. The Ways of Paradoxers. 47 
Time will not be spent on rash paradoxers in the field of 
weather making. We shall only consider those who have some 
such guarantee as a patent, an appropriation, or genuine learn- 
ing. As an illustration of the rash paradoxers I will simply 
mention two, one the man who proposed to destroy blizzards hy 
a line of coal-stoves along our northern boundary from Red river 
to the continental divide, and the other a man who proposed 
to ameliorate the weather of New England and the Canadian 
provinces by damming the strait of Belleisle. | 
WEATHER MAKING. 
We pass first to the treatment for tornadoes. M Weyher has 
made laboratory tornadoes of a mild and gentle character, but 
they contain no suggestion as to how to treat this pathologic 
_ phenomenon of the weather. 
A treatment has been suggested which is heroic and may pos- 
sibly be effective. It is, however, a local application, and the 
chief difficulty is to have it ready when and where wanted. The 
method proposed is that of a great explosion in the tornado 
itself. Many plans have been suggested, and two patents have 
been granted. I will consider the first, that of Mr J. B. Atwater, 
of Chicago (number 370,845, 1887). A strong box with a double 
bottom is firmly supported on a pole erected at a suitable point, 
probably a mile or so southwest of the village to be protected. 
The upper bottom is fixed and the space above it is filled with 
an explosive and firmly closed. In holes in the upper bottom 
are inserted fulminating caps and these project below its lower 
surface. The lower bottom slides up and down. Then, if a high 
wind drives the lower bottom against the upper with such force 
as to flash the caps, the explosion follows, and the tornado (if 
present) suffers the effects which a tornado will suffer when a 
powerful explosion occurs in its immediate vicinity. 
What these effects will be we do not yet know. It is said, 
with enough repetition to make it fairly worthy of credence, that 
a cannon fired into a waterspout destroys the latter. If such a 
disturbance destroys the gentler waterspout, it may be worth 
while to try a larger one on the more intense tornado. Perhaps 
it will be effective; we can be more positive when it has been 
tried. 
Many other schemes have been proposed for the control of the 
elements of the weather. Most of them have an objectionable 
