co-exisiting in that locality with the opposite, or southerly. When nothing but soft, melting, sugary substance is seen, the atmospheric current (feeble or strong as it may be) is southerly with minus electricity, unmixed with and uninfluenced by the contrary wind. Repeated trials with a delicate galvanometer, applied to measure electric tension in the air, have proved these facts, which are now found useful for aiding, with the barometer and thermometers, in forecasting weather. Temperature affects the mixture much, but not solely; as many comparisons of winter with summer changes of temperature have fully demonstrated. A confused appearance of the mixture, with flaky spots, or stars, in motion, and less clearness of the liquid, indicates south-easterly wind, probably strong - to a gale. Clearness of the liquid, with more or less perfect crystallisations, accompanies a combination, or a contest, of the main currents, by the west, and very remarkable these differences are - the results of these air currents acting on each other from eastward, or entirely from an opposite direction, the west. The glass should be wiped clean, now and then, - and two or three times in a year the mixture should be disturbed, by inverting and gently shaking the glass vial. The composition is camphor - nitrate of potassium and sal-ammoniac - partly dissolved by alcohol, with water, and some air, in hermetically sealed glass. There are many imitations, more or less incorrectly made. Those camphor glasses used by the writer lately were prepared by Messrs. Negretti and Zambra. There are numerous others, some of which are inexact in chemical composition; and are not nearly so sensitive.
Captain Fitzroy retired from active service in 1850; he was made Rear-Admiral in 1857, Vice-Admiral in 1863 and he died in 1865. He was a man of many talents and energies, but his consuming passion was the weather. M.P. for Durham, Governor of New Zealand, Meteorological Officer to the Board of Trade, he was also an associate of Darwin in his work on HMS Beagle and published his Weather Book in 1863. He was a great innovator. He set up weather stations to communicate with the Meteorological Office, produced weather charts and weather forecasts. His whole approach was that of a scientist - a scientist with imagination. He was concerned not only to observe but to interpret. Admiral Fitzroy is most commonly remembered because of a most distinctive type of barometer to which he gave his name. In 1864 he was able to claim the preservation of life and property resulting from the widespread use of his barometer. 'Explanatory manuals and blank forms for diagrams have been extensively circulated among the coasters and fishermen, who are all now much influenced by and very thankful for the benefits of this act of their Government'. Today the Fitzroy Barometer is a useful Barometer, one that can still be 'read' as well as having considerable decorative charm, and as Admiral Fitzroy himself commented, is one of the most valuable instruments ever contrived for investigating the nature and laws of the wonderful ocean of air in which we live.
Many antique mercurial barometers incorporate a hygrometer, these were actually operated by part of a wild oat. The upright stem referred to is more commonly called the Oatbeard obtained from the wild oat seed. When magnified one can see that its structure is that of a twisted fibre, like that of a rope, and has been used for its natural ability to twist to the right when moistened, and to the left when drying. The rate of movement will vary from oatbeard to oatbeard as they vary slightly in length and thickness. Some turn two or three revolutions when moistened and some will turn even more. This action stands the seed upwards with the aid of the tail, or arm, which is set at right angles to enable the seed therefore to locate a crack or crevice in the soil structure of the ground in which to drop, thereby increasing its chances of propagation. The use in the hygrometer dials of antique barometers was commonplace up until approximately 1840 when some makers must presumably have tried to cut corners on production costs. Generally barometers not originally fitted with wild oatbeards are of poor quality in some of the finer details. This tendency seemed to increase as the years went by, perhaps the start of mass production! And more profit! Although there are fine examples of operational hygrometers with oatbeards after 1840, they seem to be almost non existent after the 1870's. The typical barometer which did not usually have an oatbeard fitted is the 'onion' or 'tulip' design barometer. A cross section of the middle of the hygrometer dial often encountered on such barometers, fig. 2, and of the earlier style, fig. 1 - which actually works (!) - illustrates this progression. When using an oatbeard, some support is needed, even when only slightly encumbered with a dried grass pointer, to enable the pointer to revolve near enough parallel to the dial and not twist up to the glass or down to touch the dial. This is provided by a brass tube surrounding the oatbeard. It is interesting to note that on some early stick barometers circa 1790 and earlier, which are fitted with oatbeard hygrometers, the allowance for length of the beard is greater than most normal wheel barometers of later date. It is perhaps possible that in the 18th century larger oatbeards were more commonly available or found than the ones which are used today. As an experiment wild oats have been grown which have oatbeards of approximately 1/2" long and operate well when used as described, but accuracy is just not available; the best one can hope for is a comparative indication. The divisions on the dial are almost meaningless. Although few people observe their hygrometers, the only satisfactory course when restoring them is to make it as near the original as possible.
