er. If the moon is rainy throughout, it will clear at the
change, and, perhaps, the rain return a few days after. If fair
throughout, and rain at the change, the fair weather will probably
return on the fourth or fifth day.

967. Weather Precautions.

If the weather appears doubtful, always take the precaution of having
an umbrella when you go out, as you thereby avoid the chance of
getting wet--or encroaching under a friend's umbrella.--or being under
the necessity of borrowing one, which involves the trouble of
returning it, and possibly puts the lender to inconvenience.

968. Leech Barometer.

Take an eight ounce phial and three-parts fill it with 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 till 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 pitches its dwelling in the
very mouth of the phial. The top should be covered over with a piece
of muslin.

969. The Chemical Barometer.

Take a long narrow bottle, such as an old-fashioned Eau-de-Cologne
bottle, and put into it two and a half drachms of camphor, and eleven
drachms of spirit of wine; when the camphor is dissolved, which it
will readily do by slight agitation, add the following mixture:--Take
water, nine drachms; nitrate of potash (saltpetre), thirty-eight
grains; and muriate of ammonia (sal ammoniae), thirty-eight grains.
Dissolve these salts in the water prior to mixing with the camphorated
spirit; then shake the whole well together. Cork the bottle well, and
wax the top, but afterwards make a very small aperture in the cork
with a red-hot needle. The bottle may then be hung up, or placed in
any stationary position. By observi