Strange Things from the Sky.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 26 June 1914, Page 2

Strange Things from the Sky.

A correspondent writes that after a heavy storm recently he saw the pavements of a town sprinkled with many small earthworms, apparently lifeless, and looking as if they had been drowned, and, siu.ce it was seemingly impossible that they could have crawled there in such numbers, he wishes to know if science can throw any light on their probable origin, I The phenomenon to which he calls attention has long been known, m : various forms, and has sometimes ' been the cause of panic fears among , ignorant or superstitious people. The. so-called "blood-rains" belong to the same category. : Most of these occurrences are be- ' lieved to be due to the carrying up into the atmosphere, by whirling winds of quantities of dust, the coloured pollen of flower 3, and even small animals, which are transported to a considerable distance, and'then brought down to the ground, during a rainstorm. The power of an atmospheric whirl to lift light objects to a great elevation is often astonishing. Such a whirlwind passing over a swamp or pond may suck up considerable quantities of water,-.and with lit small fish, frogs, and worms. These are retained in the air by the rapidity of their motion, and may be transported a mile, or even many miles, before they descend again to the ground. If they are caught in a shower of rain they are assembled together in multitudes as they fall. Some very curious instances of strange rains of this kind are on record. Many years ago a shower of small green stones fell during a violent storm in the streets of Birmingham, causing much constema- .>.--, v-?' tion among the inhabitants. Inves- ' ' tigation by a geologist showed lhal they had been torn by the wind from the ragged range of gr.eenstone rock near the village of Rowley, in Staffordshire, several miles north ol Birmingham. Such phenomena are more c6mmon in Southern Europe than elsewhere, and it has been proved that the Desert of Sahara is usually their source. Coloured sand and dust * are raised to a great height in the atmosphere by the whirling winds, and then transported across the Mediterranean Sea until, in.passing over Europe, they are caught in descending rains, to which they impart the colour of blood or of sulphur, often staining any substance with which they come in contact. On March 14, 1813, a " bloody cloud," which probably originated in the Sahara, passed over Calabria and extended northward into the Kingdom of Naples, spreading terror everywhere and colouring the whole sky as red as fire. Thunder storms ; broke out, and the rain that fell from the cloud had exactly the appearance of blood. In 1847 a blood-coloured rain fell jat Chamberry, at the foot of the Alps, while near the summit of the mountains, around the St. Bernard Pass, there fell several inches of " bloody snow." In the old days of superstition tfe.-.se occurrences were ascribed to diabolic influenoes, and there was no one wise enough in the doings of nature to offer a reasonable explanation of them. Often it happens that insects, and sometimes heavier animals, as well as the seeds of plants, are transported long distances, by the wind and deposited alive upon the ground. Dr. T. L. P ( hipson, who devoted many years to investigation of atmospheric vagaries, believed that the sudden appearance of strange plants and insects in localities where they are usually unknown is due to this cause. He himself observed several instances of the kind. On one occasion a rare plant, called "bloodyfinger grass," suddenly began to grow in his garden, but if disappeared after a single season. His explanation was that its seeds had been brought through the atmosphere, and that the plants, after flourishing a single summer, perished for lack of proper nourishment in the soil. On another occasion his garden, near London, was suddenly animated with the presence of a species of wasp, which is never found in England but abounds in the South of France. These insects also disappeared after a single season. The fact is that the atmosphere is a wonderful transporting agent, extremely fickle in its action, 'fdled with unseen currents, aud yet containing many mysteries,:such.as th( barometric "holes" i into which aeroplanes sometimes plunge, that remain to.be satisfactorily explained