It is likely, therefore, that, as the importance of scientific
kite-flying becomes more widely understood, some simple dummy engine
will be devised for rapidly turning the windlass on which the main
line is wound.

Mr. Eddy has made frequent experiments with rain-kites, which he used
for the first time in November, 1893. It is true that Franklin sent
up a flyer during a shower, but in his case the rain was merely an
accident accompanying the electric storm, which was his only concern.
Mr. Eddy, however, has sent up kites in the rain for the purpose of
studying cloud altitudes and other meteorological phenomena; and by
this means he has discovered what was not previously believed to be
true: that clouds sometimes sink to within six hundred feet of the
earth's surface without actually coming down to it. In fact, Mr. Eddy
has had kites disappear in a cloud at a height of only five hundred
and sixty-eight feet. It has sometimes happened that clouds settling
toward the earth have obscured the kites gradually, the top one
becoming invisible first, and then the others in succession. Mr. Eddy
has found that by such indications he is able to foretell the approach
of fog four or five hours before it reaches the earth's surface, so
slowly do the clouds settle through the air strata.

[Illustration: DIRIGIBLE KITE-DRAWN BUOY.

This is the buoy invented by Prof. J. Woodbridge Davis for conveying
messages, food, or life-lines between disabled vessels and the shore.
The buoy is drawn over the water by the kite-line, like the one shown
above, but the setting of the keel and the three guy-ropes give it
whatever direction is desired.]

[Illustration: THE KITE-BUOY IN SERVICE.]

It is best to make rain-kites of oil-skin or paraffine paper, as the
ordinary paper or cloth becomes saturated with the dampness and very
heavy, thus lessening the buoyancy of the line. So penetrating is the
dampness of clouds, even without a rain-storm, that the wooden frames
sometimes become warped and the paste seams soak open.

DRAWING DOWN ELECTRICITY BY A KITE-STRING.

The scientific kite-flyer will find much to tempt him into the field
of electricity; and will be able, not only to duplicate Dr. Franklin's
historic experiment of bringing down sparks from the heavens, but
may go far beyond this, taking advantage of the greater knowledge of
electricity at his disposal and the superior apparatus. In the summer
of 1885, Alexander McAdie, at the Blue Hi