Page 64 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

ries much deeper meaning than simply making rain or stopping it. In Rain Mak-
ing and Other Weather Vagaries (1926), William Jackson Humphreys (1862–1949),
a meteorological physicist at the U.S. Weather Bureau, classifies rainmaking into
three general categories: magical (practices alleging personal control over secret
forces of nature), religious (appeals to a higher power or supernatural being), and
scientific (using natural means to alter the otherwise undisturbed course of nature).
Closely following Scottish anthropologist James George Frazer’s influential work
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (1890), Humphreys introduces
his readers to magical rainmaking practices such as bloodletting and mimicry of
lightning, thunder, rain, and clouds. As did Frazer before him, Humphreys writes
of ceremonies to stop the rain, involving the sympathetic magic of setting fires,
heating stones, or keeping things dry. His treatment of religious rites includes
appeals and supplications directed to the gods, tribal ancestors, or deceased rain-
makers. In some cases, the ceremonies are intended to threaten, abuse, or annoy
the powers that be. Ringing church bells in inclement weather and praying for rain
were the two most common. In his writing, Humphreys tries heroically to separate
myth from science and reserves “scientific rainmaking” for special treatment, but
as this chapter and those to follow demonstrate, the distinction between mytho-
logical and analytical, fictional and aspirational is not so clear-cut.
Today, chemical cloud seeders have largely superseded traditional rain kings
and queens, but apart from (apparently) dealing with the same topic, weather
control, they hold a vastly different social status. Silver iodide flares may serve as
the new fetish replacing shamanistic practices, but traditional rainmakers were
and still are celebrated as central figures in their societies, while the cloud seeders
are considered culturally marginal at best. If the world’s cultures remain firmly
rooted in myth, tradition, and storytelling, so too does the history of weather
and climate control.
The hubris and folly of Phaethon, themes from Milton and Dante, and exam-
ples drawn from cultures other than our own serve to remind us of the richness
and relevance of myth and storytelling. Daniel Quinn’s distinction between the
Takers and the Leavers, expressed through the fictional voice of Ishmael, serves
further to problematize and universalize human relationships and attitudes
toward the sky. Rather than standing in opposition to rationality, these stories
point to fundamental relationships among nature, culture, and human solidarity
that are currently not being examined in the scientistic West.
The examples of early popular sci-fi literature on weather and climate con-
trol make many of the moral points often left unsaid by scientists and engineers.
Some of the stories told here are drawn from prominent authors, but most of
them are probably unfamiliar. All of them, written in a variety of genres and from

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