Barometer chart

From the papers of Robert Boyle.

Standard form for the recording of one month’s barometric readings. The chart was intended to record surface air pressure in inches of mercury, with a scale 28-31 inHG at the upper edge (each unit divided into tenths) against days of the month 1-31, descending at the right edge.

The printed template was completed at York, England for the month of December 1682. The vertical line forms a bar chart with the barometric readings in the range of 28 5/10 to 30 2/10. There are brief, daily meteorological observations on the left and right sides of this line, commencing on 1 January: ‘cloudy, calm’.

Charts of this type were devised by Martin Lister (1639-1712). Lister was resident at York and therefore the author of this chart was likely to have been within Lister’s circle.