The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-11-14
THE CAUSE OF ToaNADoEs.


Of telegraph and telephone wires stretch
ing over the roof Of q building will Ger
tainly protect it from any thunderboIt,''
says the Professor, but the network of
wires IN cities suddenly exhausts the cleo
trIclty from thunderboits, aud, as a result,
causes tornadoes and waterspouts over and
in the vicinity Of cities. This l stated on
April s, 1889, and in justice to myself l
must quote that letter. which is as follows:
"A disastrous drought has prevailed in
Ontario since the spring of 1887, and while
probably continuing during the summer Of
1863 the question ! propose to ask and
answer is: What is the cause? Two condi-
tons are necessary to produce rain-ffst,
moisture in the atmosphere, and second, a
condenser to pfecipitate 1t. Evaporation,
which supplies humidit to the atmosphere
being constant, there can be no defect as to
the first condition. What are the conden-
sefs? There are two planetary c~opjunc-
tlons which cause a sudden fall of tempeia-
lures, and second, electricity. The former
acts in periods of weeks or months. the
latter Two OF three times a week. Electric
ity wherefore, is our chief agent in prodac-
ing rain, 1t is well known that the Onta-
rio farmer IS dependent largely upon cleo
trio storms for j bountiful harvest. What
causes d thunder storm9 | answe that it
Is electricity isolated III a cloud which
moves over the earth's surface. Electric
lty is a old substance, and SO long as it
- unable 70 disperse by conduction so long
VIII us GOODNESS continue to act as a con-
denser and p~recipitate the moistu re as rain.
HE dry ground beneath being a non-con-
ductor, a single electric cloud. if not dis
persed by conductors artifically stretched
across It's path, may travel from Toronto
to Belleviiie, or from Kingston to Ottawa.
and water a vast tract of country beneath
It's grateful path. placed network of " Tres
before 1t and the cloud will break with fine
first clap OF thunder. Such a cloud (unless
OF a great area and electric power) could
lot pass Toronto, for its electric force
would be dispersed by a sea of telephone
ana telegraph wires, not only over Canada,
but to New Orleans and San Francisco.
and wherever a connection happened to be
at that moment. These telegraph and tel
ephone wires. like modern Mercurgs. are
stealing the thunderbolts of Jupiter, and
IN a few years, if the strong aim Of the
law does not interfere, the Canadian
farmer viii Look upon his premises as
worthless, fields that once budded and
doomed as the rose.
But 1t will not be the h~usbandman
only who will suffer. When an electric
cloud is suddenly burst by rnnniug upon
conductors. its collapse produces a cyclone
aud these almost invariably occur over or
IL the vicinity OF cities, and spreading des-
and death in their trail. Ohio.
Pennsylvania, and the Mississippi States
were strangers to these messengers OF
death until the iron WEB was woven over
their territory, and now they are the home
drought and cyclones, aud the same
wire which brought the DESTROYER out OF
the brain of Jupiter tells US of his carnival
death indemolishing buildings and scat
tefing debris and human beings through
the air. Let the people Of Canada now
take warning, for if these networks Of
are spread over our Northwest. in
shape of telegraph wires, telephone
wires and wire fencing, our future gran
airy OF the world will become another bat
IL urannd af TIA .Ian,an+e 49, n
It's main dependence for rain in the future
viii be on electric storms from the north
ern points Of the compass, where they can
still form above the great northern for
ests. Certainly no thunderstorm can orig
mate within the wire belt, and it was Tor
this reason that last year (1Sss) the coun-
tries of the North were fairly watered,
while those bordering ON Lake Ontario
were burned UP With drought. The pre-
winds in Ontario are from SOUTH
y est 10 west. This is the great eastbound
current running at first up the Mississippi
valley to the great lakes, there joining the
current which is making its way down the
ST. Lawrence valley and over the mari
time provinces. Formerly this supplied
CONTINUED rain to this province.
being loaded with moisture and charged
" it'll electricity, which it carried along as
its condenser. The great metal sea now
exhansts it of its electric energy, so thai
it refuses to part with the aqueous burden
until il strikes the cold currents which
move down the eastern shores OF North
America. Hence the floods and the con-
rains in Quebec and the maritime
provinces. Ottawa and Toronto and their
vicinities are particularly liable to cyclones,
and this danger is yearly increasing by the
increase in the wire network. The fatal
wire fencing is also being rapidly extended
over our Northwest, especially Manitoba,
and in a few years cyclones will be as COM
mon near orr great Rocky Mountain
range as they are now in the valleys OF the
Ohio and Mississippi, while from their
fingers to the waters of Winnipeg
brown drought " i'll scoreh the plains where
once swarmed the lazy Indians and the
bonding buffalo"
The peoples remedy for the cure of