Undaunted

Rain in practicable quantities cannot be made by any of the artificial schemes which have been suggested, says the United States Weather Bureau in a statement apparently called forth by the plan of Dr. Wilder D. Bancroft, professor of physical chemistry in Cornell University, and L. Francis Warren, who have been conducting experiments at Dayton, Ohio, in connection with the army air service. Enormous natural forces are required to elevate moisture above the earth before it can be precipitated, according to the government meteorologists. For instance, 73,320 tons of moisture would have to be drawn into the air to cause a rainfall of only one inch over an area of even one square mile, an amount which would be negligible in an arid region like Ari- zona. Widespread drought is due to lack of water in the air, and obviously no device can bring down what is not there. Proposals to cause precipitation by sprinkling dust particles in the air to condense the moisture are futile, say the Washington experts. It is admitted that small amounts of moisture can be precipitated by special equipment in laboratories, but no means is yet known of producing such effects on a large scale or of otherwise affecting atmospheric be- havior.

In rebuttal, Professor Bancroft telegraphs: " No use arguing with Weather Bureau. Prefer to wait for results and let them do the explain- ing."

It was not claimed for his scheme that it would have great rainmaking powers, but merely that, by showering clouds and fogs with electrified sand, moisture already in the air could be made to fall over limited areas. The experimenters are continuing their work, undaunted, and important developments may still be looked for.

American street lighting is ornamental at the expense of utility, say a number of prominent psychologists, including Dr. Raymond Dodge, Dr. Shepherd I. Franz and Dr. R. M. Yerkes, who have been studying the problem. Large white globes waste two-thirds of their illumination up- wards, are injurious to the eyes, endanger motor traffic. Properly di-rected lights would make the roadways and sidewalks stand out more clearly. Albert Einstein, the German, arriving at Kantara, Egypt, after a trip to Japan with his wife, announced that he had made a new discovery which may create a greater sensation than his theory of relativity. He is not telling what it is yet, except that it concerns the relation of the earth's power of attraction to terrestrial magnetism.

Of H. G. Wells' ten " most important books " in their effect on history and civilization, four are distinctly within the field of science: Aristotle's History of Animals (about 354 B. C.); Copernicus' The Revolution of the Heavens (A. D. 1543); Bacon's New Atlantis (1624); Darwin's Origin of Species (1859); while Plato's Republic (about 393 B. C.) and Marco Polo's Travels (1299) might easily be tagged as sociology and geography.