Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 096.djvu/313

tance to the commander of a ship, in warning him of the approach and termination of bad weather, and of changes in the direction of the wind, even in the present state of meteorological knowledge, that no officer in a long voyage should foe without one. Some experience is required to understand its language, and it will always be necessary to compare the state of the mercury with the appearance of the weather, before its prognostications will commonly be understood; for a rise may foretel an abatement of wind,—a change in its direction,— or the return of fine weather; or if the wind is light and variable, it may foretel its increase to a steady breeze, especially if there is any easting in it; and a fall may prognosticate a strong breeze or gale, a change of wind, the approach of rain, or the dying away of a steady breeze. Most seamen are tolerably good judges of the appearance of the weather; and this judgment, assisted by observation upon the quick or slower rising or falling of the mercury, and upon its relative height, will in most cases enable them to fix upon which of these changes are about to take place, and to what extent, where there is only one; but a combination of changes will be found more difficult, especially where the effect of one upon the barometer is counteracted by the other; as for instance, the alteration of a moderate breeze from the westward with dull, or rainy weather, to a fresh breeze from the eastward with fine weather, may not cause any alteration in the height of the mercury; though I think there would usually be some rise in this case. Many combinations of changes might be mentioned, in which no alteration in the barometer would be expected, as a little consideration, or