Frog in a jar

Before weather forecasts, farmers in the Britain looked to a frog in a jar of water with a small branch for their weather predictions. If the frog stayed in the water, conditions were expected to be bad, but, as it sensed a warm and sunny change, farmers could expect to see the frog edging its way up the branch. Despite the fact that the Brits happily accepted the movement of a frog as reliable prediction, when an MP suggested to the House of Commons that, with new developments of science, one could soon know the weather twenty-four hours in advance, he was laughed out of the room.

Source: Alamy