It would be endless to reckon up the bloody and other prodigious Rains taken notice of by Historians, and other Authors, as præternatural and ominous Accidents; but, if strictly pried into, will be found owing to natural Causes: Of which, for the Reader’s Satisfaction, I will give an Instance or two. A bloody Rain was imagined to have fallen in France, which put the Country People into so great a Fright, that they left their Work in the Fields, and in great haste flew to the Neighbouring Houses. Peirise (then in the Neighbourhood) strictly enquiring into the Cause, found it to be only red Drops coming from a sort of Butterfly that flew about in great Numbers at that Time, as he concluded from seeing such red Drops come from them; and because these Drops were laid, Non supra ædificia, non in devexis lapidum superficiebus, uti debuerat contingere, si è cœlo sanguine pluisset; sed in subcavis potius & in foraminibus.——Accessit, quòd parietes iis tingebantur, non qui in mediis oppidis, sed qui agrorum vicini erant, neque secundum partes elatiores, sed ad mediocrem solùm altitudinem, quantam volitare Papiliones solent. Gassend in vit. Peiresk. L. 2. p. 156.
So Dr. Merret saith also, Pluvia Sanguinis quàm certissimè constat esse tantùm Insectorum excrementa: Pluvia Tritici quàm nihil aliud esse quàm Hederæ bacciferæ grana à Sturnis devorata excretaque comparanti liquidissimè patet. Pinax rerum, &c. p. 220.
The curious Worm tells of the raining of Brimstone, An. 1646. Maii 16. Hic Hafniæ cùm ingenti pluviâ tota urbs, omnesque ita inundarentur plateæ, ut gressus hominum impediret, Sulphureoque odore aërem inficeret, dilapsis aliquantulum aquis, quibusdam in locis colligere licuit Sulphureum pulverem, cujus portionem servo, colore, odore, & aliis verum Sulphur ferentem. Mus. Worm. L. 1. c. 11. Sect. 1.
Together with the Rain we might take notice of other Meteors, particularly Snow; which although an irksome Guest, yet hath its great Uses, if all be true that the famous T. Bartholin saith of it, who wrote a Book de Nivis usu Medico. In which he shews of what great Use Snow is in fructifying the Earth, preserving from the Plague, curing Fevers, Colicks, Head-Aches, Tooth-Aches, Sore Eyes, Pleurisies, (for which Use he saith his Country-Women of Denmark keep Snow-Water gathered in March), also in prolonging Life, (of which he instanceth in the Alpine Inhabitants, that live to a great Age,) and preserving dead Bodies; Instances of which he gives in Persons buried under the Snow in passing the Alps, which are found uncorrupted in the Summer, when the Snow is melted; which sad Spectacle he himself was an Eye-Witness of. And at Spitzberg in Greenland, dead Bodies remain entire and uncorrupted for thirty Years. And lastly, concerning such as are so preserv’d when slain, he saith they remain in the same Posture and Figure: Of which he gives this odd Example, Visum id extra urbem nostram [Hafniam] quum, 11 Feb. 1659. oppugnantes hostes repellerentur, magnâque strage occumberent; alii enim rigidi iratum vultum ostendebant, alii oculos elatos, alii ore diducto ringentes, alii brachiis extensis Gladium minari, alii alio situ prostrati jacebant. Barthol. de usu Niv. c. 12.
But although Snow be attended with the Effects here named, and others specified by the learned Bartholin; yet this is not to be attributed to any peculiar Virtue in the Snow, but some other Cause. Thus when it is said to fructify the Earth, it doth so by guarding the Corn or other Vegetables against the intenser cold of the Air, especially the cold piercing Winds; which the Husbandmen observe to be the most injurious to their Corn of all Weathers. So for Conserving dead Bodies, it doth it by constipating such Bodies, and preventing all such Fermentations or internal Conflicts of their Particles, as would produce Corruption.
Such an Example as the preceding is said to have happened some Years ago at Paris, in digging in a Cellar for supposed hidden Treasure; in which, after digging some Hours, the Maid going to call her Master, found them all in their digging Postures, but dead. This being noised abroad, brought in not only the People, but Magistrates also, who found them accordingly; Ille qui ligone terram effoderat, & socius qui palâ effossam terram removerat, ambo pedibus stabant, quasi sua quisque operâ affixus incubuisset; uxor unius quasi ab opere defessa in scamno, solicito quodam vultu, sedebat, inclinato in palmam manûs genibus innitentis capite; puerulus laxatis braccis in margine excavatæ foveæ defixis in terram oculis alvum exonerabat; omnes in naturali situ, carneæ tanquam statuæ rigidi, apertis oculis & vultu vitam quasi respirante, exanimes stabant. Dr. Bern. Connor, Dissert. Med. Phys. p. 15.
The Doctor attributes all this to Cold; but I scarce think there could be Cold enough to do all this at Paris, and in a Cellar too. Bur his following Stories are not improbable, of Men and Cattle killed with Cold, that remained in the very same Posture in which they died; of which he gives, from a Spanish Captain, this Instance, that happened two Years before, of a Soldier who unfortunately straggled from his Company that were foraging, and was killed with the Cold, but was thought to have fallen into the Enemies Hands. But soon after their return to their Quarters, they saw their Comrade returning, sitting on Horseback, and coming to congratulate him, found him dead, and that he had been brought thither in the same Posture on Horseback, notwithstanding the jolting of the Horse. Ibid. p. 18.
[] Of this Opinion was my late most ingenious and learned Friend, Mr. Ray, whose Reasons see in his Physico-Theolog. Discourses, Disc. 2. ch. 2. p. 89, &c. So also my no less learned and ingenious Friends, Dr. Halley, and the late Dr. Hook, many of the French Vertuoso’s also, and divers other very considerable Men before them, too many to be specified here.
[c] An Polycletum quidem admirabimur propter partium Statuæ—convenientiam ac proportionem? Naturam autem non modò non laudabimus, sed omni etiam arte privabimus, quæ partium proportionem non solùm extrinsecus more Statuariorum, sed in profundo etiam servavit? Nonne & Polycletus ipse Naturæ est imitator, in quibus saltem eam potuit imitari? Potuit autem in solis externis partibus in quibus artem consideravit. With much more to the like Purpose, Galen. de Us. Part. l. 17. c. 1.