, 1891-11-04
RAIN MAKING IN TEXAS.
From Mature" 17th. SEPTEMBER

4. o1hIAg INV AN'N'
ciallv produced in Texas by exploding oxy-
hydrogen balloons and dynamite, was pro-
bably received by most scientific men with
a suspension Of judgment. The somewhat
sensational form of the report, the empha-
sis with which itdweltO OH the untaVOuraDle
antecedent conditions, and the omission OIL
all details that might enable us TO form
some rough estimate OF the forces employed
and of the resulting effects, seemed caIcuIat-
ed to appeal to the barren emotions Oh as
tonishment and love of the marvellous ra-
ther than to the sober Judgment OF well
balanced minds and but for the tacG thaG
the experiments were stated TO nave Deen
made by the officers OF the U. 3. sigma! Ser
vice, which, on the hypothesis OF a hoax'
would have been Il needless challenge to
spepdv denial. one might have been dispOs-
ed to regard til story as only an additional
instance of a kind of produce for which the
Western States are somewhat notorious.
The further accounts that have now
reached us Prove, however, that this is not
one of Jonathan's amusing attempts 10 play
off on the credulity of his supplemented
cousins across the Atlantic. Not only have
experiments of the kind described been ac-
tuallym made, but they have been apparently
successful, and they seem to have been re-
heated sufficiently often to render 1t at
least improbable that this success has been
entirely fortuitous. The improbable tea
lures Of the Standards report are, indeed,
somewhat toned down the dryness OF the
local atmosphere was by no means so great
as was to be inferred from the vague IAN.
guage of the Standards informant; OUT, as
far as can be judged from the notices now
before MS il seems unlikely that the rain
which followed General Dyrenturth's eX-
,ou;ooooEc would baUo occurred III the UNI
disturbed course of natural events.
The experiments were made at a place
known as Ranch G.. One writer states that
an intermittent series Of experiments had
been carried out for three weeks, and that
mot in a single instance has ram talled TO
fall within ten or twelve hours after the ex-
p%losion." But the number OF trials IS not !
stated-an omission the more to be regret
ed because the improbability that the re-
suits are fOrtuitous increases III a certain
geometric ratio of the number OF successful
reDetitions. We have definite accounts OF
those made on August Is, 70, and apparent
lyithe morning Of the 9th, and 1t is by no
means clear that the evidence is not Inn lted
to these, although the expression quOteo
above won Id seem to imply otherwise. the
first. that Of August Is, was made ABOUT .
n m There were at the time a few scat
tered Clouds; but no Indication OF rain.
The reading of the barometer is not report-
ed. but the relative humidity of the air In
mediately before the experiments (presuma-
bly at the earth's %urface) was not more
than go per cent. of saturatiOn. An oXy-
hydrogen balloon, the capacity of which is
not stated, was exploded by electricity at
an altitude of a mile and a quarter. Several
kites with packets of dynamite attached
were sent up Immediately after the balloon;
and the c harges exploded by similar means,
and "rendrock powder was distributed Tor a
distance of two and t~hree-quarter miles
from headquarters, ard fired by lgnltlng
dvnamos." These explosions "sent up great
volumes of white smoke, which rose only q
short distance, and was Ithen beaten down
bv heavy rain, which at once began falling
and continued for four hours and twenty
minutes" Prof. Curtis, the m~eteorolOglst
O fthe expedition, estimates that the RAIN
covered an area of not less than 1000 miles.
On August goth it is stated that "balloonS
containing several thousand feet OF oxyhy-
drogen gas were sent up and exploded at
heights varying from 1,00C to 10000 feet,
and at shutdown batteries on the ground be-
ran their work, and until 1890 p. m. Q con-
slant ~cannonade was carried on under a
sky of perfect elearness, lit by countless
stars of a %brilliancy seldom seen IN the
north. The barometer promised talr, ana
the hygrometer stood between dry ana very
Jvu - whatavar these expressions may mean.