Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-03
THE HEAVEN BUSTERS
Should Have Consulted Plutarch Be-
fore Trying to Make Rain.
HE ANTEDATED GEN. DYRENFORTH
But Thought Evaporation From the Bodies
of the Dead the Cause.
SHOWERS AFTER ALL GREAT BATTLES
rcoRREsroNDEScE OF THE DISPATCH,

4
i forth who has been shootino Government
| o.
pomos INTO Inc SKY ever since congress
| voted appropriations for that purpose In
| Li:L L:.
soon W Puoiisn MS report Oh rainmaAing'
| Plutarch published his IL centuries ago.
Chief Observer T. ID. Dunn, of the New
York Weather Bureau, discovered it the
other day while looking over his classical
library. He was reading the life of Caius
Marins n57 In sS BC1 "a treated bv the
-. L;..; 80 -
ahciens ni''oan Aoou' Vuai'e, way
througn ne came 70 tne record Oh the oattie
with the Ieutones- This IS what he first
read, following the account of the slaughter,
| which was very great:
! Thew saw. however. that the Inhabitants
| of Massalia built fences around their ytne-
| wards with the bones and that the ground
enriched by the moisture of the putrified
bodies (which soaked in with the rain of the
| following winter) Welded at the season a
| prodigious crop and fully justified Arch.
| ilochus. who said that the fallows are thus
| fattened.
| ,sx1,.u ILL.,.
'.si ohle l'Nosivu WIN cH
geance, sa'o Tue observer oelore reaolnS
on. But he was more surprised when ne
came to TINS lmmedlately following:
1t is an observation, also, that extraordi-
haty rams Psesy e tSot taii dirtn
power thus washes and cleanses the pol
iuted earsn VIII Shows Irtn tin aoore Or
inc forth from the blood and corrnprion
thfcken the air, which naturally is subjec5
to alteration from the smallest causes.
"Do vou think tb;s nuts an end In tbs
.,r1osion tbeorv9,' he was asked
iSTbot T am not nrenared IN saw said
Sergeant Dunn sSThe disinteoration ~
bodies nrodnces a chemical action that
might have a decided effect on the atmos-
nbsre don't thing the EMANCIPATION
promlJ he suficient In 6I1 the air witb the
n,o;strrs rsnnired 20 rrodnce rain II rail,
;s nrodrced os p1ntarcb saws then soma
otber cause not vet discovered lies bacL ~
If Plntarcb's observation NAV have arisen
fron, he no,ino tha tsct ratsnt 70 a1er1,
tbint;ns nerson that the rnntrefaction ~
cornses miobt nollnte the atmosnbere with
vpnor b.1in,i oil fba ,naIitias nacessarv
70 nrodncs rain Tn NV oninion if rain
- -, ,rod,,,od = 10, haon obor;oaI
no.;o aaS ~ that piU ~ SrcrGbt Il oD Tbe nr.s-
.nce of large bodies Of animals and their
hab;ts nnSrastinnob1v hos ,nod;tv;n,
asoat o IL ~ IT, fao, +b.. pIn+orob
~ I;rad fron, IN 70 1oo A n hal noticad
tha nraHsIsnoa of af,.r,bat.Ie r.ins shows
IL. ~. oa.o,,.o;.,, .h.o~ 80. an,adatod
hH ann.ber nI.ns;hIe sInla1a,;on
What Army Surgeons FAY.
Dr 1obn NaoIs of the office of tbs
REGISTRAR of Vital Statistics. was an army
surgeon durino the late war. He was sur-
nriseJ to learn that Piutarch had a theory.
ST EIe manv others haze noticed that
rain followed battles. but I do not believe
IL conId have been eause,l by the eyapora-
tions or corruotions of the field. as the rain,
cam. too soon after the battle. long before
tbo nntrsfactiou had become srtficie1tlv adj.
vanced To nollute the all"
Dr 8 II Cook is another medical man
who served on MANY battlefield. Il can't
agree with Plutarcb." saws DIR. Cook. e'be-
cause don't take much stock in the cur
rent battlefield superstitions. sFields slim
merry with blood Streams running red
with blood. and all that are mere idle tales
of Imagination. I never observed that
rains were a peculiarIy regular sequence to
battles If tbey were / doubt yery much
that putrefaction wonld cause them You
see bodies are not strewn as thickly over
the field az is supposed They NAV lie hers
in a group and there in a group, bu: this
death harvest is scattered over the long I
front OF a line OF oattle. In fiutarcn tilne'
TO De sure tns pa''ie aiiay va. % I.S?nL
Pac' th1h .o.ua1' Dus 15 L L
tne decay OF tne corPses Nouiu ha'e peeu
TOO graduai 10 make lne ram appear aS ah
Generai Dyrenlortn was ln!erVlewea IN
washington he saia ne hau neara oeior3
OF fiutarcn version OF a.nr1aking .III anu
pointing 10 MS llOraIy saio: why; there
a copy OF fIutafch. ne reacheu ous
eagerly Tor the extract, "nien ne read care
Iully. linen ne was asheu IL 10 uiul niahe
his concusslon-e1piosion 'heorE LOOK riuic-
uious.
want 10 disclalnl tne POSSESSION VI any
IDEA ABOUT raih-HaAips' inis s eoncussion
theory Is referred 10 US the D;reh.ortn
theory, and l am assalied WIN ali sorts OF
abuse. Ihe fact is, IL Is not my theory as
all. L never mad any. don kno" anu
don, t care whether ram comes from con-
cussIon or not; was enSaseu D! the uoF-
ernment simply as a sciehllst 10 test soh'e
other person tneory, anu 10 Apply ny
knowledge OF chemistry TO tne e1ploSlon OK
certain bombs. Now, whether those BONDS
bring rain or not is matter OF fnulnerenGe
to me, In so Tar as they nave anything 70 40
with my theories Oh raih-rnakIhs- L an, hos
a meteoroioglst; Ii were mish' nave
some rain theory.
PIutarch May Have Been Eight.
nso Won saa T can dismiss the idea Of
p1r,a,c, yi,hont nreindicr Vow wbetber
~ not The nresence Of larre bodies of men
and other animals will or will not have an
effect toward the production of rainfall.
o,, unobIe 70 cav. bnt the rain theory is
,,,,, tb,t there mpst he a commip-
ai;ng of currents of air with the possibls