Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Fascinating Invention No 4-The Tempest Prognosticator


Back to Barometer World. Barometers are all about the weather. This is something the Parents talk about ALOT. Not in an interesting, 'this how clouds are formed and rain is made', kind of way but in a, 'blah blah it's hot' or 'blah blah it's cold', kind of way. The Parents do have a barometer. It is in the hall and Dad likes to tap at it and say stuff like, 'looks like rain' when actually I have read the instructions on the Barometer World website and our barometer is not even set for the correct altitude. I ask you.
The Tempest Prognosticator was invented by Dr Merryweather-seriously, that was his name and he invented it to predict when thunderstorms would come. In 1851, he studied leeches and noticed how they got overexcited when the weather turned nasty. So he stuck them inside a glass dome and when a storm was coming they would rush up the glass and tinkle a little bell. He also got a bit overexcited and called his invention, 'one of the grandest ideas that ever emanated from the mind of man.'
It didn't catch on.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice colors. Keep up the good work. thnx!
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