STONES FALLING FROM THE AIR. 
23 
The showers of sulphur* * * § , have been ascribed to a vegetable Showers of 
origin, though the facts will scarcely agree with this explaua- 
tion. For the sulphureous shower which fell in Copenhagen in 
1 ( 5 -l 6 , was accompanied by a heavy rain, while the air was 
infected by a smell of sulphur, and the sulphur wlueh Wormius 
and other philosophers collected, had exactly the same qualities 
as that which is usually obtained from minerals. A shower of 
the same description again took place at Copenhagen in lOOSf, 
which was preceded by a violent storm. The substance it 
brought with it, on being collected and thrown in the 6 re, pro- 
duced a very evident smell of sulphur, and with the spiiit of 
turpentine it formed a kind of balsam of sulphur. And very 
lately the shower which fell at llastadt in IbOl, w’as so very 
sulphureous that the substance was made use of in making 
matches J. But the substance which in general accompanies 
these rains, resembles balsam of sulphur much mo.ro than 
sulphur itself. This was observed at Chatillon sur Seine, 
w'here the rain left a residue which was very fetid, thick, and 
adhesivc§, atid lastly in Ireland in U)p5, where the matter that 
fell was of a deep yellow colour, and of a gluey consistence, 
with a very strong and disagreeable smell||. This likewise 
possessed the property of being deliquescent in the air, and of 
drying by the action of caloric. Showers of the same kind 
have also been observed in the duchies of Mansfeld in 1658 
and of Brunswick in 172 1 . 
It is equally absurd to consider the mineral show'ers, as pro- Showers of 
duced from an auimal origin, because that in some of them 
have been supposed to be found the excretions of butter-flies. 
Nor can we scarcely call in question the mineral showers which 
• Moses, Spaiigenbcrsr, Olaiis-Wormins, Seigesbcck, and after them 
Musclienbroek mention these showers of sulphur, see tom ii. das 
Eleinens de Physique de Mnsehenbroek. 
f His work already referred to. 
J Esprit des Jouruaux, Jnellet, 1801. 
§ Histoire naturelle de I’Air par Richard, tom. t. 
H Miscbeobroek andlzarn. 
f«U 
