46 KNOWLEDGE OF REALITIES. 



New-Holland ; and which, to external appearance, 

 has the bill of a duck, the body of an otter, the feet 

 of a turtle or water tortoise, and the spurs of a cock. 



That creature actually seems to combine the prop- 

 erties of quadruped, bird, and reptile; and, there- 

 fore, to one who did not see farther than the surface, 

 the knowledge of its existence would tend to con- 

 firm the man's belief in your story of the winged 

 antelopes. 



But suppose, again, that a third party, whom the 

 credulous man had known less intimately than he 

 had known you, or who had "hoaxed" him on a 

 former occasion, were to ridicule the notion of the 

 four legs and the feathered wings ; and even to say 

 that these two sets of extremities were quite incom- 

 patible with each other, that would still confirm rather 

 than shake the man's belief. Thus it is dangerous 

 for hoaxers to tell ignorant people the truth, or to tell 

 the truth hoaxingly ; for in both cases error is for- 

 tified against it. 



If however any one were to instruct the credulous 

 man in the anatomy of quadrupeds and birds, or if 

 he were to learn it from actual observation of the 

 parts, or from representations which, in his belief, 

 carried the same weight as observation, so as to 

 enable him to see that legs and wings so jumbled 

 together could not act ; and if he were further con- 

 vinced that no animals, in their natural and perfect 

 state, had either legs or wings that they could not 

 use ; then he would not only disbelieve your story 

 of the winged antelopes, but his faith in all that you 

 said would be shaken. 



We can, therefore, have no certain knowledge of 

 realities, that is, of beings or things, but what we ob- 

 tain from actual observation, or from that which we 

 believe to be true, and capable of abiding the test of 

 observation, if it were brought to it; and in both 

 cases our judgments are either mere prejudices, or 

 "judgments without or against evidence," or they 



