Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1896 — A Curious Barometer. [ARTICLE]

A Curious Barometer.

One of the most curious of the many natural barometers consists of a halfpint glass half full of water, a piece of muslin and a leech. The leech must be put in the water and the muslin tied over the top of the glass so that the creaturecannotgetoutagain. When fine weather is to be the order of the day the leech will remain at the bottom of the water, coiled up in spiral shape, perfectly motionless. If rain is to be expected it will creep to the top of the glass and remain there until there is a likelihood of more settled weather. If there is to be a storm of wind it squirms about in the water with violence. For some days before thunder it occasionally moves its body in a convulsive fashion. In frosty weather it behaves in the same manner as in fine weather, and it foretells snow In the same manner that it does rain.