Alexander Adie, born in Edinburgh in 1775, was apprenticed to his uncle John Miller, a leading 18th century Scottish instrument maker, and became his partner in 1804. Adie had a great interest in meteorological instruments and in 1818 he invented an improved air barometer, known as the sympiesometer, and obtained a British Patent No. 4323.
Adie's sympiesometer was made by both himself and others. It has a bulb filled with hydrogen and another bulb which, with part of the connecting tube, contains coloured almond oil. A thermometer is also mounted. The scale of pressures is made to slide against a fixed scale of temperatures, both being graduated. To use the instrument, the thermometer is first read and an index pointer on the slide is set to correspond with the reading of the thermometer. The pressure is then read from the sliding scale opposite the level of the oil in the tube and the pressure reading can be recorded on the small dial at the base of the sympiesometer.
The sympiesometer was calibrated by comparison with an ordinary barometer in a pressure-vacuum chamber, and the scale was calibrated by varying the temperature with the pressure constant at some mean value. The correction for temperature will, of course, be exact only at this pressure.
Adie had his sympiesometer tested on ships in the Tropics, the Arctic, and near the coast of Scotland. All the reports received seem to have been enthusiastic. A letter from the Commander of the Isabella, one of the ships on the Ross expedition to the Arctic, states:
"The Sympiesometer is a most excellent instrument, and shews the weather far better than the marine barometer. In short, the barometer is of no use compared to it . . . in my opinion it surpasses the mercurial barometer as much as the barometer is superior to having none at all."
In 1829 the well known Scottish scientist James Forbes commented: "as a marine barometer, its superiority in accuracy and utility, as well as convenience, seems fully established".
We have handled old examples of these in the past and have found some to be still working after 100 years. Our replica is another quality facismile of this original instrument. Although we do not suggest it is as accurate as a conventional barometer, it certainly is an intriguing variation of a barometer.
BAROMETER WORLD LTD MERTON, DEVON. EX20 3DS TEL: 01805 603443 FAX: 01805 603344
1,2,3 PULL!
USE OF BAROMETERS FOR FISHERMEN
It has been well known that barometric pressure changes, as shown by a barometer, affect fishing and the way fish behave, especially game fish because of the neutral buoyancy of their swim bladders. Low air pressure will cause the fish to go slightly deeper using a greater head of water to compensate and continuing high pressure tends to cause fish to rise. If the air pressure is at 1010 millibars & above and rising, very good fishing can be expected. If the pressure is below 1010 millibars and rising, fishing will be poor but improving. If the pressure is above 1010 millibars and steady, good fishing can still generally be expected. If below 1010 millibars fishing will normally be poor but may improve if the barometer remains steady for several days. If the barometer is falling from above 1010 millibars the fishing will become poor. If the air pressure is below 1010 millibars and falling then fishing is likely to be very poor. The best fishing is likely to be when the air pressure is between 1010 & 1022 millibars and the barometer is in a rising or steady state.
Tight lines to you all! 15th Sept 2001
Yes! believe it or not our cousins in Bermuda have used the oil from sharks livers put into a clear bottle and hung outside to predict the weather for centuries. Here at Barometer World we are researching this unusual barometer and whilst early indications are not too favourable we are expecting a fresh shipment of oil from Bermuda in the next few months. We will then be able to expand more on the information about this type of barometer. After many trials (still on going at barometer world) we have a number of shark oil barometers on display. Further work is needed in finding a suitable liquid to thin the oil so it stay fluid in our colder climate. Pictures here is one of our shark oil barometers, hung outside, the different layers of oil (or sediment and clearer oil) is clearly visible. Thanks to dedicated shark fishermen in Bermuda we will be recieveing a further yield of oil in the next few weeks- ready for more tests. Some more information will be available in my next book (nearly written) on alternative weather predictors. - Reserve your early copy by contacting us! Publication due mid 2003. . 15th Sept 2001
I have had the pleasure of meeting many people during my time, Mrs Nina Cooper being one of them, She kindly rallied to the challenge a few years ago and wrote what is a very good outline of the history of the barometer - plus a few other things. It is regretable that it was not published and I offer it here only for personal use and reserve all copyright in it which Mrs Cooper and I jointly own. No part of it may be reproduced or used without permision in writing from us.
