XII

CAN WE MAKE IT RAIN?


To the uncritical observer the possible achievements of invention
and discovery seem boundless. Half a century ago no idea could
have appeared more visionary than that of holding communication in
a few seconds of time with our fellows in Australia, or having a
talk going on viva voce between a man in Washington and another in
Boston. The actual attainment of these results has naturally given
rise to the belief that the word "impossible" has disappeared from
our vocabulary. To every demonstration that a result cannot be
reached the answer is, Did not one Lardner, some sixty years ago,
demonstrate that a steamship could not cross the Atlantic? If we
say that for every actual discovery there are a thousand visionary
projects, we are told that, after all, any given project may be
the one out of the thousand.

In a certain way these hopeful anticipations are justified. We
cannot set any limit either to the discovery of new laws of nature
or to the ingenious combination of devices to attain results which
now look impossible. The science of to-day suggests a boundless
field of possibilities. It demonstrates that the heat which the
sun radiates upon the earth in a single day would suffice to drive
all the steamships now on the ocean and run all the machinery on
the land for a thousand years. The only difficulty is how to
concentrate and utilize this wasted energy. From the stand-point
of exact science aerial navigation is a very simple matter. We
have only to find the proper combination of such elements as