Another very interesting topic posted today shows a link to the oldest weather observatory in constant usage since the 1800s.
A real treat was a series of great photos, the first of which shows an old fashioned mercury column barometer, one of three that they have.
I have a brand new, unused, literally old-school mercury barometer which is the spitting image of one that I recall from our high school science room, which was next to one I really wished I had, the old wooden one that looks like it came over from Beurnoilli.
I have some mercury, but have had some stout opposition from the significant other about setting the thing up. I've been thinking about doing it in the shed, where there is higher chance of an errant piece of something hitting it, but no one around, vs. in the basement where it is much safer, but we live in the house.
I know some think I have breathed mercury too much as a youth, but all kidding aside, we used to coat pennies with it, chase it around the old black-surfaced lab tables and had that barometer in that room, along with an old one in my grade school, too now that I think about it.
I know that hazmat teams in yellow uniforms breathing hosed in air are dispatched at the slightest hint of a spill. My doctor's office removed all the good old mercury blood pressure cuffs years ago, but they were in place for generations.
What do people think, or have read about, having a mercury column barometer in action any more?
Just curious. and still strongly tempted...
Dale