Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
375
The Book of the Damned
·
Charles Fort
71
Since
the
time
of
Darwin,
the
classic
explanation
has
been
that
all
silky
substances
that
fall
from
the
sky
are
spider
webs.
In
1832,
aboard
the
Beagle,
at
the
mouth
of
La
Plata
River,
60
miles
from
land,
Darwin
saw
an
enormous
number
of
spiders,
of
the
kind
usually
known
as
"gossamer"
spiders,
little
aeronauts
that
cast
out
filaments
by
which
the
wind
carries
them.
It's
difficult
to
express
that
silky
substances
that
have
fallen
to
this
earth
were
not
spider
webs.
My
own
acceptance
is
that
spider
webs
are
the
merger;
that
there
have
been
falls
of
an
externally
derived
silky
substance,
and
also
of
the
webs,
or
strands,
rather,
of
aeronautic
spiders
indigenous
to
this
earth;
that
in
some
instances
it
is
impossible
to
distinguish
one
from
the
other.
Of
course,
our
expression
upon
silky
substances
will
merge
away
into
expressions
upon
other
seeming
textile
substances,
and
I
don't
know
how
much
better
off
we'll
be--
Except
that,
if
fabricable
materials
have
fallen
from
the
sky--
Simply
to
establish
acceptance
of
that
may
be
doing
well
enough
in
this
book
of
first
and
tentative
explorations.
In
All
the
Year
Round,
8-254,
is
described
a
fall
that
took
place
in
England,
Sept.
21,
1741,
in
the
towns
of
Bradly,
Selborne,
and
Alresford,
and
in
a
triangular
space
included
by
these
three
towns.
The
substance
is
described
as
"cobwebs"--but
it
fell
in
flake-formation,
or
in
"flakes
or
rags
about
one
inch
broad
and
five
or
six
inches
long."
Also
these
flakes
were
of
a
relatively
heavy
substance--"they
fell
with
some
velocity."
The
quantity
was
great--the
shortest
side
of
the
triangular
space
is
eight
miles
long.
In
the
Wernerian
Nat.
Hist.
Soc.
Trans.,
5-386,
it
is
said
that
there
were
two
falls--that
they
were
some
hours
apart--a
datum
that
is
becoming
familiar
to
us--a
datum
that
cannot
be
taken
into
the
fold,
unless
we
find
it
repeated
over
and
over
and
over
again.
It
is
said
that
the
second
fall
lasted
from
nine
o'clock
in
the
morning
until
night.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
