us Star an& Meatber Gossip 



gun-firing would induce, would so interfere with the 

 nice balancing of the clouds as to cause them to 

 precipitate. 



It is, I know, often advanced in support of the gun- 

 firing and rain theory that torrential downpours 

 marked the Waterloo series of battles. But I think 

 we should remember that those engagements were 

 fought in the middle of June, at a period when drench- 

 ing rains may be expected in Belgium, battle or no 

 battle. I have seen it seriously suggested, even, that 

 the great storm which shattered the Spanish Armada 

 was due to the heavy gun-firing during the engage- 

 ment. 



n 



Dr. W. N. Shaw favoured me with his views on the 

 whole of this interesting question of the supposed 

 effect of gun-firing upon the weather. He said : 



" The suggestion that it is possible to influence the 

 weather by bombardment is an old one. In countries 

 where stress of weather is felt in the form of drought, 

 the process has been put forward as a means of inducing 

 rainfall ; in others, where serious damage is done by 

 hailstorms, the power of inducing the clouds to shed 

 their moisture in the form of rain is claimed for it ; 

 and more recently it has been advocated as a means 

 of dispelling fog. Experiments having for their object 

 the production of rain by explosion have been carried 

 out extensively, particularly in America and Australia, 

 where Government and private persons have supplied 

 the necessary funds. An account of experiments 

 made in August, 1907, at Oamaru, New Zealand, has 

 been printed by order of the New Zealand House of 



