Page 77 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

To have a proper idea of the fragility of the atmosphere in which we are destined
to live, like fish in the depths of the sea, we ought to imagine ourselves inhabiting
a crystal palace which, on the firing of a cannon, would be shattered to atoms over
our heads. . . . As soon as the cannon cease firing or the bells cease sounding, when
the sky is cloudy or overcast, the weather clears up and the blue sky and sunshine
appear. . . . I am not thus wrong to say that God creates fine weather and man turns
it foul. 20

During the memorable siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855), which he observed,
Le Maout said “all of nature was affected” by the cannonading, which he
claimed caused a widespread outbreak of whooping cough. He convinced Mar-
shal Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant, the scientifically minded French minister
of war who had instituted telegraphic weather reports, to order his artillery offi-
cers to record the weather on days when cannon were being fired. The results
were inconclusive, and Vaillant, unimpressed by the outcome, disavowed the
theory in the Journal officiel de l’Empire, concluding, “The famous influence of
cannon is illusory.” 21
Disappointed but undaunted, Le Maout collected his own statistics to show
that the weather in years with peace was more salubrious than in those with war.
He advised keeping both the guns and the church bells of Europe and the Medi-
terranean silent, both in war and during celebrations, since their concussions dis-
rupted the natural course of the winds and produced clouds and condensation at
immense distances:

Man has two powerful agents at his disposal [guns and church bells], for influenc-
ing the atmosphere. He can, if he pleases . . . govern the aerial phenomena; and
(were all human disturbance to cease on the surface of the globe) the air, in obedi-
ence to the laws of attraction, would probably return to a state of repose, as does
the surface of the sea when not agitated by storms. 22

Conversely, he argued that selective cannonading and bell ringing during
times of drought might provide relief for agriculture. Le Maout was convinced
that he had presented the most powerful argument for the establishment of uni-
versal peace and urged his readers to propagate and popularize this doctrine for
the sake of humanity. Waxing poetic, he wrote:

Nature prepares the storms and tempests; man makes them explode.
God makes good weather; man makes it bad.
He who sows with gunpowder will reap the storm. 23

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