Page 95 - James Rodger Fleming - Fixing the sky

a single technique or theory. The hail shooters and the rainmakers who mixed
secret chemicals, however, preyed on misguided hope and gullibility.

at War with the Clouds

over the years, two basic approaches have prevailed concerning what to do when
severe weather threatens: ceremonial and militaristic. Sacrifices, prayers, and the
ringing of consecrated storm bells were favored by most until about 1750; since
then, military assaults on the clouds have predominated. In ancient Greece, the
official “hail wardens” of Cleonae were appointed at public expense to watch for
hail and then signal the farmers to offer blood sacrifices to protect their fields: a
lamb, a chicken, or even a poor man drawing blood from his finger was deemed
sufficient. But woe to the negligent hail watcher if the signal was not given in
time to offer the sacrifices and the crops were subsequently flattened. He him-
self might be beaten down by the angry farmers. The Roman philosopher Sen-
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eca mocked this practice as one of the “silly theories of our Stoic friends.” In
Norse tradition, making a loud racket during storms was said to frighten away
the demons of the storm. This was also a widespread practice among early and
medieval Christians. A passage in the Bible about the “prince of the power of
the air” convinced Saint Jerome that there were devils around when storms were
about. Witches, too, were accused of causing bad weather. The Compendium
Maleficarum (1626) contained an illustration of a witch riding a goat in the storm
clouds. Throughout the Middle Ages, processions, often involving entire villages,
were held in times of storm. 3
Church bells were inscribed, consecrated, and even baptized. In his Meteo-
rological Essays (1855), the noted French scientist and politician François Arago
cited a number of traditional prayers that were recited during the installation of
a new church bell, including the following: “Bless this bell, and whenever it rings
may it drive far off the malign influences of evil spirits, whirlwinds, thunderbolts,
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and the devastations which they cause.” As well as calling the faithful to prayer
and assembly and warning the community of invaders, the peals of the church
bell were thought to agitate the air, disperse sulfurous exhalations, protect
against thunder and lightning, and disperse hail and wind. The German play-
wright and lyric poet Friedrich Schiller placed as the motto of his famous “Song
of the Bell” the Latin inscription customarily adorning many church bells: Vivos
voco; Mortuos plango; Fulgura frango (I call the living; I mourn the dead; I break
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the lightning). In Austria, it was traditional to ring “thunder bells” or blow on
huge “weather horns” while herdsmen set up a terrific howl and women rattled

78 | rain fakerS