The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-07-29
RAINM AKERS.
ANCIENT q MODERN.


lll!l - llll! drive it away, according to
@EA@ their needs. The rain god !
If the savage was frightened with tom
oms and hallooing, or wheedled into |
giving down" by sacrificial offerings. |
ome of them probably human beings. |
indeed. the folk lore of most primitive
peoples shows that noise was thought |
o produce rain. The Greeks and Ro-
mans had rain gods and numerous
charms and rites for controlling the
weather. Pausanias describes such a
ite which was performed. as occasion
demanded, on Mount Lycaeus. in Area
liza. A hollow stone (manulis lapisl
vas kept outside the Porta Capena,
near the Temple of Mars. and In times
,f drought was drawn into Rome. Some
7illages in the central portion of India
itlll have officials called Gapognri,
whose sole duty is rainmaking. Wien
t does not rain often enough. and re-
nonstrances are of no avail. the Gapo-
garus is regularly and publicly logged
Until the gods relent.
STUDY OF RAINFALL.
Until practically the beginning Of the
nineteenth century the questions of
.alnfall and rainmaking received little
serious study. The whole subject was
II the hands of the gods. and magic
'tes and prayers Were the only effect
i've agencies" James Hutton. NJ. d..
u Edinburgh. in iTSi. made what was
tpra?ently the first statement of the
present theory of rainfall.
There is" he says, IAN atmosphere
.al appearance which is not explained
" the known laws of heat ana cold.
/ Is The breath of animals becoming
'sible in being expired into an atmos-
)hore which is cold or moist. and the
transformation of transparent steam
nto the state of mist when mixed with
,r which is of a colder temperature"
DUST AND RAIN.
It is now generally believed that rain
| caused by the mingling of currents
If air differing in temperature and hui
nidity. The capacity OF the warmer
current to hold moisture Is lessened by
| is cooling to a point when clouds
which are simply aerial fogsJ are
| formed. and finally 10 such an extent
| hat the cloud is deposited on the earth
as rain An essential condition, how
aver, seems 10 be the presence OF dust
PARTICLES in the atmosphere, which fur
lish nuclei around which the drops
form. The air of the surface of the
| earth Is at all times loaded with mi
| nute particles OF dust. Mr.. Aitlen.
| Scotch metcorologist, counted 100000
! lust particles per cubic centimetre OF
air collected on fine day, and 32,OOO
! IN air examined Immediately after
heavy rain.
The important part which dust plays
N the formation of rain can he readily
demonstrated eXperimentally. If Il
glass vessel Is filed with warm, moist
air and then cooled sufficiently, first n
Fog forms in the vessel. and as the tenn
perature Is further lowered minia-
ture rain storm occurs. If, however,
the air is carefully freed from dust be-
fore being placed in the receiver cool
ing simply causes its contained moist
Ire to condense and run down the sides
Of the receiver. When Professor j. j..
Thomson wished to count the corpus
,les in an atom he produced a mnia-
lure rain storm similar to that just de-
,cribed. except that instead Of ordinary
dust particles he had ions as the nu-
:lei of his raindrops. Thus. 1t may
eventually be found that electrical dis
ruptlons and combinations and Roent-
gen ray phenomena also play part II
the production Of rain.
WATER IN THE AIR.
According to Professor Newcomb the
air of "a room of ordinary size con
ains n quart of water, and about the
same average proportion exists in the
general atmosphere, so that the Air Is
really n great sponge which sops up
the water from the earth and the sen
by evaporation and redlstrlbutes 1t in
the form of rain upon proper squeez
ing" 1t was calculated by Farmer
Dunn that II all the water in the air
could be condensed at once it would
,over the earth with layer four Inches
deep. One inch OF rainfall over q
square mile exceeds 100000 cubic
feet of water.
SOLAR AND LUNAR INFLUENCES
Sir William Herschers announce
ment that there was n close relation be
tween sun spots and the price of wheat
was received with derlsion in 1901, anC
1t is but just now being justified. There
undoubtedly Is such relation, ms
careful study of solar and terrestrial
records shows, and rainfall comedies
In quantity with variations in the mum
ber of spots ON the sun. The moon u
popularity supposed to have an effec
on the weather, and by its appearance
TO indicate the wet or dry character OF
the month. As yet science has no
confirmed this theory. although NJ
Polncare found indications of atmos
pherlc variations colncident with, i
not dependent on, the position of thl
satellite.
THE FIRST RAINMAKER.
In 1884 James Il. Espy. of Pennsyl
,anla, as O corollary to his theory o
itorms, announced method OF artih
.ial ralnmaking. which consisted I'm til
building OF enormous fires throughou
lrought stricken regions. These woul'
ause great upward currents OF hot air
ind produce an atmospheric condition
hmilar to that now called storm cen
, re. that Is an area Of low barometri
. pressure.