Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from 'The mud shower', Herald (Melbourne), 1 May 1884, p. 3. Dickinson's letter is introduced by 'The following extract from a letter placed at our disposal by Baron Von Mueller, describes the mud shower as it appeared at Portarlington to a resident who took special pains to investigate the phenomenon'.

On Thursday last, 24th April, we had a gale of hot wind from the north and north-west, which continued with violence till near sunset, when the air became calm, with a dull, almost cloudless, yet luminous atmosphere, indicative of rain. At three o'clock in the morning I was awoke by the noise of a sharp shower. I arose a little before sunrise, and was surprised to find my water catching vessel quite full, with symptoms below on the ground of a very considerable quantity of water having overflowed. The water in the vessel was clouded with a crude, yellowish mass of matter, the particles of which were running together somewhat in the manner that a solution of soap assumes when thrown into lime water, although of a different color. In a few hours the water was quite transparent, the extraneous matter having precipitated. My house is about two miles south-east of the township, on going to which I called at Mr. Marshall's house, a quarter of a mile from mine. Mrs. M. had been washing the day before, and had left some clothes out all night to bleach. Judge her astonishment to find that all the white articles of dress were streaked and lined with a dirty yellow pigment! I send you a sample of the sediment, carefully collected from a sheet of corrugated iron, which was laid in a horizontal position during the shower.

2

There is an added note by the editor: ‘Baron Von Mueller, we may state, has not received the packet of sediment spoken of by Mr. Dickinson’.