--When dealing with hydrochloric acid, take great care not to get
it on your skin or clothes, as it is a very strong corrosive.
XXVII. A RAIN-GAUGE.
The systematic measurement of rainfall is one of those pursuits which prove
more interesting in the doing than in the prospect. It enables us to
compare one season or one year with another; tells us what the weather has
been while we slept; affords a little mild excitement when thunderstorms
are about; and compensates to a limited extent for the disadvantages of a
wet day.
The general practice is to examine the gauge daily (say at 10 a.m.); to
measure the water, if any, collected during the previous twenty-four hours;
and to enter the record at once. Gauges are made which record automatically
the rainfall on a chart or dial, but these are necessarily much more
expensive than those which merely catch the water for measurement.
This last class, to which our attention will be confined chiefly, all
include two principal parts--a metal receiver and a graduated glass
measure, of much smaller diameter than the receiver, so that the divisions
representing hundredths of an inch may be far enough apart to be
distinguishable.
Pages:
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268