84 THE DIVINING ROD 



It was not till he was dissecting a puff-adder in 1863 

 that he discovered a sac, situated under the lungs, but 

 nearer the tail, into which he concluded the young 

 might be received and supplied with the air necessary 

 for their existence, thus forming a provision somewhat 

 analogous to the pouch in marsupials. There are only 

 two unsatisfactory points about this statement by a 

 man of science; unfortunately, they are destructive 

 of its value. The first is that the dissection took place 

 thirty-eight years ago in 1837 ; the second, that the 

 viper was thrown away after dissection. 



It is ever thus with these wonderful stories. They 

 are not a bit more surprising than many facts per- 

 fectly capable of demonstration ; the extraordinary part 

 about them is that they refuse persistently to be 

 demonstrated. Till they are demonstrated, one should 

 not hesitate to refuse credence to them, which is a 

 very different thing from declaring them to be 

 impossible. 



XXXVII 



Another meet subject for eVo^, or philosophic 



suspension of judgment, is the claim of certain persons 



The to the power of the divining rod. It is not 



Divining necessary indeed, it would be the reverse 



of philosophic to deny the possibility of 



such a faculty, belief in which is so venerable and so 



widespread. But it is reasonable nay, it is the only 



course consistent with reason to refuse to believe in 



its existence until it has been submitted to proper 



