Bird Colony: Guano Islands Act

Guano. The faeces of sea birds. An abundant source of saltpeter and a wonderful fertiliser. In the 19th century it became essential for newly developed intensive farming techniques. Many nations rich in guano deposits took advantage of this economic boom while others took steps to stake an interest in this newly prized commodity. An example of this was the United States' Guano Island Act, enacted in 1856.

Guano Deposits

The United States became aware of large guano deposits on the islands of the Pacific Ocean aswell as in the Caribbean and passed the act as a measure of acquiring such assets. The Act allows for U.S. citizens to take possession of islands with guano deposits as long as they were not occupied or in the jurisdiction of another government. It also incorporated the island into the United States criminal jurisdiction aswell as putting it under the protection of the U.S. military.

Islands that are currently considered United States Territories which were acquired under the Guano Islands Act include Midway Atoll, of Battle of Midway fame; Howland Island; Baker Island and Jarvis Island amongst others. Many of these islands are currently disputed with other nations, such as Bajo Nuevo Bank and Serranilla Bank which are claimed by Colombia and Navassa Island which is claimed by Haiti.

Most of the islands claimed under the act have since been incorporated into other sovereign states, with many now being part of the Pacific island nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu aswell as Associate States of New Zealand such as Cook Islands and Tokelau. The Guano Island Act states that while islands containing guano could be claimed as territory, it also states that the United States was under no obligation to retain possession after the guano deposits were exhausted. Previous to the act all territory that had been acquired by the United States was considered to be an integral part of the country and could eventually ascend to statehood in its own right as part of the Union. The Guano Island Act was the beginning of the concept of Insular Areas in the United States, territory that was under the control of the country without actually being an integral part of it.

Current insular areas include American Samoa, Guam and Puerto Rico. In some respect it can be argued that the Puerto Rico statehood debate can be all blamed on the American desire for bird droppings.

Its a weird world.

Cosmic Meat: Kentucky Meat Shower

Some really weird things happen sometimes. Take the Kentucky Meat Shower for example, it was a rather odd occurrence.

On 3rd March 1876 in Olympia Springs, Kentucky, for several minutes, a large amount of red meat fell from the sky. It landed in an area 300 by 150 feet, falling in rather large chunks. A mystery. How could meat simply fall from the sky?

According to the locals at the time, the meat resembled beef but when eaten (of course they ate some of it) it apparently tasted of venison or mutton. What was this mysterious meat?

Leopold Brandels identified the meat as Nostoc, a type of bacteria which is found in soil and swells into a jelly-like mass after rain, leading to the belief that it fell with the rain itself. Mystery solved? Apparently not.

Brandels passed the sample to the Newark Scientific Association who further analysed the meat. Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton identified the meat as being lung tissue, either from a horse or from a human infant (who apparently have very similar lungs). Further analysis confirmed the lung tissue identification with other samples being verified as lung and muscle tissue as well as cartilage samples.

The Nostoc theory of Brandels would have been the most plausible with other instances of weird, unidentified matter falling from the sky being in fact swollen bacterial colonies. Unfortunately for us the analysis raises as many questions as it answered. How did the lung tissue of a horse, or worse, and human infant end up falling from the sky in sleepy 19th century Kentucky?

Nostoc: Where's The Beef?

There are no firm explanations but the leading theory is that of a pack of buzzards flew over the area after feasting on several recently dead horses, with one of them spontaneously vomiting the horse remains from the sky. Apparently buzzards tend to follow suit with such behaviour, explaining the large amount of horse meat raining down as well as the area covered by the event.

Less realistic, and therefore more amusing, explanations includes the theory by William Livingston Alden of cosmic meat floating in space, falling to earth like meteorites. Personally I am not sure how serious he was with this suggestion, but I hope he was sincere.

Bacteria would have explained everything so easily, but sadly the world is often more bizarre. Buzzards or Space Meat, who are we to know? Either way, we can take solace in the knowledge that it tasted pretty reasonable to the residents of Olympia Springs.