The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-12-31
RAIN AND UMBRELLAS.
The Umbrellas as a Disperser of Rain.
som.

The Umbrellas - DiSperser Of Rain.
som.
New 70 Tlnes.l
The connection between umbrellas and
rain has never been clearly unprecedented,
even by our most learned scientific men.
1t has, of course. been noticed. times
without number, that If a man takes an
umbrella with him when he starts to 90
down town on cloudy morning, the
clouds viii diappear in the course of two
or three hours, and the day will be an
exceptionally fair one. If, on the other
hand, he imagines that, in spite of few
suspicious clouds, it viii not rain, and
therefore leaves his umbrella at home.
he viii tiad by IL o'clock a. M. that
steady fall Of rain is in progress. and
that lie must prepare to undergo a wet
ting on his way home So universally is
this true that many persons have ex-
pressed their belief that the actof carry
ing an umbrella is conducive to clear
weather, while the act of leaving it at
home produces rain. No man, however,
has until recently seriously regarded
this as law Of nature, and it now APP
pears that there is G positive connection
DStH6Sl uHAOiGllaS st1u TAIN.
1t is to Professor Harkness, of the
Smithsonian Institute scientific per-
son whose researches and discoveries
have frequently attracted the attention
OF the press-that we owe the first scien-
titic effort to discover and formulate the
law of umbrellas The Professor, alter
having tested Ia the most thorough man.
ner the effect upon the weather produced
by carrying and by not carrying his um-
brella, has proved to his own satisfaction
that the thirty millions Of umbrellas
shown by the last census to exist in the
United States have an immense influence
upon the annual rainfall. He finds that
in those parts OF the country where it
has become the fashion to carry umbrel-
las, whatever may be the aspect Of the
sky, rains are becoming more and more
iufrequent, while in those regions where
umbrellas are seldom carried unless il
actually rains, droughts are practically
unknown.
What is the reason that the exhibition
of large number Of umbrellas clears the
sky and produces dry weather? There
are two theories, both Of which Professor
Hardness discusses with much learning
and care, either one of which he origi-
nally imagined might explain the rela-
tons Of the umbrella to fair weather One
theory assumes that the textile covering
of the umbrella, whether it be silk, cot
ton, bingham, or some other material,
absorbs the moisture of the atmosphere
and SO hinders its precipitation in the
form Of rain. This theory is plausible,
and it was believed at one time by the
distinguished Investigator that it would
furnish the solution of this problem
It follows, however, that if the covering
Of an umbrella absorbs the moisture of
the atmosphere to such an extent as to
dispel clouds and to convert a cloudy and
threatening day into clear and bright
one, this moisture would afterward be
found in the umbrella in large quanti-
ties Experiments proved that the the
DRY was wrong. Umbrellas taken from
the umbrella-stand at o'clock on
cloudy morning, and carefully tested for
moisture, showed no increase of mois-
ture three hours later, when oil appear
ances Of rain had vanished. This test
was conclusive, and it puts the theory
that the umbrella attracts moisture at
rest
The other theory is what may be
called an abstract theory. 1t assumes
that rain and fair weather are dependent
upon the presence OF absence Of a par
ticular kind of electricity in the air. AS
is well known, the ribs of the modern
umbrella are made Of steel. ametal that is
simply full of positive electricity. When
we take an umbrella with us into the
open air on q day when the moisture and
the atmosphere indicates that it is over
charged with negative electricity, the
following interesting phenomenon oc-
ours: The positive electricity Of the
umbrella ribs flows into the atmosphere,
and it's place is taken by negative cleo
tricity until the atmosphere is restored
to drv and normal state. Were this all,
the umbrella would be an unalloyed
blessing, but, as matter of fact, it is
apt to overcharge the air with positive
electricity, and thus produce long and
injurious droughts.
IF, however, we fail to take an um-
brella with us on morning when there
is just slight possibility of rain, there
is no way in which the air can be gently
relieved of its overcharge of negative
electricity. The result is that before
very long the air relieves itself by dis
charging its electricity into the earth,
with the usual accompaniment of a
heavy rain-shower, and we mournfuly
perceive that by our neglect heavy
shower has been produced.