1895-96-] Notes 011 Morvern, Argyllshire. 187 



It may be said that we are here dealing a fatal blow at the 

 credibility of witnesses in trials before the courts of law, a 

 blow which would shake our social system to the foundation ; 

 but it is hardly so bad as that. In big things, things easily 

 observed and appreciated, — such as seeing one man knock 

 another down, or climb over a wall, or pick a pocket, — the 

 evidence of a truthful person will be perfectly trustworthy ; 

 but when it comes to other matters requiring special accuracy 

 of eye and memory, the case is altogether different. I should 

 certainly not like to see the issue of a trial, civil or criminal, 

 depend on the question of whether a man had seen the sea 

 serpent, or had witnessed a family of young adders creeping 

 down their mother's throat. 



It is really astonishing how inaccurate ordinary educated 

 (not to speak of uneducated) people sometimes can be, when 

 they profess to relate what they themselves have seen, or to 

 recount what they have heard from others. And indeed until 

 accuracy of observation, as well as of narration, is more strictly 

 inculcated as a part of general training than it is at present, 

 outside scientific circles, I fear we must still bear in mind a 

 line of a certain comic song which tells us that 



" You must not believe all you hear." 



VI.— NOTES ON MORVERN, ARGYLLSHIRE. 



By Mr CHAKLES CAMPBELL. 



(Read Feb. 26, 1896.) 



During the last few years I have spent some time each 

 summer in a secluded corner of Argyllshire, and I venture to 

 lay before the Society some general notes on the Natural 

 History of the place. The district is of course embraced in 

 Mr Harvie- Brown's ' Fauna of Argyll,' but the parish of 

 Morvern is seldom mentioned in that work. It seems to me, 

 however, to be deserving of more attention from naturalists. 



