BOOK OF THE DAMNED 271 



our acceptance, were not seeds, nor birds, nor ice-crystals: but the 

 tendency would have been to jump to the homogeneous conclusion 

 that all our data in that expression related to this one kind of 

 phenomena, whereas we conceive of infinite heterogeneity of the 

 external: of crusaders and rabbles and emigrants and tourists and 

 dragons and things like gelatinous hat crowns. Or that all things, 

 here, upon this earth, that flock together, are not necessarily sheep, 

 Presbyterians, gangsters, or porpoises. The datum is important to 

 us, here, as indication of disruption in this earth's atmosphere 

 dangers in entering this earth's atmosphere. 



I think, myself, that thousands of objects have been seen to fall 

 from aloft, and have exploded luminously, and have been called 

 "ball lightning." 



"As to what ball lightning is, we have not yet begun to make 

 intelligent guesses." (Monthly Weather Review, 34-17.) 



In general, it seems to me that when we encounter the opposition 

 "ball lightning" we should pay little attention, but confine our- 

 selves to guesses that are at least intelligent, that stand phantom- 

 like in our way. We note here that in some of our acceptances 

 upon intelligence we should more clearly have pointed out that they 

 were upon the intelligent as opposed to the instinctive. In the 

 Monthly Weather Review, 33-409, there is an account of "ball light- 

 ning" that struck a tree. It made a dent such as a falling object 

 would make. Some other time I shall collect instances of "ball 

 lightning," to express that they are instances of objects that have 

 fallen from the sky, luminously, exploding terrifically. So bewil- 

 dered is the old orthodoxy by these phenomena that many scientists 

 have either denied "ball lightning" or have considered it very doubt- 

 ful. I refer to Dr. Sestier's list of one hundred and fifty instances, 

 which he considered authentic. 



In accord with our disaccord is an instance related in the Monthly 

 Weather Review, March, 1887 something that fell luminously from 

 the sky, accompanied by something that was not so affected, or that 

 was dark: 



That, according to Capt. C. D. Sweet, of the Dutch bark, /. P. A., 

 upon March 19, 1887, N. 37 39', W. 57 oo', he encountered a 

 severe storm. He saw two objects in the air above the ship. One 

 was luminous, and might be explained in several ways, but the 

 other was dark. One or both fell into the sea, with a roar and the 

 casting up of billows. It is our acceptance that these things had 



