6o BOOK OF THE DAMNED 



"they fell with some velocity." The quantity was great the 

 shortest side of the triangular space is eight miles long. In the 

 Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc. Trans., 5-386, it is said that there 

 were two falls that they were some hours apart a datum that is 

 becoming familiar to us a datum that can not be taken into the 

 fold, unless we find it repeated over and over and over again. It is 

 said that the second fall lasted from nine o'clock in the morning until 

 night. 



Now the hypnosis of the classic that what we call intelligence 

 is only an expression of inequilibrium; that when mental adjustments 

 are made, intelligence ceases or, of course, that intelligence is the 

 confession of ignorance. If you have intelligence upon any subject, 

 that is something you're still learning if we agree that that which 

 is learned is always mechanically done in quasi-terms, of course, 

 because nothing is ever finally learned. 



It was decided that this substance was spiders' web. That was 

 adjustment. But it's not adjustment to me; so I'm afraid I shall 

 have some intelligence in this matter. If I ever arrive at adjustment 

 upon this subject, then, upon this subject, I shall be able to have 

 no thoughts, except routine-thoughts. I haven't yet quite decided 

 absolutely everything, so I am able to point out: 



That this substance was of quantity so enormous that it attracted 

 wide attention when it came down 



That it would have been equally noteworthy when it went up 



That there is no record of any one, in England or elsewhere, 

 having seen tons of "spider webs" going up, September, 1741. 



Further confession of intelligence upon my part: 



That, if it be contested, then, that the place of origin may have 

 been far away, but still terrestrial 



Then it's that other familiar matter of incredible "marksmanship" 

 again hitting a small, triangular space for hours interval of hours 

 then from nine in the morning until night: same small triangular 

 space. 



These are the disregards of the classic explanation. There is 

 no mention of spiders having been seen to fall, but a good inclusion 

 is that, though this substance fell in good-sized flakes of considerable 

 weight, it was viscous. In this respect it was like cobwebs: dogs 

 nosing it on grass, were blindfolded with it. This circumstance 

 does strongly suggest cobwebs 



Unless we can accept that, in regions aloft, there are vast viscous 

 or gelatinous areas, and that things passing through become daubed. 



