At least some of the sightings are amphibian innards, as identified by Baylis from star jelly samples collected from Dartmoor in 1926. Or they are gelatinous food disgorged by animals. The most common explanation is that star jelly is unfertilized frog spawn that had been ripped out of the abdomen by predators such as birds. It certainly didn’t fall from the stars, and almost all samples that have been examined so far have turned out to be some sort of biological growth. What exactly is star jelly is hard to determine. That’s how the mysterious droppings got the name “star jelly”. A 14th century Latin medical glossary has an entry that describes “a certain fatty substance emitted from the earth, that is commonly called 'a star which has fallen'”. The unidentified gooey substance soon began to be associated with shooting stars and comets, as they often appeared after meteor showers. Old texts dating as far back as the 14th century have described them as translucent or grayish-white slimy goo, that tended to evaporate shortly after having “fallen.” The 13th century English physician, John of Gaddesden, mentions stella terrae (or “star of the earth”) in his medical writings, describing it as “a certain mucilaginous substance lying upon the earth” and suggesting that it might be used to treat abscesses. For hundreds of years, people have reported blobs of strange gelatinous substances on the ground that they presumed had fallen from the skies.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |