An Invention to secure fine weather,
There is now before the Academy of Sciences at
Paris, ‘"a wonderful invention"’ of
Mons. Helvetious Otto, of
Leipsic, by which he promises to ‘"insure fine weather." ’ He erects a platform at a considerable height in the air, on which he places a ‘" propeller,"’ or huge bellows, worked by steam.
With these bellows, which are ‘" very powerful,"’ he blows away the clouds as they gather; and, as rain comes from the clouds, it must necessarily follow that where clouds are not allowed to gather there can be no rain.
He maintains that if a certain number of his rain propellers, or ‘"pluvifuges," ’ as he has named them, are placed at intervals over the city, he can provide for the inhabitants a continuance of fine weather, and a certain protection from sudden showers and muddy streets, so long the terror of fair pedestrians.