The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1896-07-25
STRANGE SHOWERS.
BLOOD. cp,ders and Other Queer Thing
Eained Down from II aycn.

Eained Down from II aven.
Tho meteorological phenomenon that
dates from ''thc night Of the big winds
and the dieastrous downpour that
drcnched suffering humanity on that
occasion is surpassed by the record OF
other rcinStcrns.
The sky has shed tempcsts of blood,
and moro than once this phenomenon
has produced CONSERVATION among
men whose startled eyes bcheld what
they dccmcl was the viiible sign Of
their impending dcctructicn. BLOOD"
rain 10 causel by the prcccncc of inf
nitcly little planto, cnimalculcs or
minerals in the globulcs. In one in
stance Of q shower that fell ut Bristol
and in tho Eriotcl channel the ana
lytical examination showed that the
rel col-r was duo to ivy-bcrry seeds
In medieval times blood rain was
prodiGy; in tho cast it was connected
with the belief that man was produced
from flccd that fcll frc1-a leascn II
''bloody host," which. while it -four
ishcd, probably cnuscd the death Of
moro Jews. il this country than any
other individual superstition directed
againSt that people. 1t IS described us
ian appearance CT blood flowing from
brcad when bittcn;' but it unaffected
itself il other articles Of food besides
bread end sometimes seemed to drop
from tho cir. 1t will be remembered
by historical rcalcrs thct while Alex
audcr woa bcSicging Tyre this prodigy
and the other one Of ''blood rain" oc-
Cured in ono day, much to the con-
stcrncticn of tho soldiers
Mere curious than blood rain IN 70.
gard to tho moro color was the red. violet
and grcc5-grocd chowcr which fell in
the south Of Franco many years ago
and mcdc patchwork Of the big lake. |
whcroon its nanifc3tatioa was the |
moro noticeable. Thi3 ehovcr, again, |
WIS coucol By uatoll ryriais ot
differently colorcl naim1lculos. Spider
showers ere another curiosity worthy
of mention in this connection. The |
spiders are gossamoro; and ell those /
who have read Whites Natural uis- |
tory CT Solborno will call to mind his |
description Of the showor5 he observed.
One Of t!loso, he tells Ut, continued
for nearly whole day and the gossa-
mcrs dcsccndci from surprising
height, fer when one gentleman as
ccldcd q hill rccr ct hand some three
hundred feet high he fund that the
spiders were dropping from region in
the atmosphere that was still beyond
the reach CT his gaze. DR.. Martin
Lister named this ccrial rpidcr the
bird" from the facility with which it
can travcr-c the air. and upoa one oc-
casicn when he observed q rhower Of
them ut York he asccndcd to the top of
the ninGtcr and found that even at |
that attitude he was still below thcir
levcl-that they were descending from
some region above that standpoint.
Darwin, another observer Of spi,lcr-
showers, dcccribes ono ne saw in 1882,
when on board the Beagle, OF the
mouth of the La Plata river, when the
vessel was some sixty miles frora land;
and hcceems to have been the first to
notice that each parachute Of gossamcr
carried spidcr aeronaur, for he not
only obocrvcd them arrive on beard the
ship but he also saw them reproduce
new parachute, and on this frail bark
launch forth again ''on the bosom Of
the palpitating nir." Theee Cossaner
showers nrc great myutcrics and once
seen cannot very readily be forgotten.
fer the nir on thccc cccaoiors becomes
crowded with the tiny para
chutes mentioned, which are composed
Of few threads Of almost invisible
gcacamcr, with sncn but lively
spider attached. This may be regarded |
rs the most beautiful thing in strange
showers.