GUNFIRE AND RAIN

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1940, Page 4

GUNFIRE AND RAIN

NOT SCIENTIFIC THEORY The fact that the period from May 1 last to June 23 was the sunniest in England for 18 years should put an end to the lingering belief, still held by some, that gun-fire produces rain, says the Manchester Guardian. There never has been any scientific basis for the "gun-firing and rain" theory, of course. The notion appears to have had its origin in the unscientific Middle Ages, when the ringing of church bclls was thought to affect rainfall. Upon the introduction of firearms these were brought in as an aid in controlling the weather, sometimes with the addition of pellets made of the remains of candles preserved from the celebrations of Candlemas. As new methods of producing concussion were developed the older ones were disregarded and the power of the church bells was transferred to heavy ordnance. But. as Sir Napier Shaw has pointed out, "there is no evidence either of a practical or theoretical nature that heavy ordnance was more effective than a church bell. or that either had the smallest effcct upon clouds and rainfall." Yet it is still the bclief of. some that the great storm which shattered the Spanish Armada was due to the heavy gun-firing during the engagement, and that the torrential downpours that r.iarked the Waterloo series of battles were due to the same cause.