Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-05-30
CHANGES OFF CLIMATE
By Frederic L Haskin

gain new information about the atmos-
phere and its changes are so delicate
that iron of any kind anywhere in the
neighborhood would adversely affect
their precision. One house had to be
built without windows. Another had
to be constructed without iron or steel,
not even excepting nails. Even the
work horses cannot wear iron shoes
when the experiments are going on.
The weather bureau has a most ex-
tensiVe service, a sort of press associ-
alton of its own. 1t gets its reports
from $500 land stations 1850 ocean YES
sells, and forty foreign stations, some of
them as far away as Asia. From
these it gets its reports upon which the
daily forecasts are made. Sometimes
q storm will refuse to follow the beaten
path, and then the weather man misses
his guess. But it is said that about So
per cent of the winds, rains and storms
follow in the even tenor of their way,
behaving after established principles,
and doing Just as the weather man ex-
poets them to do. In these cases the
forecaster hits the bulls eye in his
predictions. In other caseS-well, that
Fourth of March bareback is a good
example of what happens.
Although rainmaking by powder eX-
plosions was dscredited in this country
some fifteen years ago, New Zealand
tried it again last year, but with no
better success than characterized the
efforts here. When it is figured out
what power 1t takes to produce an inch
of rainfall on square mile of terri
tory it shows how unlikely it is that
man can produce rain. The water that
falls on a square mile of territory to
the depth of one inch weighs Ga $3.50
tons. The heat developed or released
by the condensation from vapor to
water of this amount of rain is equiv
alent to the energy developed by one
hundred million horse power working
thirty minutes. In comparison with
this the most gigantic explosions man
can make amount to nothing
But the rainmakers have not claimed
they could make rain at any time. They
simply declared that when every other
condition was favorable to the fall of
rain and only the straw that broke
the camePs back was needed to ac-
cOmplish results they could supply the
straw. Their view was that at times
there is perfect balance between the
elements and that only the hair that
turns the scales is needed to throw the
balance to rain. In other words, the
weather is on a hair trigger, and they
believed their explosions had force
enough to pull that trigger. But If
their premises were right their con-
probably never be attempted again by
scientific men,
the idea of having rain fall to order
is by no means a new one. The In
dams of every part Of North America
thought they had men who could pro-
duce rain at will. The Iroquois, the
Muskingums, the Choctaws, the Nat
cheH' the Algonauins and the Chero-
KEGS all had their weather-makers
The smoking of pipes, lamentations and
dances and the burning of tobacco
were among the means they took to
coax the rain. Then they had others
who undertook to stop it at the proper
time. 1t is related of the Iroquois that
they had crowd of braves who would
fight the thunderstorms. Of course
they always ceased in due course any
way, but the Indians thought their
fighters had vanquished the thunder
bolts. One day bolt of lightning
struck half dozen of these warriors
killing the whole group. Thereafter the
thunderstorms were not challenged.
1t is said that no one who ever sur
vived being struck by lightning was
able to remember a thing about having
been hit. 1t will be recalled that many
victims of lightning have their clothes
torn completely from their bodies. This
is believed to be due to the rush of the
wind that causes the thunder stripping
the clothes from the body by sheer sue
ton Usually the person struck by
lightning falls to the ground instantly.
Sometimes, however, they remain in the
identical position in which they were
struck. Medical science records an in
stance of a half dozen farm laborers
sitting under a tree eating their mid
day meal. A bolt of lightning struck
the tree and killed the group. Each
man maintained the posture he had
Nurla sakvrN al n1,s,
of food to his mouth and another was
drinking water
Experts from the insurance COM
panies and elsewhere estimate the
value of the work of the weather SER
vice at fifty million dollars year.
Even the railroads receive great bene-
fits. When laying a culvert they need
to know the amount of rainfall they
must prepare to take care of. When
building a bridge they must know the
flood stages of the river they propose
to span. The shipping of the world
finds the work valuable. Everywhere
the weather service makes itself felt
in useful ways. But even the weather
man does not think he has more than
touched the possibilities of the work
of forecasting. He believes that the
experimental work now going on will
give man a vastly better understand
ing of the weather and enable him to
plan his affairs with a fuller foresight
than ever before. Suppose, for in
stance, that the cycle theory is properly
established by another generation OF
tabulated observations. Thereafter we
may know in advance the years of
drought and the years of wet weather
Sowing crops to suit those years might
entirely revolutionize the farming in
dustries of the world.
Copyright. 1909, by Frederic ]. Haskin.)