286 SALMONIA. 



Orn. — But give us some reasons for the 

 impossibility of the existence of this animal. 



Hal. — Nay, I did not say impossibility; 

 I am too much of the school of Izaac Walton 

 to talk of impossibility. It doubtless might 

 please God to make a mermaid ; but I do not 

 believe God ever did make one. 



Orn. — And why ? 



Hal. — Because wisdom and order are 

 found in all his works, and die parts of ani- 

 mals are always in harmony with each other, 

 and always adapted to certain ends consistent 

 with the analogy of nature; and a human 

 head, human hands, and human mammae, are 

 wholly inconsistent with a fish's tail. The 

 human head is adapted for an erect posture, 

 and in such a posture an animal with a fish's 

 tail could not swim ; and a creature with lungs 

 must be on the surface several times in a day 

 — and the sea is an inconvenient breathing 

 place ; and hands are instruments of manu- 

 facture — and the depths of the ocean are 

 little fitted for fabricating that mirror which 

 our old prints gave to the mermaid. Such 

 an animal, if created, could not long exist ; 



