"Star jelly"

From MysteryWiki

"Star jelly", also referred to variously as astromyxin, astral jelly, or stella terrae[1], is a mysterious, gelatinous substance which evaporates or otherwise disappears shortly after it appears.

History

Although the Oxford English Dictionary notes the first usage of the term "star jelly" in 1676, the phrase (or one of similar meaning) most likely predates that significantly. Several sources refer to John of Gaddesden's Rosa Medicinæ, specifically to the 1502 Venice edition, which states:

stella terre, que est quedam mucillago jacens super terram, prohibet apostemata calida in principio (Folio 28).

This translates to "star of the earth, which is a certain mucilaginous substance which lies upon the ground, prevents abscesses in the beginning." In the forty-ninth folio, Gaddesden further refers to stella terrae as a component in a medical recipe.

Lovelock (1973) noted that medieval Europeans viewed the "star jelly" with horror thinking that it was "stinking tawney jelly of a fallen planet, or the nocturnal solution of some plethorical and wanton star."

It is during this time that many different names for the substance continue to emerge. An English-Latin dictionary originating around 1440 calls the mucus-like material "sterre slyme." The author of said dictionary, Dominican friar, Galfridus Angelicus, noted the Latin equivalent of this term as assub, a rendering of the Arabic ash-shuhub. The modern Arabic term for "shooting star" is relatively similar, being romanized as shihab (شهاب).

Notes

  1. Lat. "star of the earth" or "earth-star" (Harman 257).

External Links

References

  • “RSPB Ham Wall 'Slime' Baffles Experts.” BBC News, 18 Feb. 2013, www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-21498062.
  • Angelicus, Galfridus, and A. L. Mayhew. The Promptorium Parvulorum: The First English-Latin Dictionary. Pub. for the Early English Text Society by K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, 1908.
  • Fothergill, William. “Hints towards the Natural History of the Toad.” The Philosophical Magazine: A Journal of Theoretical, Experimental and Applied Physics, vol. 64, 1824, pp. 85–91., books.google.com/books?id=efcyAQAAMAAJ.
  • Harman, Paul. Materia Medica: or, a New Description of the Virtues and Effects of All Drugs, ... Translated by Edward Strother, vol. 2, Charles Rivington, 1727.
  • John of Gaddesden, and Philippus Schopffius. Ioannis Anglici Praxis Medica, Rosa Anglica Dicta, Quatuor Libris Distincta. Typis Michaelis Mangeri, 1595, books.google.com/books?id=wVl4F8ygL1kC.
  • Johnson, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language. Longmans, Green, 1876, books.google.com/books?id=0IpDAQAAMAAJ.
  • Lovelock, Yann. The Vegetable Book: An Unnatural History. St. Martin's Press, 1973.
  • Martyn, John. The Philosophical Transactions (From the Year 1732, to the Year 1744) Abridged. 3rd ed., vol. 2 2, J. Knapton, R. Knaplock, R. Wilkin, J. and B. Sprint, D. Midwinter, W. Taylor, W. and J. Innys, R. Robbinson [sic], and J. Osborn, 1747, books.google.com/books?id=mjj-Sqa8GwUC.