122 THE COMPLETE ANGLER 



Pise. Yes, and hear and smell too, both then and in 

 the day-time : for Gesner observes, the otter smells a fish 

 forty furlongs off him in the water : and that it may be 

 true, seems to be affirmed by Sir Francis Bacon, in the 

 eighth century of his Natural History, who there proves 

 that waters may be the medium of sounds, by demonstrat- 

 ing it thus : " that if you knock two stones together very 

 deep under the water, those that stand on a bank near 

 to that place may hear the noise without any diminution 

 of it by the water." He also offers the like experiment 

 concerning the letting an anchor fall, by a very long cable 

 or rope, on a rock, or the sand within the sea. And this 

 being so well observed and demonstrated as it is by that 

 learned man, has made me to believe that eels unbed 

 themselves and stir at the noise of thunder ; and not 

 only, as some think, by the motion or stirring of the 

 earth, which is occasioned by that thunder. 



And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon (Exper. 792) has 

 made me crave pardon of one that I laughed at, for 

 affirming, that he knew carps come to a certain place in a 

 pond, to be fed, at the ringing of a bell, or the beating of a 

 drum : and however, it shall be a rule for me to make as 

 little noise as I can when I am fishing, until Sir Francis 

 Bacon be confuted, which I shall give any man leave to 

 do.* 



* That fish hear, is confirmed by the authority of other writers. 

 Swammerdam asserts it, and adds, that " they have a wonderful 

 labyrinth of the ear for that purpose." See Swammerdam on 

 Insects, edit. London, 1758, p. 50. A clergyman, a friend of mine, 

 assures me, that at the Abbey of St. Bernard, near Antwerp, he saw 

 carp come at the whistling of the feeder. H. 



With respect to the organs of hearing, and the power of hearing 

 in fish, I consulted Mr. Erasmus Wilson, one of the most eminent 

 anatomists and physiologists, and the following is his opinion : 

 " There is nothing in the exterior head of the fish to indicate that 

 it is provided with an ear. In the higher animals, the mechanical 

 apparatus of hearing consists of an internal and an external portion : 

 in fishes, the internal portion alone exists, and is hardly inferior 

 in perfection of form and structure, to that of creatures placed 

 higher in the animal scale. The nerves distributed to the organs 

 of hearing are of large size, and the vital apparatus, or portion 



