MERMAID. 247 



praising the late Sir Joseph Banks very 

 highly, said, " Sir Joseph was an excellent 

 man but he had his prejudices." What 

 were they? said my friend. " Why, he 

 did not believe in the mermaid." Pray still 

 consider me as the Baronet did Sir Joseph 

 prejudiced on this subject. 



ORN. But give us some reasons for the 

 impossibility of the existence of this animal. 



HAL. Nay, I did not say impossibility ; 

 I am too much of the school of Izaac Walton 

 to talk of impossibility. It doubtless might 

 please God to make a mermaid; but I do 

 not believe God ever did make a mermaid. 



ORN. And why? 



HAL. Because wisdom and order are 

 found in all his works, and the parts of ani- 

 mals are always in harmony with each other, 

 and always adapted to certain ends consist- 

 ent with the analogy of nature ; and a human 

 head, human hands, and human mammae, 

 are wholly inconsistent with a fish's tail. 

 The human head is adapted for an erect 

 posture, and in such a posture an animal 

 with a fish's tail could not swim ; and a 



