The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-07-29
MYSTERY OF FLOODS. =
fEv f. ". Lish.ner.p

Are We passing through nehula-
which. by contact with cur atnos-
ph@ye. condenses into. What We call
rain n which gives - Is a Very
material and tangible evidence of lis
force in what has BEEN named cloud
bursts" which is a poetical misno-
taaro
|rarious periods had experience u
floods productive Of vast damage and
loss - life: YET the foods Of the las.
year or more NAV be truly said 70 b.
phenomenal. Not within the memory
IF LIVING man and wom=n have there
hean 50 frequent c~loudhursts.
Reason for these phenomena exists.
nut with AL the lore and meteorologi-
cal exploration and investigation ~
scientific Word. or even unse!entifc
fancv. comes to us for the poor salts
of these repeated crimes Of nature
.: coursa every school pupil Of this
advanced day knows that rain is 81
result ri condensation Of evaporated
moisture rising TO the grasp Of q cold
stratum somewhere IN the atnlos-
phare. becoming heavier than the air
and falling 70 ground in the form Of
rain. hail or snow.
But in Washington weather scien-
t:sLS' g ilt!IiSN - III! t!iS !Ct ot l!iS!l
profession, bursting with reports that
ara far more constant than the cloud
bursts, do not tell us why il is that
risitle or invisible varor al periods
fills into the embrace Of cold strata
and AT other periods. when there is
equal and constant evaporation of the
moisture of earth. brook. creek. river.
lake and ocean. there is drouth-and
drouth quite as Devastating in a finan-
rial sepse as the Noods which Ges,ro,.
life and property.
Naturally. in the presence Of the
lesser foods the mind reverts to the
greatest food of all the foods, the
story Of which is told in Genesis. bur
which has a counterpart in legend
even among the savages Of al! time
and Of the remotest islands of the
The legend Of the building Of tn.
ark by Noah. son Of Lamech, Of the
universal cloudhurst which continued
for forty days M forty nights: the
assembling in the ark of chosen dele
gates from all animals, creeping and
f1ring things: the sending forth Of
the dove. the bow of promise; the
birth for mother earth, is fascinating;
and in the face of supreme hv-swat-
ting one is led 20 wonder what the
effect upon our little world would have
been II Noah, or Naham. Or Mailman.
as the name is %variouslv spelled, had
not taken that pair of flies into his
wondrous architectural creation, by
the side Of which the greatest Of the
marine palaces of this day would be
like a shippers dinghey.
Recurring to the possibility that we
are passing through some few octil-
lions Of miles of nebulae. which is
another name for star dust Carrot
P. Serviss. a scientist as fanciful in
astronomy and prophecy as that i'm
aginative F~renchman. Camille Flam-
marion. they and others. perhaps,
havin~ a moiety of inspiration from
Jules Verne. recently had published
in a magazine a serial entitled The
Second Flood" Mr.. Serviss' name is
familiar to all readers Of newspapers.
He is a charming writer, but he gave
to his dramatic story a most undra-
matte ending.
The meat Of the fancy is that Cos
mo Vergil. of fabulous wealth. de.
voted to science and delving deeper
than n Of the professionals, pre-
dicted that the earth would soon enter
a cast world Of nebulae which would
condense into rain, a universal Noach-
ic cloudburst which would deluge the
diminutive planet as completely as
that n told Of in Genesis.
Cosmo was derided as a harmless
lunatic when he gave his warning and
began construction Of an ark in the
inside Of which the ark Of Noah could
be nestled n yet leave room for
specimens of all the animals. hipeda,
end a~uadrupedaI. useful and exna-