SNAILS. 583 



by Dr. Macbride on the subject, who declared that 

 lie could find no reason to believe that the child 

 either did or could impose upon his father. Mr. 

 Simon's living in the heart of the city rendered it 

 almost impossible for the boy (if he had been so dis- 

 posed) to collect fresh shells, being at that time 

 confined to the house with a cold. Mr. Simon has 

 also declared that he is positive those were the shells 

 he gave to him, having in his cabinet many more 

 of the same sort, and nearly of the same size *. 



In consequence of the account, from which the 

 above was extracted, appearing in some periodical 

 publication, the following letter, bearing every mark 

 of authenticity, was sent by a Mr. Rowe to the 

 editors of the Annual Register; he states it to have 

 been written by a lady, but her name he was not at 

 liberty to mention. 



" There is, in the last magazine, an account of 

 the reviving of some snails which had lain in Mr. 

 Simon's cabinet fifteen years. Is it not a most ex- 

 traordinary story ? And yet I am not faithless in that 

 point, as many a reader probably is ; for I once saw 

 a very remarkable property in snails which gave me 

 such uneasiness as fixed the remembrance strongly 

 in my mind tothk minute, though it happened many 

 years ago. 



" I was at Wrotham, at Mr. Haddock's in Kent, 

 and was making a little shell-work tower, to stand 

 on a cabinet in a long gallery. After having re- 



* Philosophical Transactions. 



P P4 



