sympiesometer (sim"pie so meter)

[Irreg. IMG:content-2685.png:[blocks in formation] 2. A form of barometer in which the pre ure of the atmosphere is balanced partly by the weight of a column of liquid and partly by the elastic pre ure of a confined ma of gas. As originally constructed by Adie of Edinburgh, it consists of a short inverted siphon-tube, with a bulb blown on the end of the longer leg, while the shorter leg is left open. The bulb and the upper end of the tube are filled with air The pre ure of the atmosphere exerted upon the surface or hydrogen, and the lower part of the tube with glycerin. of the liquid is balanced by the pre ure of the inclosed gas and by the weight of the column of liquid which is supported. The level of the liquid constitutes the reading of the instrument. At each observation the scale is adjusted for the temperature, and an attached thermometer forms an e ential auxiliary. The sympiesometer is more sensitive than the mercurial barometer, but it does not so well maintain its constancy, and its readings cannot be so accurately corrected and evaluated. An improved form of the instrument consists e entially of a cistern-barometer, with air above the column of liquid instead of a vacuum. term in ing the height of a column of liquid required to keep the inclosed air compre ed into a standard volume. By this method of use the theory of the instrument is The measurement consists in de Lysichiton, occurring in California, Alaska, Siberia, and Japan, produces elliptical leaves reaching 3 feet in length; for the others, see Orontium and Symplocarpus. Symplocarpus (sim-plō-kär'pus), n. [NL.(Salisbury, 1818), so called with ref. to the union of the ovaries into a multiple fruit; short for * symplococarpus, nearly globular spadix, each with four perianth-segments, four sta mens, and a thick four-angled style crowning an ovary with a single cell and ovule or with a second empty cell. The only species, S. fœtid us, is a native of America, northeastern Asia, and Japan, common in bogs and moist places in the eastern or central United States from Iowa to North Carolina and in Nova Scotia. It is a robust herb with a thick descending rootstock, producing a crown of large ovate and heart-shaped coriaceous leaves. The streaked or mottled spathe rises a few inches above the ground, and incloses a comparatively small brownish spadix, which ripens into a globose syncarp of berries, each with a single large rounded seed filled with a solid fleshy embryo. From the very large broad leaves, and from its odor when bruised, the plant is known as skunk - cabbage (which see, under cabbagel ). See also drac on tium, 2. IMG:content-2686.png:[blocks in formation]