“The Plain Person's Perspective on Barometers & A Few Other Things"Light Satirical Sketch Approx. 25,000 words
INTRODUCTION This book is about what they are, how they evolved, and why they are still useful. The barometer was one of the great scientific developments of the 17th century. All were essential steps in the progress of mankind towards a more healthy, well-informed and well-regulated existence. None of them sprang into being out of nothing. They were all the result of long years of slow and painful thought about something or other, much hindered by those who should have known better. This little book is a light-hearted look at some of those years. Anyone researching barometers cannot fail to be eternally indebted to W.E. Knowles Middleton, the Canadian author of "The History of the Barometer". I gratefully acknowledge the help that that great compendium of scientific knowledge has been to me. Chapter One It was to be one thousand three hundred years before people began to question seriously Aristotle's views about the vacuum. Of course, there were sceptics in his day, just as there are now. A man called Democritus, who was born thirty-six years before Aristotle, denied that a vacuum was impossible. Lucretius, who was born about eighty-six years after the sage, also insisted that a vacuum was possible. Both of these men were, of course, treated with the contempt reserved nowadays for people who deny the infallibility of television pundits. Down the centuries, from time to time, reservations were expressed about Aristotle's dictum, but they were always brushed aside. Aristotle had, however, realised that air has weight. "..... in its place," he recorded, "every body has weight, except fire, even air. It is proof of this that an inflated bladder weighs more than an empty one." Unfortunately those who followed him as the years went by could not accept this bit of common sense. How sad that he was supported with blind loyalty when he was wrong about the vacuum, but deserted when he was right about the weight of air! Such is life! Aristotle's followers believed that everything was made up out of combinations of the four basic elements - earth and water, which were heavy, and fire and air which were light. Another idea that had become accepted down the centuries was that there is in the air a sort of invisible fluid, which they called "aether". This stuff, they maintained, was finer than air and could pass through solid matter. Then came the Renaissance. It was triggered off in Italy in the 14th century when people began to study the literature and records of ancient Greece and Rome. The ideas contained in those old records swept like a cleansing wind through minds that had been conditioned by the rigid and tyrannical teachings of the medieval Church. Waves of independent thought rolled over Europe and laid the foundations for the invention of the great scientific instruments of the 17th century. The greatest of these were the telescope, the microscope, the air pump, the pendulum clock, the thermometer and the barometer. This brings us to Torricelli. Evangelista Torricelli was born in 1608, near Faenza in Italy. His parents died when he was very young, and he was brought up by an uncle who was a monk. This was very fortunate for the boy, as at that time all schooling was in the hands of the Church, so his uncle could ensure that he had a good education. Torricelli studied mathematics and went on to university in Rome. Whilst there he became an ardent admirer of Galileo, the great scientist and astronomer. Torricelli wrote that he felt "fortunate to have been born in a century which was able to know and write the praises of a Galileo, an oracle of nature." Galileo had made a telescope that showed him that the planet Jupiter has four moons circling it. This supported the theory already put out by Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, that the earth moves round the sun, not vice versa as the theologians claimed. Galileo published his discovery and thereby fell foul of the Church. Probably because he was held in such high esteem, Galileo was dealt with lightly. He was spared the burning at the stake, which was the customary fate of heretics, and instead was summoned to Rome. There the Pope himself pressured Galileo into promising to publish a denial of Copernicus' theory. This he did, but a few years later he asserted its correctness again. This time he was sent for by the Inquisition, who threatened to use torture unless he once more denied his beliefs. Again he complied, and retired to Florence, where he lived under virtual house-arrest until he died.
In spite of his problems with the Church, Galileo had been appointed official philosopher and mathematician to the Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany. This Duke was of a scientific turn of mind, and was later to make some interesting observations of his own. It must have been a thrilling step-up for Torricelli to assist the great scientist under the eyes of his august master. The joy was short-lived though. Within a few months of Torricelli's arrival in Florence Galileo, now old, blind and sick, died and left his new collaborator jobless, homeless, and probably penniless. This in turn must have been a harrowing time for Torricelli as he packed his bags and faced the prospect of going back to his old masters in Rome. Fortunately, Duke Ferdinand had seen enough of his work to have been
impressed, and he now offered Galileo's old post to Torricelli. It is
not hard to imagine the switch-back of emotions as the new official
mathematician came out of the depths of despair into even greater heights
of joy than he had experienced before. Galileo, like Aristotle before him, had had his blind spots, oracle
of nature though he undoubtedly was. Galileo had not doubted the possibility of the vacuum though. In the same year, 1612, he had read a book in which the author claimed that a vacuum could not exist because it would be impossible to recognise it either by the senses or the intellect. "If the vacuum cannot be recognised by either the senses or the intellect," Galileo wrote scornfully in the margin of the book, "how have you managed to find out that it does not exist?" It is strange that Aristotle and Galileo, who lived some two thousand
years apart, should have been so neatly at opposite ends of the same
stick. Aristotle could not accept the vacuum, but recognised that air
has weight. Galileo insisted that air is weightless, but found no difficulty
in accepting the vacuum. Yet both were undoubtedly "oracles of
nature". One wonders what Aristotle would have made of Galileo.
