A writer, speaking of variation to be seen in the column of mercury in
a barometer, says:
If you prop up the tube, and watch it carefully from day to day,
you will find that the height of the column of mercury will
continually vary. If you live at the sea-level, or thereabouts,
it will sometimes rise more than thirty inches above the level
of the mercury in the cup, and frequently fall below that
height. If you live on the top of a high mountain, or on any
high ground, it will never reach thirty inches, will still be
variable, its average height less than if you lived on lower
ground; and the higher you get the less will be this average
height of the mercury.
The reason of this is easily understood. When we ascend a
mountain we leave some portion of the atmosphere below us,
and of course less remains above; this smaller quantity must
have less weight and press the mercury less forcibly. If the
barometer tells the truth, it must show this difference; and
it does so with such accuracy that by means of a barometer, or
rather of two barometers--one at the foot of the mountain and
one on its summit--we may, by their difference, measure the
height of the mountain provided we know the rules for making the
requisite calculations.
The higher one ascends, the less weight oppresses the climber. This
is a truth also of the moral life. The higher one ascends, the less
obstacles and weights he encounters. In the valley the demoniac
writhes; on the mountain top Christ appears in His glory.
(3466)
=Weight Yielding to Persistency=--See PERSEVERANCE.
=Welcome Home=--See SONG AS A WELCOME HOME.
=Well-digging=--See MIRACLES, EVIDENTIAL VALUE OF.
=Well Done=--See EARLY RELIGION.
=Well Known, The, Unknown=--See LOCAL PRIDE.
=White Plague=--See TUBERCULOSIS.
=White Robes=--See BIBLE CUSTOMS TO-DAY.
“=White Slaves=”--See GIRLS, TRAFFIC IN.