Barometers Realm

A particularly amusing example of the early twentieth-century novelty “barometer” postcard, in which weather prediction is deliberately reduced to a comic physical observation rather than any genuine measurement of atmospheric pressure.

The card depicts a mule fitted with an actual fibre tail and instructs the owner to “hang outside.” The supposed forecast is then obtained simply by observing the tail: if the tail is dry — fair; if wet — rain; if swinging — windy; if wet and swinging — stormy; if frozen — cold.

The joke is therefore based on circular logic: the “instrument” predicts weather only by displaying weather conditions that are already occurring. The attached tail nevertheless gives the postcard a genuine responsive element, since moisture, wind and frost would indeed physically alter its appearance and movement. The punched suspension hole is an important surviving feature, showing that the postcard was designed not merely to be read but actually to be hung outdoors and used as a humorous pseudo-instrument. This places it within a broader tradition of novelty weather indicators employing strings, fibres, stones, ropes or pieces of organic material whose condition supposedly revealed forthcoming weather.

The copyright notice identifies J. B. Carroll of Chicago and dates the design to 1906, with a patent still stated as applied for. The surviving stamp and postal markings demonstrate that this example was genuinely mailed rather than preserved unused, adding another layer to its character as popular commercial ephemera.

Within a collection devoted to barometers, the card provides an entertaining counterpoint to precision meteorological instruments. It illustrates how the word “barometer” had entered popular culture so completely by the beginning of the twentieth century that it could be applied humorously to almost any object claimed to indicate the weather.