266 WEATHER MAKING, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 



T. Ellis, Lieut. S. A. Dyer, aud Mr. Eugeue Faircliild, and tbey were 

 stronger in the expression of a belief that rain Avas successfully made 

 than is Mr. Dyreuforth; aud there are also many favorable quotations 

 from spectators. 



Prof. A, Macfarlane, of the University of Texas, was present as an 

 uninvited guest during the elaborate experiments near San Antonio on 

 Friday, ISTovember 25, 1892, beginning at 4 }). m. The sky was from 

 time to time overcast, and the natural conditions were not unfavorable 

 for rain. Many explosions were made without rain until late in the 

 evening, from whicli jioint I will take up the story in Professor Macfar- 

 lane's own w^ords, as given in a letter to the New York World Decem- 

 ber 4, 1892: 



"At 10.15 a balloon was sent up and was lost in the darkness; when 

 it exploded a very large area of light was seen, as if the explosion had 

 occurred inside a cloud. There was no fall of rain at the camp, and 

 nobody was stationed below the spot where the balloon exploded. 



"I consider this the only experiment that was worth making, yet no 

 care was taken to observe whether rain did fall. It is conceivable that 

 the explosion of a 12-foot balloon inside a cloud ready to precipitate may 

 jar the particles so as to quicken the dropping of the rain. This was 

 the idea of Euggles. But to test whether some rain can be drawn down 

 in this manner from a rain cloud does not suit the ideas of cranks who 

 wish to get a large something out of an absolute nothing. 



"At 10.45 a mist became just perceptible. The General issued an 

 order to get ready the rain gauge. The boys hurried up a balloon, 

 which was nearly ready, but it had no effect on that mist. 



"At 11.40 the mist ceased, and the stars appeared in places nearly 

 overhead. The General apparently felt that things were going against 

 him, for he suggested to the ] )octor to put a snuxll piece of dynamite in 

 the shells, and also to try the eilect of an explosion down at the springs. 



"At 12.30 a 12-foot balloon went well into the cloud, but no rain 

 eifect. 



"At 1 o'clock, the time when operations were to be suspended for the 

 night, it was fair, with some stars visible, and the boys were preparing 

 one more balloon. Colonel King remarked that it would be necessary 

 to keej) up the operations for forty-eight hours. I retired to a room in 

 the hotel, from which I could see the operations. 



"At 1.30 1 heard a slight shout from the balloon boys, and I could 

 hear tlie rain pattering on the roof. The General, who had also retired 

 to the hotel, threw open the window and called out: 'Hurry up, boys.' 

 After ten minutes the balloon was exploded, and the rain almost 

 immediately diminished so as to be scarcely percej^tible. When the 

 explosion occurred I had my head out of the window. The hotel, a 

 frame house, shook considerably, but there was no breaking of glass 

 or any of the effects produced by a powerful explosion on the solid 

 earth. 



"At 1.50 the General went out to observe, and I heard him say: 

 'There is a beautiful rain to the north of us and to the west of us,' 



"At 2 the rain had entirely ceased, and the last of the oi)erations 

 consisted of two shells fired in succession at 2.05." 



Professor Macfarlane is a competent physicist. He was trained in 

 Edinburgh, and has, I believe, no such appreciation of humor as to 



