METEORIC DUSTS, N.S.W. 279 



J. M. Yates, writing from Davenham, Cheshire, "Nature" 

 1/4/97, says: — "On Tuesday morning, March 22nd I noticed 

 on the glass of our greenhouse and on many of the shrubs, 

 a sort of red dust. On making inquiries I found the same 

 thing existed about two miles due west, I collected some, 

 and by the kindness of Messrs. Brunner, Mond & Co., it 

 was examined in their laboratory. The report says : — The 

 dust showed minute fragments of clayey matter mixed with 

 quartz; organic matter, such as pollen grains, was absent. 

 The particles are about *0001 millimetre in diameter, many 

 of them less. We are surrounded by grass ; the soil is 

 clayey loam, without oxide of iron or quartz." 



A letter from Augusto Arcimis, "Nature ," 21/4/98, in 

 reference to the dust shower met with by the Roslyn Castle 

 off the west coast of Africa, describes the phenomenon as 

 experienced at the City of Laguna, Teneriffe. "A light 

 fog was observed from the early hours of the evening of Feb. 

 15th, with a light breeze from the east. During the night 

 it rose to a moderate gale. At about 5 a.m. on the 16th 

 a few drops of rain fell. The wind dropped to a gentle 

 breeze again during the day, from the east. The fog became 

 denser and the sun pale and feeble like the moon. The 

 drinking water became salty and coloured as by oxide of 

 iron. The dust was grey and extremely fine, and was 

 deposited on every object." 



Some brown dust was collected on board the P. and O. 

 S. S. "Sumatra," during a thunderstorm in the Galita 

 Channel, Mediterranean. Mr. G. T. Pryor, ("Nature," 

 29/6/99) found the dust to be an argillaceous and calcareous 

 sand, containing a little organic matter, and a few angular 

 grains of quartz. 



Prof. Riicker, f.r.s., (now Sir Arthur Riicker) writing 

 from Taormina, in Sicily ("Nature" 28th March, 1901) on 

 March 12th to Prof. Judd, says: — "We have had a rather 



