July 8, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



physical characteristics, and investigate its behavior under 

 the law of gravitation alone; its optical properties may be 

 found to be nearly independent of its relation to heat, elec- 

 tricity, magnetism, etc., and so, in turn, each characteristic 

 may be studied alone and equations obtained in which 

 the number of constants is comparatively small. It is only 

 after this plan has been pretty thoroughly worked out that 

 it becomes possible to investigate the interrelations of these 

 various properties, which are often obscure and difficult of 

 detection. Their discovery, however, especially one or two 

 great generalizations pertaining lo them, such as that of the 

 conservation of energy, must be regarded as the grandest 

 triumph of physical science. 



The science of physics is that which is most drawn upon 

 in the formation of the so-called applied sciences. Wedded 

 to mathematics as it is (and no amount of personal abuse on 

 either side can ever furnish good reason for divorce), it be- 

 comes the mother of engineering in all of its various forms. 

 Through and by it, the forces of nature have been directed, 

 the elements have been subdued and some of them over- 

 come, and man has made himself master of the world. Its 

 marvellous progress has, therefore, been observed by the 

 people, and is understood by them perhaps to a greater degree 

 than that of any other science. The most eloquent orators 

 and the ablest writers have employed their genius in sound- 

 ing its praises. 



It is not too much to say that when intelligent people 

 speak, in a general way, of the wonderful things which sci- 

 ence has accomplished during the past half-century, they 

 have in mind, for the most part, the applications which have 

 been made of discoveries in physical science. I think no 

 one can justly question the assertion that of the several 

 causes which have produced the splendid advances in the 

 material interests of the whole world during the nineteenth 

 century, science has contributed far more liberally than all 

 others. So remarkable have been her achievements that all 

 the people have come to look upon lier as being nearly, if 

 not quite, infallible. A reputation of which the votaries of 

 science may be proud has been established, but, at the same 

 time, one difficult to maintain. Here, as elsewhere, it is a 

 good name only that is worth counterfeiting. It is quite 

 worth the while of one devoted to the interests of pure sci- 

 ence alone to occasionally inquire whether an impure article 

 is not being placed upon the market. However indifferent 

 he may be to the welfare of the general public, his own self- 

 ish instincts should incline him to such a course. He can- 

 not clear his own skirts by declaring that the public deserves 

 to be humbugged if it permits itself to be, for in this, as in 

 everything else, the counterfeit when successful is not read- 

 ily detected, and it is often made to appear more attractive 

 than the genuine article. 



In respect to this matter physical science presents two as- 

 pects. In a large degree it is a science of certain conclu- 

 sions, and any false deduction is readily exposed by means 

 of the many severe tests to which it may be subjected. On 

 the other hand, in some of its branches it has not yet been 

 found possible to isolate the elements which form a rather 

 complex whole, and it therefore remains an observational 

 rather than an experimental science. In the latter aspect it 

 becomes comparatively easy prey for charlatans and well- 

 meaning but ignorant non-professionals. 



In no department of physical science is this better illus- 

 trated than in meteorology, the oldest and most abused of 

 all sciences. From its early days, when weatlier forecasts 

 were expressed in simple rhyme, to the present, when they 



are issued in a prose which in its scope and richness of vocab- 

 ulary sometimes excites our highest admiration, meteorology 

 has been a favorite victim of pretenders, conscious and un- 

 conscious. For years the people, after having first believed 

 in, have patiently borne with, the predictors of disaster in 

 the form of abnormal meteorological disturbances. They 

 have suffered great mental distress, and they have lost enor- 

 mous sums of money on account of floods, tidal waves, and 

 earthquakes which never came, rains that never fell, and 

 winds that never blew. They were becoming accustomed 

 to this sort of thing, and were beginning to understand the 

 spirit which guided the real meteorologists as manifested in 

 the efforts of the great weather bureaus of the world, our 

 own among the first, to foretell with a good degree of cer- 

 tainty what might happen within the next twenty or thirty 

 hours. But not many months ago they were again brought 

 to a high pitch of meteorological excitement by the some- 

 what sudden and certainly unexpected appearance of the 

 '■ Cloud-compelling Jove." He came not in the singular, 

 but in the plural, and each of him brought the best and 

 most scientific device for producing a rainfall whenever and 

 wherever a sufficient thirst was found to exist. The history 

 of this new industry cannot yet be written. It is still in its 

 infancy. The fallacy of its methods has already been com- 

 mented upon in a public journal, by a distinguished mem- 

 ber of ojr own society, but a few remarks upon its some- 

 what meteoric career during the past season will not be out 

 of place in connection with the subject now under consider- 

 ation. 



The columns of the daily press reflected the general inter- 

 est which was felt in the matter, especially in parts of the 

 country where rainfall was greatly needed. As is always 

 the case under such circumstances, the strong and entirely 

 natural desire that its artificial production might be accom- 

 plished was soon convened into a belief that it had been, 

 and a readiness to accept the flimsiest sort of evidence of 

 relation between the means employed and the end sought. 

 This confidence materialized, or better, perhaps, was taken 

 advantage of in the formation of an " Interstate Artificial 

 Rain Company, Limited " (I am quoting from the daily pa- 

 pers of Nov. 10, 1891), which, after the manner of its kind, 

 was apparently organized not for the purpose of actually 

 producing rain, but for the formation of other joint-stock 

 companies ready to purchase the secret method of doing it. 

 An alleged experiment, on which a business transaction was 

 based, is thus described: — 



" The party arrived in the city on Sunday, Nov. 1, and 

 commenced operations on Sunday evening in a small out- 

 house on the edge of town. The conditions were extremely 

 unfavorable for rain. No results could be seen at first, but 

 on Friday the sky became overcast with clouds. On Satur- 

 day a high south wind prevailed, and on Saturday night 

 some rain came from the south-west. On Sunday rain fell 

 all day, and at night a norther arose. Reports from 100 to 

 150 miles around this town show that rain fell on Sunday in 

 most localities in considerable quantities." So convincing 

 was this to the buying company that the secret process was 

 purchased by them for the sum of §50,000, "after which," 

 the account rather unnecessarily adds, the selling company 

 " left for home." But a business so profitable as this was 

 not to be long without competition, and a few weeks later a 

 telegram is sent to the leading newspapers of the country, 

 announcing that a professor in a western State (it is pleasant 

 to note that most of these public benefactors are "professors") 

 is prepared to furnish rain more promptly and at less cost 



