38 JOURNAL OF THE 



of the ma«!S in the bottle. This was poured off and examined. It 

 gave : bundant tests for phosphoric acid reduced silver solutions 

 and gav^* phosphine on heating so that it was seen to consist of 

 phosphoric and phosphorous acids. A strong solution of phosphoric 

 acid was then made and some dry amorphous phosphorus added to 

 it. This gave reactions for phosphorous acid after standing over 

 night and quite strongly on standing three or four days. Some of 

 the phosphorus was then washed well with water and then alcohol. 

 It was then washed with carbon bisulphide, this latter filtered off 

 and washed away and the phosphorous got. en thus quite free from 

 the yellow variety. When this was treated with a strong solution of 

 phosphoric acid, it showed signs of oxidation but the dry powder 

 exposed under a beaker and placed in a damp room was still dry at 

 the end of three months. 



''FALL OF BLOOD" IN CHATHAM COUNTY. 



F. P. VENABLE. 



A singular shower of some red liquid, supposed to be blood, which 

 fell in Chatham on February 25th, 1884, was mentioned in some of 

 the State papers, but little notice was taken of it. Nearly a week 

 after the fall, Dr. Sidney Atwater brought a small specimen of sand 

 soaked with this liquid to the University, to be examined. It was 

 looked upon rather as a joke and no analysis was made for some 

 time. When it was taken up several days afterwards there seemed 

 to be sufficient interest attaching to it to warrant paying a visit to 

 the locality w^iere the matter fell. Meairtime nearly three weeks 

 had elapsed, and several heavy rains had fallen, so that when the 

 place was reached (a small negro-cabin in New Hope township, 

 about a quarter of a mile from the Raleigh and Pittsboro road) no 

 vestiges of the matter could be found on the ground, and only one 

 or two marks of drops on the fence. The woman who saw it fall 

 was, however, examined and inquiries were made of the neighbors 

 who visited the spot soon after. The fall came from a cloudless 

 sky, when the wind was so slight as to be almost imperceptible. 



