( 2i9 } 



tity, which it was reported had fallen from the clouds ; that lie liad 

 procured a piece of it, which he had examined by the microfcope, 

 but could not form any fatisfaftory judgment refpe6ting it. And, 

 finding me dcfirous of feeing this pretended paper, he afterwards 

 fent me a piece of it. 



I had not had this fuppofcd paper in my poirefTion half an hour, 

 before I obtained, by the help of the microfcope, fo much infight into 

 its nature, that I judged it to be a vegetable production, of a fort 

 which grows in the water ; and I concluded, that if the fa61 was, as 

 reported, that it had fallen from the upper region of the air, it 

 had been carried up thither by what is called a water fpout ; though 

 I am much more inclined to believe, that by fome heavy ftorm of 

 rain, or the melting of fnow, (if the country is mountainous) the 

 ponds or ditches might have overflowed, and carried with their curr 

 rent this vegetable produ6fion while green, leaving it on fome field of 

 grafs or arable land, and there, by the fun and wind, it might be very 

 much dried, fo as, in fome meafure, to refemble burnt j^aper : more- 

 over, I was well aflured, that I had feen this kind of fubftance in con- 

 fiderable quantities in ponds, ditches, or caiwls, in this country ; my 

 only difficulty was, to diicover, how it acquired the black or appa- 

 rently burnt colour before mentioned. 



To fatisfy myfelf in this refpeft, I went to fome ftagnating pieces 

 of water in the neighbourhood of this town, where I had feen tliis 

 vegetable, which is an aquat-ic plant or weed, in great abundance, 

 fome of it I brought home v/itli me, and fpreading it open between 

 pieces of thick pai)er, I laid it before the fire to dry. I then perceived 

 that where many pieces lay heaped one on another, their natural 

 green was changed to a blackifh caft ; but, where the pieces lay fingly, 

 they preferved their green colour. 



After this, I examined the before mentioned imaginary paper more 

 jiccurately, and I faw very difiinc^Iy, that it was exactly of the lame 



