Democratic standard. [volume] (Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio) 1837-1850, 1841-09-21
r, nS,o,rv or FLEsH ANp BLOOD, .

TaR nSHowER OF FLRsH AND BLOOD.
Our readers are greatly indebted Il
the Principal Of that excellent insIitu
ton the Alexandra Boarding School, io
ihe following scientific eiuUidstiOn Of the
phenomenon in Tennessee, designated by
the above headiRS:-Rdt. Int
ALrdadria Boarding School, Q mo-
81, lS4l. Friends Gales and SeGtoH:
1 notice in the Intelligencer Of to-day,
under the head Or"Atmospherical Phen-
OmenoH," an article from the Nashville
Banner, describing what is stated to have
been shower of flesh and blood; in the
vicinity Of Lebanon, Tennessee. The
same account, ora similar one, has also
been published in several other papers,
There are many pc sons OF that peculiar
temperament that is unfavorably affected
BY intelligence Of so uausual and awful
character; ~ such il may be relief to
learn that the phenomenon alluded to
finds its ready explanation in a well,as-
certaiGed fact in the economy Oi insects.
Ia the interesting aud instructive work
OfKRBY g. SPENCE, on the "Natural
History Of Insects" are the following re.
marks, which explain the whole subject:
''Many species Of LepidopterG,
(BulterAies) when they emerge from the
pupa OF chrysalis state, discharge a red
ish fluid, which in some instances, where
their numbers have been considerable,
has produced the appearance of a shower
of blood; and by this natural fact, all
those bloody showers, recorded by hislO-
rams aspreiernatural, and regarded, where
they happened, as fearful proguostcs Of
impending evils, are stripped of their
tsrrors, and reduced to the class Of ev-
ents that happen in the common course
0f nature. That insects are the cause
Uf these (supposed) showers is no recent
discovery; for Sliedan relates that, in the
year 1853, vast multitude Of butterflies
swsrmed through great part of Germa-
ny, aud sprinkled plants, leaves, buildings,
clothes and men, with bloody drops, as
il il had ralued blood. Bat the most in
teresting account Of an event Of this kind
is given by Reaumur, from whom we
learn that, ia the beginninglOf July, 1908,
The suburbs Of AK, and considerable
extent OF country round it, we're covered
with what appeared to be a shower of
blood. We may conce We the amaze
men. and slupU Of the poPulace upon
such discoVery,the alarm OF the citizens,
the grave reasoning Of the learned. All
agreed, however, in altributing the ap-
psarance to the powers Of darkness, aud
in regarding it as the prognostic and pre-.
cursor of some direful misfortune about
90 belall them. Fear aud predjudice
would have taken deeb root upon this oc-
casion, and might have produced fatal ef:
fects upon some weak minds, had not NJ
Peirese, a celebrated philosopher Of that
place, paid attention to insects. A chrys
alis, wIich he preserved in his cabinet,
lei him into the secret ofthis myster ols
shower. Hearing Auttering, which in.
formed him his insect was arrived at its
perfect state, he opened the box in which
he kept it; the animal few out, and left
behind il red spot. lie compared this
with the spots of the bloody shower, and
found they were alike. Al the same
lime he observed there Was a prodigious
quantity Of butterflies flying about, and
that The drops Of the miraculous rain were
not 70 be found upon the lies,noT even up
on the upper surface of The stones, but
chiefly in cavities and places where rain
could not easily come. Thus did this
iudiciOus observer dispGl the ignorant
fears and terror which natural phenOm-
cDOn had d."-YoI. !, page IS.
Those wishing further information on
the subject will fnd it in Comstock's
Physotogy aud in No. LXXlV Of Har.
per's Family Library.
The instance mentioned in the Nash
vile account, Of flesh appearing with the
blood, no doubt was the result Of the in-
sect having perished in the process Of
transformation.
BENJAMIN HALEowELL.