Barometer store in England features reproduction of a "Tempest Prognosticator," a.k.a "Leech Barometer"
Joshua Foer is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Joshua is a freelance science journalist and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Dylan Thuras.
Barometer World is a store in Okephampton, England that specializes in the sale and repair of instruments that determine atmospheric pressure. After two years of research, its proprietor built a reproduction of one of the most whimsical weather-forecasting devices of all time, the "Tempest Prognosticator," a.k.a. the "Leech Barometer," a.k.a. the "Atmospheric Electromagnetic
Telegraph." The instrument, which uses fresh water leeches to predict incoming storms, was first exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London in
1851:
A contemporary account of the invention described it as an "elaborate and highly ornate apparatus... evolved by a certain Dr. Merryweather (no epigram intended) who had observed that during the period before the onset of a severe storm, fresh water leaches tended to become particularly agitated. The learned Doctor decided to harness the physical energy of these surprisingly hysterical aquatic bloodsuckers to operate an early warning system. On the circular base of his apparatus he installed glass jars, in each of which a leech was imprisoned and attached to a fine chain that led up to a miniature belfry--from whence the tinkling tocsin would be sounded on the approach of a tempest."
The more bells that rang, the greater the likelihood of an impending storm.
UPDATE: The above photograph is of the other Tempest Prognosticator reproduction, built in 1951 for the Whitby Museum in North Yorkshire.
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From "Enquire Within Upon Everything", published in the 1860s:
Leech barometer.-
Take an eight-ounce phial, and put in it three gills of water, and place in it a healthy leech, changing the water in summer once a week, and in winter once in a fortnight, and it will most accurately prognosticate the weather. If the weather is to be fine, the leech lies motionless at the bottom of the glass, and coiled together in a spiral form; if rain may be expected, it will creep up to the top of its lodgings, and remain there until the weather is settled; if we are to have wind, it will move through its habitation with amazing swiftness, and seldom goes to rest till it begins to blow hard; if a remarkable storm of thunder and rain is to succeed, it will lodge for some days before almost continually out of the water, and discover great uneasiness in violent throes and convulsive-like motions; in frost as in clear summer-like weather it lies constantly at the bottom; and in snow as in rainy weather it ptches its dwelling in the very mouth of the phial. The top should be covered over with a piece of muslin.
So, why do the various Met Bureaus bother with all those satellites and computers when a simple blood-sucker could do all this for them! 8-)}
"Tempest Prognosticator" sounds like a kick-ass YA fantasy heroine, like a Harriet Potter.
that Tempest Prognosticator is the one in whitby Museum!
here's a link to their page on the prognosticator ( and the "hand of glory" :)
http://www.whitbymuseum.org.uk/d12/misc/index.htm
In my neighborhood, you know it's about to rain when the snails start crawling up your front steps (apparently trying to get high enough not to drown in the possible flood.)
Nice bit of evolved behavior.
Fails badly when people wearing shoes walk up those same steps, though. Crunch...!
At the very least leeches should prove less dismally bland than the weather channel.
The satellites can tell you what is the observed weather in parts of the world where there is no more practical way to make these observations. Computers are somewhat helpful but past a few hours we are lucky to find a model which predictions land in the ballpark. Pretty useless if you try to decide to ride your bike to work or not the morning next.
Beyond a day, a careful observation of the behavior of leeches, dogs or your spouse temper is just about as useful.
Meteorologist are very good at casting scientific anathemas though. In reality, they are subsisting on the fringe of science... leeches of its success?
#2: I had that book! It is AWESOME is it not? Ammonium nitrate cooled ice-cream, the correct way to deal with the lower classes when they come to deliver goods, leech barometers - it's a seriously useful book...
It's Okehampton not Okephampton
#4 & #7: Right on both counts. I've updated the post. Thanks!
I have to wonder if shivering leeches shiver uniquely.
@2: quick, how many minims in a gill? What is that in drachms?
Reminds me of the weasel barometer at work. The more weasels that attended your project meetings, the more important the project was to upper management. When the weasels stopped attending your meetings, the project was doomed. It was infallible.
PARASATRONIC WEATHER PREDICTION! Funny though - using biological components in mechanical systems will probably be the next big thing...
European tree frogs were also apparently used as barometers, by being kept in a jar containing water and a ladder- they would supposedly enter the water when rain was forthcoming, and leave it when the weather would be dry.
I recognise this photo as I was present when it was taken!
Original source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_justified_sinner/2048121386/
Please attribute my good friend The Justified Sinner as requested by his licence and link to his photo on Flickr.