Tests of a real Mermaid, 107 



admiration, but that, as it was, I conceived it to be an un- 

 worthy imposition. My reasons are deduced from the follow- 

 ing considerations : — And to speak, first, as to what concerns 

 the perfection of its lungs; fishes, with the small exception 

 afforded by the cetaceous class, being, according to the best 

 authorities, devoid of hearing, are also denied a voice ; for, in 

 creatures who could not converse with each other,< this would 

 indeed have been an incongruous superfluity. How, then, 

 came this singular inhabitant of the great deep to be thus 

 wonderfully endowed with organs of which it could never 

 make any use ? If, too, as it appears from its being so rarely 

 seen, its place is at the bottom of the sea, how could a crea- 

 ture, with a conformation of the lungs resembling our own, 

 live and breathe there, when there is nothing better authenti- 

 cated, than that the most expert and practised divers are unable 

 to stay at the bottom of the sea more than half an hour ? But 

 supposing it, for argument's sake, belonging to the class of 

 fishes to which I have adverted, it is a well attested fact, that 

 they are not able to remain under the water for more than two 

 or three minutes together, before they rise to its surface, in 

 order to take in a new inspiration ; and is it possible that this 

 animal should be so rarely seen, if this were the case ? Fur- 

 ther, every inhabitant of the waters carries on its motions 

 through them by means of its fins, as birds do theirs through 

 the air by their wings ; and, to be entirely equipped, two pair 

 of fins and three single ones appear necessary to the former, 

 though one pair of wings is sufficient for all the wants of the 

 latter. Of these the pectoral fins, which are placed near the 

 gills, act like oars, and serve to impel the animal forward ; 

 they likewise keep the head from descending too much into 

 the water, or from being too much above it. The ventral 

 fins are nearer the tail, and seem chiefly useful in balancing 

 the fish in the water; and of the single fins it may be ob- 

 served, that the dorsal fin and the anal one, which are on the 

 ridge of the back, serve, in some degree, all these purposes, 

 while the tail answers to all intents the purpose of a rudden 

 This, as I said before, is the perfect complement of a fish in 

 the way of fins ; nevertheless, there are many not, in this 

 way, so perfectly endowed, because some peculiarity in their 

 conformation, would render so great a number of fins super- 

 fluous, if not, indeed, retarding to them. For instance, the 

 form of the Murae^na, or eel, being so entirely equal, requires 

 little balance either oneway or the other, it is, therefore, entirely 

 destitute of ventral fins; and the Gymn5tus {gymnos, naked, 

 notosy back), or Carapo, having the back broad and flat, would 

 rather be rendered unsteady if it were in possession of a dorsal 



