A Salt Hygrometer (opens in new tab)

An “easy and curious method of foretelling rainy or fine weather,” from an 1860 book on conjuring, of all places: “[T]he best instrument of all, is a good pair of scales, in one of which let there be a brass weight of a pound, and in the other a pound of salt, or of saltpetre, well dried; a stand being placed under the scale, so as to hinder it falling too low. When it is inclined to rain, the salt will swell, and sink the scale: when the weather is growing fair, the brass weight will regain ...