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The Book of the Damned
·
Charles Fort
141
Amer.
Met.
Jour.,
4-589:
"They
are
of
an
amusing
character,
thus
clearly
showing
that
they
were
of
a
terrestrial
and
not
a
celestial
character."
I'm
sure--not
positively,
of
course--that
we've
tried
to
be
as
easygoing
and
lenient
with
Mr.
Symons
as
his
obviously
scientific
performance
would
permit.
Of
course
it
may
be
that
sub-consciously
we
were
prejudiced
against
him,
instinctively
classing
him
with
St.
Augustine,
Darwin,
St.
Jerome,
and
Lyell.
As
to
the
"thunderstones,"
I
think
that
he
investigated
them
mostly
"for
the
credit
of
Englishmen,"
or
in
the
spirit
of
the
Royal
Krakatoa
Committee,
or
about
as
the
commission
from
the
French
Academy
investigated
meteorites.
According
to
a
writer
in
Knowledge,
5-418,
the
Krakatoa
Committee
attempted
not
in
the
least
to
prove
what
had
caused
the
atmospheric
effects
of
1883,
but
to
prove--that
Krakatoa
did
it.
Altogether
I
should
think
that
the
following
quotation
should
be
enlightening
to
anyone
who
still
thinks
that
these
occurrences
were
investigated
not
to
support
an
opinion
formed
in
advance:
In
opening
his
paper,
Mr.
Symons
says
that
he
undertook
his
investigation
as
to
the
existence
of
"thunderstones,"
or
"thunderbolts"
as
he
calls
them--"feeling
certain
that
there
was
a
weak
point
somewhere,
inasmuch
as
'thunderbolts'
have
no
existence."
We
have
another
instance
of
the
reported
fall
of
a
"cannon
ball."
It
occurred
prior
to
Mr.
Symons'
investigations,
but
is
not
mentioned
by
him.
It
was
investigated,
however.
In
the
Proc.
Roy.
Soc.
Edin.,
3-147,
is
the
report
of
a
"thunderstone,"
"supposed
to
have
fallen
in
Hampshire,
Sept.,
1852."
It
was
an
iron
cannon
ball,
or
it
was
a
"large
nodule
of
iron
pyrites
or
bisulphuret
of
iron."
No
one
had
seen
it
fall.
It
had
been
noticed,
upon
a
garden
path,
for
the
first
time,
after
a
thunderstorm.
It
was
only
a
"supposed"
thing,
because--"It
had
not
the
character
of
any
known
meteorite."
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