Foibles and fallacies of science : an account of celebrated scientific vagaries / by Daniel W. Hering.

  • Hering, Daniel W. (Daniel Webster), 1850-1938.
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Foibles and fallacies of science : an account of celebrated scientific vagaries / by Daniel W. Hering. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of rain; U. S. Weather Bureau’s bulletin Weather Folk-Lore and Local Weather signs; scientific basis of some popular signs; the universal weather proverb; criticism of it. Na¬ tional Weather Service, and Long Range Forecasts; weather systems based upon the influence of the moon; conclusions of meteorologists of the U. S. Weather Bureau as to the validity of popular weather signs and proverbs; recent observations of the connection between weather changes and variation in solar radiation. Weather Con¬ trol. Rain-Making and Rain-Makers; James Pollard Espy and the beginnings of the U. S. Weather Service; “ Old Storm King ”; his Philosophy of Storms; Edward Powers’ theory in War and the Weather; General Dyrenforth’s test of rain production by exploding bombs at various heights in the air; opportunity for charlatans; process of cloud forma¬ tion not yet understood; efforts to fend off bad weather; shooting away hail storms. Charlatanism .. 251-265 Noted Charlatans ; Cagliostro and his career; the diamond necklace; Paracelsus; noted characters, even if impostors, should be judged in the light of the times in which they lived; Quacks and Quackery; startling expose of Ameri¬ can quackery by the American Medical Association; the quack’s equipment; audacity and success in the Middle Ages; in the nineteenth century; the mountebank not yet extinct. Radiation . 266-271 Radiation a companion to vibration in producing amazing results; The Blue Glass Craze; General Pleasontons theory of the powers of blue rays of light, and his experi¬ ments with plants and animals; mystic lore derived from the Kabbala; X-Rays, Radioactivity, Radio-Therapy; the growth of the science of bacteriology and new methods of treating disease opened new paths to quacks; the high hopes raised by the therapeutic effects of ultraviolet radia¬ tion only partially realized; electricity, and radioactivity often exploited absurdly in ostentatious spas and sana- toriums. Other Ancient Chimeras. 272-278 Human Flying; earliest ideas of aviation were to imitate the flight of birds; followed by air-ship, and finally by aero¬ plane; The Universal Solvent; its inherent impossibility;