The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1861-03-30
rae ayseerlss or the Asr.

Ths MyseeFiss 81 the AsF.
The XesHtGiH XesssHgsr, Of Ia Porte,
Sierra coasty, aIIudes to multItudes a
long thin worms which fell aftsg . shown
Of rsin, 81 lay wriggling - the snoW.
In that SANE county, on the saOw, we have
seen great numbers Of insects which from
their completeness Of form, lightness Of
substance and peaceablencss Of disposi.
ton, suggest the idea Of spiritual nosqui-
toes. A short time ago . shower Of aka
line matter and and felI on WashOe val
ley. An analysis Of . small quantity Of
the snow upon which the unusual matter
appeared, showed that hundreds Of bush.
els Of substances other than snow and
water had fallen over the whole area Of the
valley. Il can only be supposed that the
alkali and It's accompanying earthly sob.
stances were carried into . Westward
floating stratum Of air which, encounter
Ing an attractive stratum which was dis
charging snow, poured its foreign Accu-
mutations on Washoe. The substances
were probably borne into the Westward
stratum BY the whirIing winds Of the dss-
ert and perhaps those winds often take up
sands into currents which course toward
the Pacific, and thus add vastly to the
salts Of the sea. But how shall We account
for showers Of worms and insects! The
mysteries Of the cir are more wonderful
than the mysteries Of the earth, yet they
have much intimacy Of relationship the
universe Is . combination Of germs, every
particle Of eli grades Of substances con-
tains either visible or invisible animate or
inanimate principles Of expansion, and
change and development are the dominant
principles Of creation. In the relations Of
atmosphere and the earth there may DO .
constant generation, high in the air, Of
animal properties and forms which are i'm
perceptibly deposited on the earth where
they assume appearances which indicate
to mans ordinary observation that they
possess no nature which In any shape has
been higher than mans own range Of
physical being. The afr shove the reach
of mans wise strength Of vision, may be
the nursery Of most Of the little creatures
which develop into hosts Of visible sum.
mcr insects and worms; but this hypOthe-
sis does not offer explanation Of the phe-
nomenon Of worms and insects Of full size
falling in rain and snow storms, but the
fact that the species Of these creatures are
not seen developing on the earth or In the
lower atmosphere, sustains the hypothesis
that the upper air can at least exhibit In.
stances Of generaIve capacity. Science,
though the most aspiring and conclusive
element Of mans condition, has not yet
turned its aspirations toward the extensive
examination Of the materials Of the space
between the distinct and tangible struc-
ture Of the universe and the starry dome.
Astronomy attracts Us straight 70 the
transcendent limit, and behOlding the mil
lions Of gIOries shining there, the greater
glOries Of the higher above concentrate our
ideality upon their awful and invisible
mysteries, and when our enraptured men.
als0d physical vision averts it's scope, tho
earthly darkness ntaneOusly becomes
the empire Of our gaze. We forget that
we have Travelled through ETHEREAL regions
a. varied as those between our ATTITUDES
which are the most remote from each
other, and that all along the ETHEREAL track
there may be elements as definite and
frightfnl as arctic icebergs, or more beau
tiful than sunsets In Southern seas. We
look upward aud say to ourselves, We are
at the stars; We look down to the earth
and suppose that the journey was through
an unmysteriOus blank to mystsriouS sour
ces Of Hight, real existences, because they
are fixed above the blank. The planets
are worlds, We think, and We labor with
comparison and conjecture to Be assured
that those worlds are like cur world, and
here We ere lost In the Indebtedness Of
what We see, and are bewildered away
from catching the ideal grandeur OF con-
Oeiving that the space under the sun is
crowded with worlds more wonderful than
the stars that there are great luminous
apartments Of air In which creative ele-
ments spring cOuntIessly from the breath
Of deity, some living and changing eter.
nally 10 their native regions. and others
going out a. continual hosts Of impaIpable
atoms. entering into, varying, destroying.
reproducing, barmonislng and making all
Of the things and all Of the operations Of
the Universe.