on the Naturalization ofFithet. 17 



witness : and lie may be allowed to suspect the testimony of a pro- 

 jector, who has a private interests in his projects : but those rea- 

 sons wanting, I know of no solution but that one which I proposed 

 in another place ; namely, that pride which, imagining that it has 

 attained ail knowledge, is too wise to learn; coupled, perh. 

 with the hatred of a discovery which belongs to a therefore hated 

 discoverer, I have no objection however to a better explanation 

 if any one will undertake to furnish it. In this case, the dis- 

 ;y does not fairly admit of jealousy, since the guilty disco- 

 is Natur 



The mention of Bacon's name reminds me of what I had origi- 

 nally forgotten, namely, that he had himself speculated on this 

 very project. It will be found in his Eighth Century of Natural 

 History: but the paragraph contains and not much 



to the purpose in any shape. He remarks that fish used to the 

 salt water " do nevertheless delight much more in fresh ;" * 

 quoting the salmon arid the smelt. "I doubt," he says, * that 

 hath not beeu sufficient experiment made of putting sea-fish 

 into fresh-wat' and pools. It is a thin;; of great use and 



pleasure; for so you may have them new at some good distance 

 from the sea : and, besides, it may be that the fish will eat the 

 inf r, and may fall to breed." Such was the prophetic eye 

 of him who did not reject experiment, even though it had never 

 -been tried. Why is it rejected now ? Not because there are no 

 philosophers ; but because men who possess money and ponds 

 have no philosophy, and men who possess philosophy have neither 

 ponds nor money. 



Thus far, is opinion only : but the two following facts are valu- 

 able, because they are natural experiments, ami because, being 

 related as mere matters of fact, by persons without any interest 

 in them, and without producing any inference, or being referred 

 to any system, they belong to the purest kind of evidence. They 

 -have occurred in ti. of my casual reading, since the last 



rnunication on this subject. 



lu the kle of Os< ro on the coast of Dalmatia, there is a fresh- 

 water lake inhabited by sea-fish ; the authority being that of a 



VOL. XXI. C 



