Easy And Curious Methods Of Foretelling Rainy Or Fine Weather

If a line be made of good whipcord, that is well dried, and a plummet

affixed to the end of it, and then hung against a wainscot, and a line

drawn under it, exactly where the plummet reaches, in very moderate

weather it will be found to rise above it before rain, and to sink

below when the weather is likely to become fair. But the best

instrument of all, is a good pair of scales, in one of which let there

be a brass weight of a pound, and in the other a pound of salt, or of

saltpetre, well dried; a stand being placed under the scale, so as to

hinder it falling too low. When it is inclined to rain, the salt will

swell, and sink the scale: when the weather is growing fair, the brass

weight will regain its ascendancy.