New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-03
THE WAR AS A RAIN MAKER

storm in which it has taken part as polar
current it has received to itself portions Of the
warm current below it and portions of the sur
face air lying between the warm current ana
the earth, and has left behind portions of itself
1t has lost much Of its vapor, but not all. When
contiguous portions of the equatorial and polar
currents mix together rain is the result
He adds that there are other motions, caused
by the release of the latent heat and continues:
Besides the motions which have been men,
tioned-circular, upward and inward, with pos
sbly a downward-the whole storm has mo-
ton eastward or northeastward. This is one
of the fundamental laws which guide the Off
GERS of the Signal Service in their predictions
of the weather. Sometimes spurs OF
these currents unite and reach down to the
EARTH causing tornadoes, the source Of whose
terrific power is problem difficult to solve
Returning to my main subject would
saw that anything that will cause the equatorial
current to mix with the polar current above It
will bring rain. This is what conclusion does
when a large number of cannon are fired and
the firing is rapid and long continued.
The effect Of artillery firing upon horizontal
current or moving stratum OF air may be very
great Such current, being necessarily In
exact equilibrium with the air above and below
it, would yield to the slightest force, and it
may be easily conceived that the conclusion
produced by a number of cannon fired stimuli
taneously would cause it to bend upward. APP
ply the idea TO the case of two currents, one
above the other and moving in different dlrec-
ton. the upper one cold and the lower one
warm, and both containing as much aqueous
vapor as their respective temperatures VIII per-
nit. The effect Of heavy conclusions often and
quickly repeated would very likely be to throw
them upward over the spot where the firing
takes place, and finally with their own motion
to bring them together. spiral motion would
result from their union larger and larger por-
lions of the two currents would become in
volved in the change; the two bodies Of air
would become mixed, and the conditions re-
ouired by the Huttonian theory Of rain would
be fulfilled"
Powers's whole claim in advancing his the
DRY of was and weather was to induce the gov
eminent to make experiments to cause arti-
fetal rain. Senator Farwells bill resulted in
an expedition being sent to Nelson Morriss
ranch, just northwest of Midland, Tex, and
there and in other localities explosives were
fred and balloons sent up with dynamite which
exploded when a certain height was reached.
The meteorologist who accompanied this rain
making expedition which began its expert
ments in August, 1891, was George +. Curtis.
Curtis had very poor opinion of the results
of the experiments. In one Of his reports
he says:
During the afternoon about fifty pounds
of powder were fired in number of small
blasts, without any recognizable results. The
rackarock Tan explosive consisting of potas-
SUM chlorate and nitro-benzoD was generally
fired at distance of half mile from the
house, and the air-wave produced was not suffi-
cient to affect the Paragraph at that distance
The experiment was tried following light
showers which was hardly an opportune time
to make the tests. The report continues;
"The cloudiness continued through the after
noon and at p. m. covered so per cent Of the
sky. At p. m. the filling of one balloon was
completed, and it was set free with lighted
time fuse attached. The balloon was carried