Myth of the Ship-holder. 285 



same time a very learned man, was delayed by a very small 

 fish in the midst of its course " *. 



The reference made to this same incident by John John- 

 ston, in his book ' A History of the Wonderful Things in 

 Nature,' London, 1657, on page 301, is probably taken from 

 Aldro'vandi. 



At Geneva, in 1614., Bartholomew Keckermann published 

 his works, and in his ' Disputationes Physicae ' he discusses 

 the ship-staying power of the Remora. He adds nothing to 

 our knowledge of the myth, but does offer an interesting 

 explanation, which will be considered later. 



We next come to Rochefort, whose interesting and in- 

 structive book on the Antilles was publisdied at Rotterdam 

 in 1665, who says that certain fish bear the name Remora 

 " because they adhere to vessels as if they wished to arrest 

 them in their course/' Note the clause " as if they wished." 

 The old order is passing away, men are beginning to seek a 

 rational explanation of the retardation of ships, and doubt is 

 being cast on the efficacy of the Remora as the agent. 



So more explicitly writes Du Tertre, whose valuable 

 natural history of the Antilles was published but two years 

 (1667) after Rochefort's work. In the course of his descrip- 

 tion of the Remora and explanation of its activity, he 

 writes : — 



"For myself I hesitate to submit my judgment to that 

 which some authors assure us concerning the Remora, 

 saying that it brings to a full stop a ship which sails before 

 the wind with canvas stretched on a full sea. Since there is 

 so great a quantity of Remoras around the Western Isles, 

 one could scarcely find a ship that would not luive several 

 attached to her, yet nevertheless during the century or more 

 that these islands have been frequented, it has never been 

 noted that a single ship has been thus arrested by the 

 Remoras. This has caused me to think that the two or three 

 vessels, which have been said to have been arrested by the 

 Remoras, have been detained by some miracle or charm, and 

 since at the time some Remoras have been attached to them 



* Being- unable to do anything whatever with this reference, I referred 

 it to Dr. Lydenberg, who very kindly went into the matter fully. He 

 finds that there was a Peter Melara of Bologna who left certain MSS. 

 which are or were to he found in the " Biblioteca dell' Instituto " of that 

 city. He suggests that Aldrovandi had access to this particular MS. 

 This conjecture is strengthened when one remembers that Aldrovandi 

 lived, wrote, and published his book in Bologna. Note, further, that he 

 prefaces his statement by saying '• within the memory of our parents." 



