Self-registering thermometers should be protected by a similar screen. It has been found that thermometric observations made at sea are not valuable for scientific purposes unless the instruments have been duly protected by such a screen.
=150. Anemoscope=, or Portable Wind Vane for travellers, with compass, bar needle, &c., shows the direct course of the wind to half a point of the compass.
=151. Evaporating Dish, or Gauge= (fig. 95), for showing the amount of evaporation from the earth's surface. This gauge consists of a brass vessel, the area or evaporating surface of which is accurately determined; and also a glass cylindrical measure, graduated into inches, tenths, and hundredths of inches. In use, the evaporating gauge is nearly filled with water, the quantity having been previously measured by means of the glass cylinder; it is then placed out of doors, freely exposed to the action of the atmosphere; after exposure, the water is again measured, and the difference between the first and second measurement shows the amount of evaporation that has taken place. If rain has fallen during the exposure of the gauge, the quantity collected by it must be deducted from the measured quantity; the amount is shown by the quantity of rain collected in the rain gauge. The wire cage round the gauge is to prevent animals, birds, &c., from drinking the water.
=152. Dr. Babington's Atmidometer=, or instrument for measuring the evaporation from water, _ice or snow_, consists of an oblong hollow bulb of glass or copper, beneath which and communicating with it by a contracted neck is a second globular bulb, duly weighted with mercury or shot. The upper bulb is surmounted by a small glass or metal stem, having a scale graduated to grains and half-grains; on the top of which is fixed horizontally a shallow metal pan. The bulbs are immersed in a vessel of water having a circular hole in the cover through which the stem rises. Distilled water is then gradually poured into the pan above, until the zero of the stem sinks to a level with the cover of the vessel. Thus adjusted, as the water in the pan evaporates, the stem ascends, and the amount of evaporation is indicated in grains. This instrument affords a means of measuring evaporation from _ice or snow_. An adjustment for temperature is necessary.