Abstract
SOME of your readers will probably be interested to know something of the nature of the muddy rain which fell here on Sunday, February 22. A sample of the downfall, caught in an open field between 10 a.m. and 12 noon, was brought to me. To examine, and particulars of the partial analysis of the suspended matter which the water contained are subjoined. The large percentage of organic matter seems to me to be the most remarkable point in the analysis, and I regret not having had time to make a separate investigation of this. A rapid examination of the physical properties of the sediment, or mud, which I made, seemed to indicate that the organic matter was condensed hydrocarbon gases, or condensed volcanic vapours (such as one might expect to be evolved unburnt in a very large volcanic outburst). The sediment seems to be terrestrial, as the large amount of organic matter, coupled with the small amount of iron found, prohibits the theory of a meteoric origin.
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EARP, R. Analysis of the “Red Rain” of February 22 . Nature 67, 414 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/067414d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/067414d0
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