On December 27th in 1831, warship HMS Beagle set sail from Devonport in England under the command of Captain Robert Fitzroy (1805-65). The ship had embarked upon an expedition of discovery around the world that was to take five years. Fitzroy, not only a renowned captain and navigator, but also a most Biblically oriented young man, was convinced that this expedition would provide scientific evidence of the intrinsic truth of the Book of Genesis. However, contrary to Fitzroy's expectations, the opposite actually proved to be the case. For, with him was 26-year-old biologist/geologist, Charles Darwin (1809-82).

On November 15th 1835 the ship weighed anchor off one of the Galapagos Islands. There, during the course of Darwin's studies, it emerged that there existed an incredible variety of finches, distinguishable by differences in the shape of their beaks. According to Fitzroy's Creationist beliefs, God must have been particularly interested in finches as he had created such a variety of beaks for them in the archipelago. Interestingly, he had created a different type especially for each island. Yet Darwin's conclusion was a far more straightforward one: although related, the beaks of the finches in each location were adapted to the kind of food that was available there, according to principles of natural selection.

After many years of research, Darwin published: 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life' in November 1859. Predictably, Fitzroy, by this time a Rear Admiral, was very unhappy with this publication. He must have been particularly dismayed to have indirectly contributed to a school theory directly opposed to biblical doctrine. In 1860, unable to suppress his outrage, he disrupted a lecture on Darwin's theory. Waving a Bible he loudly exclaimed: "This is against God's word". Five years later, perhaps in despair, Fitzroy committed suicide, an act explicitly forbidden by his religion.

Fitzroy, however, is known to have been far less conservative in his attitudes regarding other scientific and ethical matters. In 1845, after two years service as Governor General of New Zealand, he was recalled to London after upsetting the colonists by refusing to support settlers in their attempts to dispossess Maoris of their land. He was also a notable pioneer in the field of meteorology. After retiring from active service in the navy he was made director of the newly established 'Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade' - nowadays known as the 'British Meteorological Office'. He established daily weather forecasts, set up the first storm-warning service and published: 'the Weather Book', in 1862.


Since his earliest voyages, Fitzroy had been interested in the phenomena that preceded changes in the weather and in discovering how an understanding of these might be used for weather prediction. Needless to say, this required a great many specialist tools. For this purpose, a large collection of highly advanced instruments was carefully selected, packed in sawdust-filled crates and loaded aboard the Beagle. No fewer than 22 Chronometers were amongst the collection, which also included five examples of a special type of 'barometer' named the sympiesometer, which was especially favoured by Fitzroy. This relatively new invention, precluding the use of mercury, had been specially designed for maritime use and thoroughly tested on ships travelling in the Tropics, the Polar Regions, and off the Scottish coast. Fitzroy, no doubt, was aware of how successful the new sympiesometer had proven to be. In a letter from the captain of The Isabella - one of the ships of Ross's Arctic expedition of 1820 - can be found the following quote: "The Sympiesometer is a most excellent instrument, and shews the weather far better than the marine barometer. In short, the barometer is of no use compared to it…in my opinion it surpasses the mercurial barometer as much as the barometer is superior to having none at all."


Alexander Adie (1775-1858), from Edinburgh, a highly acclaimed maker of scientific instruments, was granted a patent for his sympiesometer in 1818 and published an extensive description of it a year later. The word 'sympiesometer' is derived from 'sumpiedzein' and 'metron', the Greek terms for compression and measurement respectively. Adie had a particular interest in meteorological instruments and was apprentice to his uncle, John Miller, a prominent Scottish instrument maker, becoming his partner in 1804. Until his death, Adie practiced his trade from a variety of locations in Edinburgh. In his 'British Patent 4323' (1818), Adie's instrument is described as 'An improvement on the air barometer'.

Adie's sympiesometer was actually an improvement upon Robert Hooke's thermobarometer. And, although the latter instrument had been around since the beginning of the 18th century, few were produced during the first decades.