Salt Lake Telegram | 1922-02-19 | Page 23 | Why Men Still Have Superstitious Fears of the Noises of Nature

I I Why MEN Still Have SUPERSTITIOUS I FEARS of the NOISES of NATURE HEN on a a cold winter night with the W WHEN biting wind blowing a gale and howling like a demon you pull the covers over your head you do so because there is aroused in you the superstitious dread and fear inherited from your prehistoric forebears It is is just a reversion reversion reversion re re- version back to type according to anthropologists for in the early days of mans man's habitation on this earth the things that puzzled him most and which filled him with fearsome thoughts and speculations speculations specula specula- speculations were the mysterious sounds of nature Whatever primitive man did not understand he endowed with supernatural properties and itis it itis itis is not strange to find him worshipping the wind vind the thunder and other manifestations of natural phenomena in sound In the mythology of all aU ancient ancient ancient an an- peoples are found reference to the sounds of nature surrounded with mythical conceptions of the pleasure or displeasure of gods and goddesses god god- desses The ancient Greeks called the thunderbolt thunderbolt thunderbolt thunder thunder- bolt the supreme weapon of the king of gods the mighty Jupiter Probably the most familiar and most terrifying terrifying terrifying terrify terrify- ing sound of nature is thunder There have been many ridiculous explanations of thunder Its OJ cause is well understood The preceding lightning is a discharge of electricity through the air The energy in lightning is very great the voltage is in the millions This sudden release of energy is what causes the noise of thunder When a spark is made to jump across a gap of air in an electrical electrical electrical cal machine a noise is always produced Multiply the voltage of the current until it reaches that of the lightning and the same intensity of sound as thunder will be produced When the lightning is near the thunder assumes a musical sound because because because be be- cause of the fact that some lightning discharges consist of a series of rapid flashes which occur fast enough to produce a musical note The rumbling of thunder is caused by the of the sound by mountains hills and other objects and also by the fact that the path of lightning is crooked and consequently one does not hear all aU of the sound at the same time The nearer the lightning discharge is to the observer the sharper the tho thunder will be because then he will hear almost all aU of the sound almost instantly From time immemorial noises noise have been heard from the clear sky These are called and are not thunder at all aU but possess a seismic origin That is they are really the rumbling of earthquakes which are too feeble for registration other than by aural detection There are many other noises of nature The roaring of the mountains is produced by the mul- mul I of the sounds emerging from the woods covering them The rustle rustIe of the leaves is due to the wind causing one to rub up against the tho other Some effort has been made to answer these questions Why does the wind howl What causes the many voices that it possesses The exact reasons reasons reasons rea rea- sons are not known The wind blowing at high speed is diverted when it strikes against any obstruction obstruction obstruction ob ob- ob- ob such as a chimney This causes it to lose some of its velocity and eddy currents are formed around the chimney These interfere with the passage of the wind and when they reoccur at frequent intervals the result is sound possessing possessing possessing posses posses- sing more or less of a musical note The pitch of the note depends on the speed of the wind and the nature of the obstruction The whispering of the wind in the ear is due to the same reasons E Each ch tree has its own peculiar note as the wind blows through the bare twigs and branches All AU parts of the tree produce musical sounds and different trees will produce different sounds Low notes are produced by th the large twigs and branches while the high note as in the pine is caused by the wind coursing through the innumerable innumerable innumerable in in- numerable fine needles r