On the Existence of the Unicorn. 125 



forth to have no affinity ! Where then shall we be ? But, without 

 straying from our subject, what animal is there a little extraordinary, 

 concerning which there have not been suspicions, when the night of 

 time has removed it a little distance from us? The giraff is an ex- 

 ample as striking as it is recent ; and the mammoth, whose remains 

 have been discovered, has fairly overthrown such reasonings ; and 

 the shells, the inhabitants of w^hich we have not yet been able to de- 

 termine, will tell us with silent but irresistible eloquence that nature 

 loses nothing by growing old. Besides, the bezOards, to which have 

 been attributed properties scarcely less ridiculous than to the horn of 

 the unicorn, do they not exist ? Do not such things occur still with 

 respect to animals, that live in parched countries, where heat gives to 

 vegetable juice a power, that is unknown in temperate regions? Nev- 

 ertheless, it is unnecessary to dissemble that it would be in vain for 

 all antiquity to testify in favor of this singular production, it would be 

 in vain that the cabinets should furnish it to the curious, these recitals 

 would be false, these productions would be the work of imposture, 

 if the fact were not still repeated, or if our weakness could not per- 

 ceive it ! 



Will it be objected that the moderns have never seen this animal ? 

 How many other species are there, which they have not noticed ! 

 New discoveries sufficiently prove this. Besides, the unicorn inhab- 

 its the interior of Africa, and precisely that part of it, of which we 

 know the least; and in Africa, as well as in other countries, certain 

 animals might well appear, at first, even on the coasts, and afterwards, 

 when the number of inhabitants was increased, be confined to the 

 center of the forests. A countless number of similar facts, sufficient- 

 ly well known, may well excuse us from enlarging upon this. In 

 short, let us, withoiit being detained by unimportant discussions, come 

 to the grand proof of the nonexistence of the unicorn ; let us exam- 

 ine attentively and judge with impartiality. 



For a long time there was exhibited a defense resembling ivory, 

 white and channeled, of a very considerable length, and termina- 

 ting in a point. It was asserted that it was the horn of a quad- 

 ruped. Of this, however, notwithstanding all the researches, that 

 were made, nothing could be discovered; from time to time these 

 defenses became more numerous, no other part of the animal being 

 united with it ; finally, there was brought to Wormius the head ol' the 

 narwal ; then the question was decided, and because some too cred- 

 ulous persons had said that llie tooth of a cetaceous animfil was the 



