Abstract
THE only object there can possibly be in giving a notice of this book is to warn intending purchasers of its contents, lest they be deceived by the title, and hope to find some account, more or less interesting, of the experiments that were made in America, a short time back, with the view of procuring a rainfall. This book has not even that recommendation. One has not much patience with weather prophets, who base their assertions on conjunctions of the planets, or some equally occult and absurd methods; but Mr. Collinson is in advance of all such vendors of nostrums. Not for him the uncertain, or partial, fulfilment of hazily expressed prophecies, not for him the long and careful study of signs and portents; he, himself, is the rainmaker, he is the dispenser of sunshine and cloud, he is gifted with the divine power that storms and floods and drought obey. Here is his own modest statement: “Thus when suitably placed as to residence, the results of his (the author's) action on magnets are certain to produce changes in the weather and other effects, as interesting and useful, bearing on meteorological science generally. They are simply marvellous. Storms, floods, drought, &c., can be induced, on the one hand, and the prevalence of sunshine and warmth, in opposition to coldness and gloom, on the other. His action in this direction, judging from experience, could bring any district, and, indeed, the country generally, such favourable weather as would recall the glories of the Golden Age.” (p. 18.) Another passage that makes one doubt whether the book is to be taken seriously, relates how a prophet (Query Dr. Falbe, says the author) foretold bad weather for March 28, 1893, sudden fall of the barometer, great conflicts of wind and water, and various other disasters. “About the same time Prof. Jenkins foretold that there would be a cyclone with snow on March 25. I took care that these storms did not happen.”(p. 186.)
Rainmaking and Sunshine.
By John Collinson. (London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co., 1894.)
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P., W. Our Book Shelf. Nature 51, 7 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/051007a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051007a0