210 CONVERSATIONS ON 



country was settled by people from Europe, 

 where do you suppose the starling got silk and 

 thread for his nest ?" 



" Why, Uncle Philip, are you sure he got 

 them at all ?" 



"A very sensible question, boys. When 

 you are asked why a thing is so, it is always 

 well, first to be satisfied that it is so, before 

 you begin to look for a reason. I have read 

 a story about this very thing : would you 

 like to hear it?" 



" Oh yes, Uncle Philip." 



" Well, then, I have read that there were 

 once several philosophers (I told you what a 

 philosopher is, you know), who were in the 

 habit of meeting together to put questions to 

 each other, and to make new discoveries. At 

 one of these meetings, one of them asked the 

 others, ' Why a fish weighed more in the water 

 than he did out of it ?' Several of them gave 

 very wise reasons, as they thought ; and all 

 the reasons were different : so they could not 

 agree. There was among them, however, a 

 very sensible old gentleman, who listened to 

 them all, but said nothing. When he went 

 home, he got a fish and weighed it, out of the 

 water, and wrote down its weight ; he then 



