Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 281, 16 September 1891 — Pseudo-Science. [ARTICLE]

Pseudo-Science.

A wrifccr in one ef the Reviows has advanced ihe proposition that hypocrisy is ihe ra©ther ef morality; that is, the habit of pretending to bo righteous in the course of time develops real, practical morality. As hypocrisy is to virtue so is pse udo-science to real knowledge, and it is to be hoped that what now jK)pularly for scienceamong tne peopie may ulUmately becx>me a nearer approach to a true uoderstanding uf the causes of natural phenomena. Tho socalled popu)ar science and the science of the scho»»l text bookj3 is little better thnn anperstition, a kind of creed that chitdren and j>eople generaliy are expected to swallow whole. The ppo* position that the moon r*volv4B around the world is taught and accepted m the eame way aB the dogma that God spat n the «arth and made man out ofthe mud. One of the crudest att«uapts at aeienee had lately been y»»ntilated 111 the loeal papers on the questiou pf the artificial productionofrain. It is taught in all our sehools and supported by the head seie(iiif4 of tho missioaary colleaxue« ih t the i«nisture • laden trade winds tstriking thecold mouuUina pro«

duee-tbe abtradant el lh» windward sides, of these ; This is a perfect gpecimen sj? pgeo-do-seience. This theory preeQmes that mountaiiiB are eolder than ihe air at the same a]titude, eo«trary to the faqt. Thenthe most obvioos and fatal objection is that the precipitation begins iong before the clouds touch thc mountains and where the tempv~ature is high. It rains at Hilo and away out at sea where -the ground ar>d sea are both ;warm and where the cloijds do certainly not eome eontact wiih eoM mountains. The principal cause of preeipitation as given by meteorologists is the eievatiQn of the lower satustrata of air by 3liding iip the inclined plains of the land. This is more in accord with the facts, b«t is insufficient to esplain all the. phenomena whieh aretoc> complex 'to discuss here. Explosions cannot be supposed to ,cause rain by lifting the vaporladen air as ipountains do, but might produce some effect by disturbing the layers of warm air near the surface and the colder ones above. The greatest effect of explosion would be to send out to great distances, at least as far as the sound travels, waves of condensation. Any condensation of saturated air will canse ram, but as eaeh wave of condensation is rapidly followed by a wave of refraction iii distnrbances caused by explosior», the effect that would be produced remains doubtful. But the eause of the floating of water īn air is probably its very fine state of division and even momentary condensation of the air would cause the molecules or particles of waters to umte irito larger particles whieh wouid fall ae rain as soon as they heeame of sufficieiit size. We have no space to discuss even the outlines of the subject nor do we venture an opinion as to the practicabiiitv ' of producing rain. And people will do well to wait the result of expenment before making a parade of what they don't know about the subject. D. L. H.