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rain was caused by the agitation of the particles of 

 the atmosphere resulting from the concussion after 

 firing, and that to carry this to its logical conclusion 

 would mean that to clap one's hands in the steam 

 from a kettle would cause a miniature shower. Mr. 

 Ilsley remarked that personally he should have thought 

 a shower more likely in the latter case, as the dis- 

 turbance would be relatively greater. In Russell's 

 Meteorology I find this : "No physical relation has 

 ever been traced between concussion of air and 

 formation of water-drops. The belief is very ancient 

 that battles are followed by rain. In Plutarch's Lives 

 it is related that after the battle of Marsalia, in France, 

 a great rainfall followed, and it is mentioned as being 

 a well-known fact that all great battles are followed by 

 heavy rain. This was certainly a case where the rain 

 was not due to artillery fire." Mr. B. W. Horner, 

 F.R.MET.S., of Westgate-on-Sea, has been good enough 

 to send me an expression of opinion on the subject. 

 He believes that with a dry and rainless atmosphere, 

 such, for instance, as was experienced at the beginning 

 of the war, no amount of cannonading, however 

 violent, will cause a drop of rain to fall. If, however, 

 the atmosphere be thick with rain-bearing clouds, as 

 during the phenomenally wet December of 1914, he 

 thinks that the rainfall, which would have been in any 

 case heavy, would be made heavier " by the concussion 

 setting free the extra moisture usually held in sus- 

 pension." 



But, after all is said and done, I am afraid it will be 

 a difficult task to disabuse the minds of many people 

 of the idea that rain is not a direct result of gun-fire. 



