Star jelly or pwdr sêr is an alleged compound purportedly deposited on the earth during meteor showers. It is described as a foul-smelling, gelatinous substance, which tends to evaporate shortly after having fallen…

…There have been reports of pwdr sêr (also pwdre sêr or pydredd sêr, Welsh for ‘star-rot’) for centuries.[1] John of Gaddesden (died before 1350), for example, mentions stella terrae (Latin for ‘star of the earth’ or ‘earth-star’) in his medical writings, describing it as “a certain mucilaginous substance lying upon the earth” and suggesting that it might be used to treat abcesses.[2] A fourteenth-century Latin medical glossary has an entry for uligo, described as “a certain fatty substance emitted from the earth, that is commonly called ‘a star which has fallen'”. [3] Similarly, an English-Latin dictionary from around 1440 has an entry for ‘sterre slyme’ with the Latin equivalent given as assub (a rendering of Arabic ash-shuhub, also used in medieval Latin as a term for a ‘falling’ or ‘shooting’ star).[4]

via Star jelly – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. image via

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