BOOK OF THE DAMNED 73 



as doubtful; fall of bituminous matter, in Germany, March 8, 1798, 

 listed by Greg. Lockyer (The Meteoric Hypothesis, p. 24) says 

 that the substance that fell at the Cape of Good Hope, Oct. 13, 1838 

 about five cubic feet of it: substance so soft that it was cuttable 

 with a knife "after being experimented upon, it left a residue, 

 which gave out a very bituminous smell." 



And this inclusion of Lockyer's so far as findable in all books 

 that I have read is, in books, about as close as we can get to 

 our desideratum that coal has fallen from the sky. Dr. Farrington, 

 except with a brief mention, ignores the whole subject of the fall 

 of carbonaceous matter from the sky. Proctor, in all of his books 

 that I have read is, in books, about as close as we can get to 

 duction to the Study of Meteorites," p. 53) excommunicates with 

 the admission that carbonaceous matter has been found in meteor- 

 ites "in very minute quantities" or my own suspicion is that it is 

 possible to damn something else only by losing one's own soul 

 quasi-soul, of course. 



Sci. Amer., 35-120: 



That the substance that fell at the Cape of Good Hope "re- 

 sembled a piece of anthracite coal more than anything else." 



It's a mistake, I think: the resemblance is to bituminous coal 

 but it is from the periodicals that we must get our data. To 

 the writers of books upon meteorites, it would be as wicked by 

 which we mean departure from the characters of an established spe- 

 cies quasi-established, of course to say that coal has fallen from 

 the sky, as would be, to something in a barnyard, a temptation that 

 it climb a tree and catch a bird. Domestic things in a barnyard: 

 and how wild things from forests outside seem to them. Or the 

 homeopathist but we shall shovel data of coal. 



And, if over and over, we shall learn of masses of soft coal that 

 have fallen upon this earth, if in no instance has it been asserted that 

 the masses did not fall, but were upon the ground in the first place; 

 if we have many instances, this time we turn down good and hard 

 the mechanical reflex that these masses were carried from one 

 place to another in whirlwinds, because we find it too difficult to 

 accept that whirlwinds could so select, or so specialize in a peculiar 

 substance. Among writers of books, the only one I know of who 

 makes more than brief mention is Sir Robert Ball. He represents 

 a still more antique orthodoxy, or is an exclusionist of the old type, 

 still holding out against even meteorites. He cites several falls of 

 carbonaceous matter, but with disregards that make for reasonable- 