Clearly the latter was no blind follower of the former. It just shows
how careful one has to be in accepting the pronouncements of experts. Galileo had told Baliani that the failure was due to an "attractive force" in the vacuum but Baliani had come to believe that it was caused by air pressure on the water. Galileo, of course, would have none of that. By the time Torricelli took over Galileo's work the arguments for and against the vacuum and air pressure were waxing furious, and all over Europe people were doing experiments to prove or disprove one or the other. Torricelli did something quite unique. Instead of doing just a few isolated experiments he designed an instrument which "might show the changes of the air, now heavier and coarser, now lighter and more subtle", as he wrote to a friend. In the same letter Torricelli explained that in order to establish that air had weight it was necessary first to produce a vacuum, but that it was the pressure of the air that made the production of the vacuum so difficult. This was a piece of clear thinking almost unparalleled, and by itself would have put him leaps ahead of his competitors. However, he went on to make his instrument, and thereby justly earned the title of father of the barometer. Torricelli's experiment was made with two four-foot glass tubes, sealed at one end and filled with mercury, and a bowl also full of mercury. When the tubes were turned up- side down in the bowl the mercury ran out of them for a while then stopped. Why did it stop? Torricelli believed that the weight of the air on the surface of the mercury in the bowl, in which the ends of the tubes were immersed, was preventing any more running out. In theory, the space at the top of the tubes must be a vacuum, since if air could pass back up through the mercury to fill that space the mercury would keep on running out, and no air could get in through the glass into that space. But how to prove it? It was then that Torricelli really showed his mettle. He had water poured over the mercury in the bowl, and the tubes were lifted gently until their open ends reached the water. At once all the rest of the mercury left the tubes and the water rushed in with great force. If the space behind the mercury had not been a vacuum the water could not have got in. Torricelli explained that "..... on the surface of the liquid in the basin presses a height of fifty miles of air." The first barometer had worked. Readers who are more intelligent than the author may find that these explanations of experiments give rise to questions such as "why did the mercury leave the tubes and the water rush in?" etc. The answers to those questions may be found in any public library. As far as this book is concerned, it did, and it proved the point. All the same, Torricelli thought he had failed because he had not been able to find out "when the air is coarser and heavier, and when it is more subtle and light". This had been his real objective. How often when looking for one thing we find another! There was great excitement among the scientific community when the result of Torricelli's experiment became known, some accepting the result with enthusiasm, others contending against it bitterly. The historic background was not conducive to widespread publicity, since the German states were locked together in the Thirty Years' War, and in England people were busy with their own Civil War. In France the regent, Anne of Austria, was ruling in the name of her infant son, Louis X1V, through her chief minister, the "eminence grise" Cardinal Mazarin. All over Europe the rule of the Church of Rome was being questioned or opposed. In China the last of the Ming emperors hanged himself, and Velasquez was painting in Spain, Rembrandt in Holland. But in Italy, close under the eyes of the Pope and the Inquisition,
there was less chance for freedom of thought. It is true that there
were many clerics who were deeply interested in the scientific questions
of the day, but they kept a very low profile. Torricelli was not the
only one bent on solving the mysteries of nature, but fears of being
branded a heretic were well based. This was probably the reason why
the great experiment received less attention in Italy than anywhere
else. After all, Torricelli had the example of Galileo before him. The
latter had been a legend in his own lifetime, but Torricelli was a virtual
newcomer. The Church was less likely to spare him the rack and the stake.
