New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-08-01
vrwyoRK DAILY TRIBUNE THURSDAY, AUGUST sss-TEN fAGEs

I pa,o tho local paper of eleven inches In seven
| hours az Linden, Tenn, the same day and night
are onlv n few items in an astonishing succession
| NJ cloudbursts tornadoes and local electrical
storms which are without precedent in recent
| roors IN the regions visited Nearly every State
this side of the Missouri river, and Colorado
and Oregon. have contributed to the score. After
making all proper discounts, the general fact re-
roins that this is on unusual in respect TO
both the number and intensity OF these disturb
ances
Nor has America been the only scene OF such
catastrophes The mighty forces OF Nature wblch
have done such terrible work here have also been
active in other lands Many houses in Ber-ie-Dnc,
DEPARTMENT OF the Meuse, France, were undermined
and crOps and vineyards over w1de areas near ny
were wasted by an overflow of the river June 81
In Hong Kong on May 20 and 30. the time when
Johpstown, Penn, met her fate twehty-n'ne anu
a half inches Of rain fell In thir'y-oii''c "o'i''
wrecking hundreds Of houses, impalrins 'he CITY
water-worls. destroying property valued ~ sEoo'-
OO0 and leaving the place looking rs ii IL WERE 'e
victim of an earthquake; while three u"yS in.er'
seven or eight villages in the Chang ring anu rug
Yuen districts Of China were annihilated by
water-dragon,0 which covered w'ue s.ie"" ',
level country to the depth of thirty-six feet ana
drowned 5000 people.
Science is not vet prepared TO say much IN eA
rlanot,or ~ This nlenitnde Of local storms, ana
their exceptional severity. In O general way u
oorso Tho sn "a recognized Ms the chief factor in
opr terrestrial weather changes and OF late years
certain theorists have tried 10 convince the worio
that varvino degrees Of ebullition In the gaseous
onvolone If that orb. as betokened by more OF
fewer snnsrots are attended BY corresponding
changes in the earth's atmosphere. Professor
Ralfour Stewart. Of Edinburgh, regaruS Une eu"
spot not as a cause but as symptom gtuVer
| heat emanating with greater commotlon' Ms MUS
Indicated and vice versa. If more sunspo's ie"u
to more heat, then, here on the earth, they "o'"
mean more evaporation, especially near me equ"-
tor increased flow of air toward the poles' anu
greater burden Of water-vapor carried from ,i,e
tropics to be precipitaed as rain under iaNor"D'
conditions II would then be easy TO explain INC
abnormally high barometer over the North AcHn
tic this summer the prevalent humidity ana our
swarm of cloudbursts. But the connection IS hoo
vet established Elaborate tests with the acUlh-
ometcr and exhaustive comparisons OF data Iaii 10
show the supposed fuctuatio1 In The suns he"''
which fact makes Langley, Young and other 'nii-
ncnt scientists very sceptical about all this sun
spot talk One Of the most earnest advocates OF
the doctrine. II. C. Maine, of THE Rochester
Democrat, a layInhn III sclence' ""U "h
gent and honest observer, believes that the sun
produces many of those local and general storms
by means of electricity; the well-lnown relation
between sunspots and magnetic storms being cited
in support of that notion. Investigation along
that particular line of thought, however, has not
vet been conclusive Meanwhile the practical
duties of repairing damages, relieving distress and
amending our engineering methods in the hght
Of such disasters as that at Plainfeld are clear
beyond dispute.