ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 13 
days in the week, and from 7 to 10 a.m., and about 150 shots were 
fired. Now, if these discharges really had the effect then attri- 
buted to them it must be visible in the weather records, and he 
found that out of 662 days preceding the practice 128 were cloudy; 
out of 662 days of practice 158 were cloudy ; and out of 662 days 
ollowing practice 146 were cloudy, which he thinks goes to prove 
that the discharge of heavy artillery does not seem to have the 
effect attributed to it. 7.¢,, of dissipating the clouds, 
Arago, at one time, struck by the amount of destruction caused 
by hail-storms, proposed to draw off the electricity by means of 
wires carried up to great elevations by captive balloons ; but it 
was seen as soon as he came to the practical consideration of the 
scheme that each balloon would not protect more than perhaps a 
thousand square yards—a mere speck of France, and no Govern- 
ment could endure the expense of keeping up such a number of 
balloons as would protect the whole country, even if they were of 
any use ; for itis evident that inastorm, when they would be most 
wanted, the wind would blow them down, and in later years he 
was led to doubt the value of such a means of protection. Arago 
tells us that in tracing the history of the use of cannons he found 
that bells, especially church bells, had preceded them ; and it was 
at one time firmly believed that the vigorous ringing of church 
bells was sufficient to dissipate dangerous storms; and he says— 
“Savage nations in all parts of the earth send forth deafening 
clamours to terminate eclipses and destroy dangerous storms,” and 
the habit seems to be still ingrained in human nature. It is evi- 
dent, therefore, that up to 1810, or later, the popular idea was that 
storms might be destroyed or prfvented by fire or guns, and I have 
been unable to find any reason for the complete change to the 
pposite opinion which has taken place since then, unless it be that 
the wants have changed. Australia, like Africa, wants the rain- 
doctor to make rain, not drive it away. It is not only in Austra- 
lia, however, that the belief in the artificial production of rain 
_ exists. In pein ind: the Ciyil War, it was a matter of 
