53 



The fact contained in the follo^ving com- 

 munication strongly, we might say victoriously, 



militates against the carnivorous doctrine, 



And facts, says Bishop Maddison, summon the 

 discordant opinions of philosophers before an 

 unerring trilnuial, from which there can be no 

 appeal : — 



" The question, whether the incognitum 

 was a carnivorous or an herbivorous animal, 

 lias long divided naturalists : ingenuity, sup- 

 ported by analogy, afforded specious argu- 

 ments for cither opinion. One fact, which the 

 bosom of nature had concealed, but which hu- 

 man industry has brought to light, has re- 

 moved every doubt. In digging a well, in a 

 place which afforded indications of marine salt, 

 a passage was made through the contents of 

 the stomach of a vast animal I The novelty of 

 the substances, thus found, excited attention. 

 They were carefully examined, and seemed to 

 be half masticated reeds, and twigs of trees, 

 with grass ; whilst the bones of the beast, 

 which Avere dug up at the same time, and 

 which lay contiguous to these substances, evin- 

 ced, that they had been the contents of the 

 animal. These contents are in a state of high 



