40 HISTORY OF 



a long time considered by philosophers as produc- 

 tions, not of the sea, but of the earth. " As we 

 find that spars," said they, " always shoot into 

 peculiar shapes, so these seeming snails, cockles, 

 and muscle-shells, are only sportive forms that 

 nature assumes amongst others of its mineral va- 

 rieties : they have the shape of fish, indeed, but 

 they have always been terrestrial substances." * 



With this plausible solution mankind were for 

 a long time content; but, upon closer inquiry, 

 they were obliged to alter their opinion. It was 

 found that these shells had, in every respect, the 

 properties of animal and not of mineral nature. 

 They were found exactly of the same weight with 

 their fellow shells upon shore. They answered 

 all the chemical trials in the same manner as sea- 

 shells do. Their parts, when dissolved, had the 

 same appearance to view, the same smell and taste. 

 They had the same effects in medicine when in- 

 wardly administered ; and, in a word, were so 

 exactly conformable to marine bodies, that they 

 had all the accidental concretions growing to 

 them (such as pearls, corals, and smaller shells) 

 which are found in shells just gathered on the 

 shore. They were, therefore, from these con- 

 siderations, again given back to the sea ; but the 

 wonder was, how to account for their coming so 

 far from their own natural element upon land, t 



As this naturally gave rise to many conjectures, 

 it is not to be wondered that some among them 

 have been very extraordinary. An Italian, quot- 



* Lowth. Abridg. Phil. Trans, vol. ii. p. 426. 

 f Woodward, p. 13. 



