Reader Vega wrote to point out the recent post over at The Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society, all about the delightfully bonkers Victorian contraption called the Tempest Prognosticator. Created by the inventor Doctor George Merryweather, it relied on the belief that leeches became agitated and all but leapt around when a storm approached. So, to serve as an early warning mechanism, the good Doctor fashioned the above – a twelve bottled temple-like structure with one leech in each bottle, tethered by a tiny chain to a bell above. When the bells ring, a storm was on the way.

No information on how you feed the leeches, care for their upkeep (perhaps you did some bloodletting?) or indeed leach a leech, but it’s so unusual and classically inventive in a Victorian manner, that it surely becomes Steampunk.

While I read about such a thing though, I discovered that Devon in the UK is fortunate enough to have a Barometer Museum, with the gold plated Tempest Prognosticator on site and on display. I doubt they’ve got it loaded with leeches, though. chuckles