bination. In instances where testimony
was not convincing that gelatinous matter had been seen to fall, it was
said that the gelatinous substance was nostoc, and had been upon the
ground in the first place: when the testimony was too good that it had
fallen, it was said to be spawn that had been carried from one place to
another in a whirlwind.

Now, I can't say that nostoc is always greenish, any more than I can say
that blackbirds are always black, having seen a white one: we shall
quote a scientist who knew of flesh-colored nostoc, when so to know was
convenient. When we come to reported falls of gelatinous substances, I'd
like it to be noticed how often they are described as whitish or
grayish. In looking up the subject, myself, I have read only of
greenish nostoc. Said to be greenish, in Webster's Dictionary--said to
be "blue-green" in the New International Encyclopedia--"from bright
green to olive-green" (_Science Gossip_, 10-114); "green" (_Science
Gossip_, 7-260); "greenish" (_Notes and Queries_, 1-11-219). It would
seem acceptable that, if many reports of white birds should occur, the
birds are not blackbirds, even though there have been white blackbirds.
Or that, if often reported, grayish or whitish gelatinous substance is
not nostoc, and is not spawn if occurring in times unseasonable for
spawn.

"The Kentucky Phenomenon."

So it was called, in its day, and now we have an occurrence that
attracted a great deal of attention in its own time. Usually these
things of the accursed have been hushed up or disregarded--suppressed
like the seven black rains of Slains--but, upon March 3, 1876, something
occurred, in Bath County, Kentucky, that brought many newspaper
correspondents to the scene.

The substance that looked like beef that fell from the sky.

Upon March 3, 1876, at Olympian Springs, Bath County, Kentucky, flakes
of a substance that looked like beef fell from the sky--"from a clear
sky." We'd like to emphasize that it was said that nothing but this
falling substance was visible in the sky. It fell in flakes of various
sizes; some two inches square, one, three or four inches square. The
flake-formation is interesting: later we shall think of it as signifying
pressure--somewhere. It was a thick shower, on the ground, on trees, on
fences, but it was narrowly localized: or upon a strip of land about 100
yards long and about 50 yards wide. For the first account, see the
_Scientific American_, 34-197, and