Myth of the Ship-holder. 293 



seems to have been first published in 1550 ; however, it was 

 included in his complete works published in 1564 at 

 Lugduni. On page 117 of this edition he has a column 

 devoted to the Remora and its activities. He describes at 

 some length and in bad Latin how the Remora by adhering 

 to the rudder and waving its tail to right and left, turns the 

 ship in first one and then the other direction, thus causing 

 it to waver and lose speed. He compares its action to that 

 of the steersman of a boat, who, using an oar over the stern, 

 influences her course more than all the rowers who are 

 pulling hard. 



Gesner (1558) quotes Rondelet at length, but somewhat 

 simplifies the explanation of the latter, saying that when the 

 Echeneis affixes itself to the stern or rudder, and when it 

 moves body or tail it causes the vessel to stand still, or, at 

 any rate, to waver in its course, "just as when in a calm 

 the helmsman turns the ship in her prosperous and swift 

 course over to a more inexperienced steersman who is not 

 able to hold the tiller straight," and hence the ship has a 

 wavering movement and does not make good progress. 



Imperato (1599), who, as previously noted, was the first 

 to explain how the Remora fastens itself to vessels or fishes, 

 says : — " It has on the upper part of the head tentacles, 

 similar to the vibratile combs [cirri, literally ringlets] of the 

 polyps, by which it attaches itself to ships or to the bodies 

 of whales and other large fishes and retards their course and 

 restrains them at will ; not otherwise than the rudder, 

 while projecting but little from the vessel, has the power of 

 directing its course." 



The next writer to proffer the explanation we are discussing 

 is Aldrovandi (1613). However, he starts by quoting 

 Aristotle on the use of the rudder in changing the motion of 

 a ship. He then advances the same arguments which we 

 have found in Gesner and which the latter expanded from 

 Rondelet. However, Aldrovandi argues at considerable 

 length and somewhat ingeniously, but the gist of his argu- 

 ment is that the Remora sticking fast to the stern or rudder 

 by moving its tail or body moves this continuous thing, the 

 ship, causing it to hesitate or even pause in its course. It 

 must be said, however, that Aldrovandi's Latin is so im- 

 perfect, and hence so hard to translate, that it is hard to say 

 how much of this is Gesner and how much Aldrovandi. 



With the rise of the Renaissance, and the freeing of men's 

 minds from many old-time superstitions, it began to be seen 

 that it was an absurd impossibility any longer to think that 

 one small fish could retard, much less cause to come to a 



