CHAPTER I. 



THE LION THAT HAS EATEN A MAN, AND THE ZOOLOGIST WHO HAS BEEN 

 AT THE COAST — TROUBLESOME DESIRES — CHOICE OF THE SCILLT 

 ISLES — PENZANCE LODGINGS — THE SAIL TO SCILLY : PURSUIT OF 

 KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES — FIRST SIGHT OP THE ISLANDS — 

 THEIR AREA AND POPULATION — THEIR PICTURESQUENESS — THE 

 CHANGEABLENESS OF ROCKS — ANTIQUITIES OF SCILLY — THE IN- 

 HABITANTS — PRIMITIVE STATE OF THE COMMERCE — DINNER DIFFI- 

 CULTIES — HOW THE TEN THOUSAND SALUTED THE SEA — LOVE OF 

 THE ENGLISH FOR THE SEA — HOMER— OUR FIRST DAT ON THE ROCKS 

 — THE NYMPHON GRACILE — THE COMATULA — ON OBSERVATION AND 

 EXPERIMENT IN BIOLOGY— DO THE ANEMONES DIGEST? — MEANING OF 

 DIGESTION — ASSIMILATION AND DIGESTION — THE ACTINOPHRYS — 

 FOOD AND BLOOD — EXPERIMENTS ON THE ANEMONES — FOOD AND 

 KNOWLEDGE, 



Between the lion that has once eaten a man — once 

 tasted the glory and ambrosial delight of man-beef — 

 and the lion remotely ignorant of that flavour, there 

 lies a chasm. Only in zoological text-books can the 

 two animals be considered as of the same species. In 

 profounder characteristics, in the complexion of their 

 souls, they differ as the Caucasian differs from the 

 Hottentot. The lion who has once fed on man, carries 

 with him an unforgettable experience ; he has supped 

 with the gods, and Homeric rhythms murmur in his 



