At 31 inches Very dry. " 30.5 " Settled fair. " 30 " Fair. " 29.5 " Changeable. " 29 " Rain. " 28.5 " Much rain. " 28 " Stormy. The French place upon their barometers a similar formula:-- At 785 millimetres Tres-sec. " 776 " Beau-fixe. " 767 " Beau temps. " 758 " Variable. " 749 " Pluie ou vent. " 740 " Grande pluie. " 731 " Tempete. Manufacturers of barometers have uniformly adopted these indications for all countries, without regard to the elevation above the sea, or the different geographical conditions; and as it can readily be shown that the height and variations of the barometer are dependent on these, it follows that barometers have furnished indications which, under many circumstances, have been completely false. Even in this country, and near the sea-level, storms are frequent with the barometer not below 29; rain is not uncommon with the glass at 30; even fine weather sometimes occurs with a low pressure; while it is evident that at an elevation of a few thousand feet the mercury would never rise to 30 inches; hence, according to the scale, there should never be fair weather there. If tempests happened as seldom in our latitude as the barometer gets down to 28 inches, the maritime portion of the community at least would be happy indeed. These words have long been ridiculed by persons acquainted with the causes of the barometric fluctuations; nevertheless opticians continue to place them on the scales, evidently only because they appear to add to the importance of the instrument in the eyes of those who have not learned their general inutility. In different regions of the world, the indications of the barometer are modified by the conditions peculiar to the geographical position and elevation above the sea, and it is necessary to take account of these in any attempt to found rules of general utility in connection with the barometer as a weather guide. All that can be said in favour of these words is, that within a few hundred feet of the sea-level, when the column rises or falls gradually during two or three days towards "Fair" or "Rain," the indications they afford of the coming weather are generally extremely probable; but when the variations are quick, upward or downward, they presage unsettled or stormy weather.