lace_ after a change in the barometer; but the principal point for
a seaman is, that no violent wind will blow without the barometer
giving warning. He may not know exactly from what quarter the wind
will come, but no strong wind will come on without warning being
given.

"You recommend that at the Coast-guard stations there should be a
barometer, by means of which people would know when a violent wind
was coming on; but as it would not indicate the quarter from which
it was coming, would you have the merchant ship always remain in
port till the barometer showed fine weather?--Being accustomed to
the barometer on our coast, one could tell from what quarter the
wind would probably come by the height of the barometer, taken in
connexion with its previous height, and the state of the weather,
and the strength of winds that had prevailed before. Taking the
state of the barometer in connexion with the appearance of the
weather one could make a satisfactory conclusion as to the quarter
from which any violent wind would come. And the barometer, after
very little practice, can be used by any man. There is no difficulty
in using it sufficiently to know that danger is coming on; and if
danger is coming on, a man refrains, of course, from exposing
himself to it; the quarter from which the wind comes being of minor
consequence.

"With a North-easterly wind, in this part of the world, the
barometer stands, on an average, about half an inch higher than with
the same strength of wind from the South-westward. All over the
world there is a similar difference proportionate to the range of
the mercury for which allowance should always be made in considering
the height of the barometer."[1]

In the first Number of Meteorological Papers, published by the Board of
Trade, 1857, is the following passage respecting the use of
weather-glasses:--

"The variety of interesting and useful, if not always important,
subjects included within the range of meteorology, is not perhaps
sufficiently realized in the minds of active participators in the
world's stirring work. Irrespective of any scientific object, how
much utility is there to all classes in what is commonly called
'weather wisdom'? In our variable climate, with a maritime
population, numbers of small vessels, and especially fishing boats,
how much li