84 OnST STORM. 



volcano and as we niio:ht judwe brought by the Avind from 

 the Atlantic as the clouds came from that direction. No 

 open dust plains are accessible, and yet the dust falls to 

 the weiirht of three j^rains to the square foot, in C'oncord, 

 Lunenburi>-h and Guildhall in Essex County, Craftsbury 

 and Browninuton of Orleans, and in Kirby and lUirke in 

 Caledonia Counties. In all, over (juite an extensive tract 

 of territory. 



By analysis it contains some silex, is sl«ihtly alkaline 

 containinsi: traces of sulphur, spores of various atmos- 

 pheric finigi and a variety of ingredients which the mi- 

 nute quantity prevented the determination of, and as the 

 amount on hand was so small I could gain but an ap- 

 proximate idea of the proportion of ingredients named. 

 'J'he dust is very tine showing no trace of vegetable origin 

 neither does it compare with any volcanic dust I could ob- 

 tain. Upon comparison with meteoric dust from Europe 

 1 tind a great resemblance though there are some forms in 

 this I do not tind in that. What analysis I am able to 

 make proves nothing. If it was meteoric we might ex- 

 pect to find traces of iron which I could not find, yet it 

 might contain it, if not magnetic. In analysis of dust 

 which came from a burning pine forest, according to 

 "Booth" there was found a large per cent of silex, much 

 larger than is conimon in ashes, and an alkaline or acid 

 might be obtained from the atmosphere as well as in rain- 

 water. ^Meteoric dust as far as known always contains si- 

 lex and of course dust from sandy locations would be al- 

 most certain to do so. Volcanic ashes would contain it 

 also. "We will sum up our ccmclusions as follows : — 



It is not sand dust from a beach or desert or other ter- 

 restrial tract, as the corners do not show any action of wa- 

 ter but are rounded apparently by heat, and many points 

 of fracture are sharp and angular. It is not from a burn- 

 ing forest as there are no traces of vegetable fibre. It 

 does not seem to be volcanic, as it does not possess the 

 highly vitreous appearance of the fine dust thrown from 

 volcanoes, yet it seems to have been subject to great heat 



