112 SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. 



the growth and vegetation of the Shell and the little Bird within it. 

 This Bird in every Shell that I opened, as well the least as the biggest, 

 I found so curiously and compleatly formed, that there appeared 

 nothing wanting as to internal parts, for making up a perfect Sea- 

 fowl : every little part appearing so distinctly that the whole looked 

 like a large Bird seen through a concave or diminishing glass, colour 

 and feature being everywhere so clear and neat. The little Bill, like 

 that of a Goose ; the eyes marked ; the Head, Neck, Breast, Wings, 

 Tail, and Feet formed, the Feathers everywhere perfectly shap'd, and 

 blackish coloured ; and the Feet like those of other Water-fowl, to my 

 best remembrance. All being dead and dry, I did not look after the 

 internal parts of them. Nor did I ever see any of the little Birds alive, 

 nor met with anybody that did. Only some credible persons have 

 assured me they have seen some as big as their fist." 



It seems almost incredible that little more than two 

 hundred years ago this twaddle should not only have been 

 laid before the highest representatives of science in the 

 land, but that it should have been printed in their " Trans- 

 actions " for the further delusion of posterity. 



Ray, in his edition of Willughby's Ornithology, published 

 in the same year as the above, contradicted the fallacy as 

 strongly as Caspar Schott ; and (except that he inciden- 

 tally admits the possibility of spontaneous generation in 

 some of the lower animals, as insects and frogs) in language 

 so similar that I think he must have had Schott's work 

 before him when he wrote. 



Aldrovandus * tells us that an Irish priest, named 

 Octavianus, assured him with an oath on the Gospels that 

 he had seen and handled the geese in their embryo con- 

 dition ; and he adds that he " would rather err with the 

 majority than seem to pass censure on so many eminent 

 writers who have believed the story." 



In 1629 Count Maier (Michaelus Meyerus — these old 

 authors when writing in Latin, latinized their names also) 



* ' Ornithologia,' lib. xix. p. 173, ed. 1603. 



