The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1904-11-25

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IIIIN I IIN men tried TO cause it or
llllll - lslll drive it away, according to
g0E2l their needs. The rain god
of the savage was frightened with TOM
toms and hallooing, on wheedled into
giving down" by sacrihcial offerings,
some Of them probably human beings.
Indeed, the folk lore of most primitive
peoples shows that noise was thought
to produce rain. The Greeks and Ro-
mans had rain gods and numerous
charms and rites for controlling the
weather Pausanias describes such
rite, which was performed as occasion
demanded, on Mount Lycaeus, in Area
dia A hollow stone (manuIis lapis)
was kept outside the Porta Capena,
near the Temple of Mars, and in times
of drought was drawn into Rome. Some
villages in the central portion Of India
still have officials called Gapogari,
whose sole duty is rainmaking. When
it does not rain often enough. and re-
monstrances are of no avail, the Gapo-
garus is regularly and publicly fogged
until the gods relent.
STUDY OF RAINFALL. I
Until practically the beginning of the
nineteenth century the questions OF
rainfall and rainmaking received little
serious study. "Tne whole subject was
in the hands Of the gods, and magic
rites and prayers were the only effect
tive agencies" James Hutton. NJ. D.,
Of Edinburgh, in 1884, MADE what was
apparently the first statement of the
present theory of rainfall.
There is, he says, IAN atmosphere
cal appearance which is not explained
by the known laws Of heat and cold.
1t is the breath of animals becoming
visible in being expired into an atmos-
phere which is cold or moist. and the
Transformation OF transparent steam
into the state of mist when mixed with
air which is of colder temperature"
DUST AND RAIN.
1t is now generally believed that rain
is caused by the mingling of currents
OF air differing in temperature and hu-
midity The capacity Of the warmer
current to hold moisture is lessened by
its cooling to a point when clouds
(which are simply aerial fogs) are
formed. and finally TO such an extent
that the cloud is deposited on the earth
as rain. An essential condition, how
ever, seems to be the presence of dust
particles in the atmosphere, which fur
nish nuclei around which the drops
form. The air of the surface of the
earth is at all times loaded with mi-
mute particles Of dust. Mr. Aitken, a
Scotch meteorologist. counted 10000
dust particles per cubic centimetre of
air collected on a fine day, and $4,000
in air examined Immediately after a
heavy rain.
The important part which dust plays
in the formation of rain can be readily
demonstrated experimentally. If a
glass vessel is filed with warm. moist
ait and then cooled sufficiently. first a
fog forms in the vessel. and as the tenn
perature is further lowered a 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
ure to condense and run down the sides
Of the receiver When Professor J. j.
Thomson wished to count the corpus
cles in an atom lie produced minia-
ture rain storm similar to that just de-
scribed, except that instead of ordinary
dust particles he had ions as the nu-
clei of his raindrops Thus. it may
eventually be found that electrical dis
rupuons and combinations and Roent-
gen ray phenomena also play part in
the production of rain.
WATER IN THE AIR
According to Professor Newcomb the
air of "a room Of ordinary size" con-
tains a quart Of water. and about the
same average proportion exists in the
general atmosphere. so that the air is
really a great sponge (which sops up
the water from the earth and the sea
by evaporation, and redistributes it in
the form of rain upon proper squeez-
ing" 1t was calculated by Farmer
Dunn that if all the water in the air
could ne condensed at once it would
cover the earth with layer four inches
deep. One inch Of rainfall over
square mile exceeds 100000 cubic
feet of water.
SOLAR AND LUNAR INFLUENCES.
Sir William Herschers announce
ment that there was a close relation be
tween sun spots and the price Of wheat
was received with derision in 1901 and
it is but Just now being justified. There
undoubtedly is such a relation. as
careful study Of solar and terrestrial
records shows. and rainfall comedies
in quantity with variations in the num-
Der of spots on the sun. The moon is
popularity supposed to have an effect
on the weather, and by its appearance
TO indicate the wet or dry character of
the month AS yet science has not
confirmed this theory. although NJ
Poincare found indications of atmos-
pheric variations coincident With. if
not dependent on, the position of this
satellite
THE FIRST RAINMAKER.
In 1884 James p Espy. Of Pennsyl-
vania. as a corollary to his theory Of
storms. announced a method Of artifi- /