It might also have been the case that Duke Ferdinand was unwilling to
have another of his official mathematicians at odds with the Pope. He
might have feared that he himself would become involved as a supporter
of heresies. He declared a "triumph" for his employee, and
left it at that. On the other hand, perhaps it was just a case of "a
prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and among It was in France that the experiment roused most interest, and it was at Rouen that it was first carried out after Torricelli had done it. Pierre Petit, the Inspector of Fortifications there, did it with the help of his friend, Blaise Pascal. They inverted the tubes of mercury into the bowl and after they had seen the mercury fall they argued about the implications. Pascal could not believe that the space at the top of the tube was a vacuum. Perhaps air was getting in through the pores of the glass? If that were so, said Petit, why did not more air get in and the mercury continue to fall? They argued about this for a long time, looking, as Petit said afterwards, “with wonder and astonishment at the appearance of this apparent or veritable vacuum". Then they poured water over the mercury in the bowl, as Torricelli had done, and when they lifted the tubes above the level of the mercury the water rushed in. This convinced both of them about the vacuum, but neither believed in the pressure of the air. They thought up all manner of fantasies to explain it away. Pascal was something of a showman, and after this he took to performing the Torricellian experiment before admiring audiences all over France. This earned him the scorn of more serious scientists. As time passed, Pascal claimed to have initiated, or been involved in a number of important experiments, but his claims have been disputed down the years and his standing as a genuine contributor to the development of the barometer must be in doubt. Early in this century a great controversy broke out about him when a book was published in France accusing him of being a liar and a fraud. He was defended as vociferously by some as he was denigrated by others. One of the experiments that Pascal claimed to have suggested was the famous Puy-de-Dome, which was the next great step forward in the barometer story. In addition to the doubts about his own claims, there is the fact that Pascal was a friend of the French philosopher Descartes. The latter was, and continued to be, one of the most hostile to Torricelli's findings. Descartes is best known for his Latin tag "Cogito, ergo sum" - or, "I think, therefore I am." One would imagine this to be obvious to anyone with half a grain of common sense, but Descartes has been elevated to the ranks of the seers and revelators on the strength of it. He involved himself in scientific matters - and was usually wrong - and even after the success of Torricelli's experiment had been repeated many times he continued to maintain vehemently that there could be no such thing as a vacuum. All empty spaces, he declared, were filled by the “subtle matter" called aether, which took different forms according to circumstances. "Imagine the air to be like wool," he wrote to one of his unfortunate pupils, "and the aether which is in its pores to be like eddies of wind which move hither and thither in this wool......" One might be forgiven for thinking that Descartes had been blessed with an over-active imagination, had it not been for another of his foibles. He believed that animals had no feelings, and to prove it nailed the feet of his wife's dog to the floor-boards. (She left him). In view of all this it is a marvel that anyone ever took the man seriously, but he did make one contribution to the development of the barometer. He produced a paper scale, marked off in lines to show the movement of the mercury, and this scale was used in the Puy-de-Dome experiment, which Descartes, like Pascal, claimed to have thought of first. How many more, one wonders? At eight o'clock on the morning of the 19th September 1648 a small group of gentlemen assembled in the garden of a monastery near the foot of a mountain called Puy-de-Dome, in France. The group consisted of two clergymen, two lawyers, a doctor and a French scientist named Perier. It is not known whether he was an ancestor of the firm that sells bottled water, but it is known that he was Pascal's brother-in-law. This might have prompted the latter to claim an involvement in the experiment. He said that he had suggested it to Perier, but Perier never said so. Perier was to carry out the experiment, and he had brought the others along to watch and make sure there was no trickery. He now set. about filling his bowl and glass tubes with mercury and setting them up. Twice he performed the experiment while his guests looked on and marvelled. They took note that the mercury in the tubes - which were three feet long - dropped down to a little over 26 inches on Descartes' scale when the tubes were reversed in the bowl. Satisfied so far, Perier refilled one of the tubes and set it up in the bowl again, and instructed one of the monks to watch it all day and note any movements of the mercury. He and the rest of the party then set out to climb the mountain, taking the other tube and another bowl of mercury with them. It is a rather affecting picture that comes to - mind, of these five serious gentlemen struggling up the mountain - it was 3000 feet - carrying their three foot glass tube of mercury and with more of the stuff sloshing about in the bowl. It is a picture that recurs frequently over the next few hundred years, and it makes one wonder about present-day attitudes to mercury. There is no doubt it is toxic if not handled with care, the fumes being particularly so when heated, but these early scientists dabbled in the stuff with merry abandon without, so far as we can tell, exhibiting any of the signs of mercury poisoning. It is a fact too that in the early 1930s there was a gentleman working for the great barometer makers, Negretti and Zambra in London, who had attained the age of 93 after filling mercury tubes since he was 14! And all that time he had boiled it! When Perier and his companions reached the summit of the mountain they repeated the experiment, and found that when they inverted the tube into the bowl the mercury fell to a level three and a bit inches shorter than it had down in the garden. This, as Perier wrote afterwards, "ravished us all with admiration and astonishment, and surprised us so much that for our own satisfaction I wished to repeat it." This he did, on five different locations on the summit, all with the same result - a reading of 23 and a bit inches on Descartes' scale. Then they began the descent. Halfway down Perier repeated the experiment, and found that the mercury in the tube after it had been inverted into the bowl now measured 25 inches. That is to say, one and a bit less than the one down in the garden, but one and a bit more than the readings on the summ |
