ALGM. 



177 



6. The greater affinity in chemical composition of 

 the contents (endochrome) with animal than with 

 vegetable products. 



To all these arguments a sufficient answer has 

 been given — some are not proved, others are not 

 pertinent, and all are relegated to the 

 records of past delusions. In all systematic 

 classifications of the present day the Diato- 

 maceas retain their position as conjugating 'f^^ 

 algae and, of course, as a portion of the 

 vegetable kingdom. 



Meteoric Paper. 



m 



It is one of the romances of past history 

 that in the year 1686 a shower of a sub- 

 stance called " meteoric paper " fell from 

 the sky in Courland ; but its true character 

 was not determined until 1838, when it was 

 examined by Ehrenberg,^ and these results 

 have been summarized in the following 

 manner. "On the January 31, 1687, a 

 great mass of a paper-like black substance 

 fell with a violent snow storm from the f"^- 35— /''« 



tiularia major, 



atmosphere near the village of Rauden, 

 in Courland. It was seen to fall, and after dinner 

 was found at places where the labourers at work 

 had seen nothing similar before dinner. This 



' C. G. Ehrenberg, " Ueber das im Jahre 1686 im Courland vom 

 Himmel gefallene Meteorpapier, etc.," in Berlin Bcricht der Akad 

 (1838). pp. 45-58. 



C. G. Ehrenberg, " Mikroscopische Analyse des curlandischen Mc- 

 teorpapiers von 1686, etc." (Berlin, 1839; folio.) 



N 



