29 



November 7th. 

 The following paper was read by Mr. F. Gell : — 

 MYTHICAL MONSTERS. 



" In introducing a subject of so much interest, both from natural 

 history and antiquarian points of view, it is perhaps better if we 

 first enquire into the probable origin of the creatures as a whole, 

 than to go into the details of the particular species which we 

 shall have time to notice this evening. There seems to be no 

 doubt from the fossil remains that have been discovered from time 

 to time, of antediluvian animals, that our ancestors had consider- 

 able grounds to go upon if by chance they had met at any time 

 with a solitary specimen of those frightful monsters prowling 

 about. And indeed, prehistoric man himself, may have been 

 familiar with the sight of these animals, which undoubtedly were 

 of appalhng proportions, and were provided with powers of des- 

 truction, which to-day, are rarely met with, except in a few cases ; 

 such for example as the elephant, the alligator, the boa con- 

 strictor, and rhinoceros, &c. 



Now the mind of man is necessarily imaginative, it requires 

 but a very small foundation of fact to raise up a tremendous 

 superstructure of fiction upon, and where there are no facts at all, 

 the mind easily conceives an ideal fact, as an imagined idea, 

 which he thinks ought to be a fact, and he then builds up his 

 superstructure upon that. Hence *' castles in the air " passes 

 into a proverb. 



Don Quixote as we all know, sallied forth on his faithful steed 

 " Rosinante," in order to slay giants and monsters of all kincs, 

 which existed solely in his imagination. Primitive man hears a 

 cry in the darkened forest at night ; — it is a voice ! it is a spirit ! 

 it is a form ! it is a being ! 



So the evolution of thought goes on ; to him it is a real being, 

 to be feared because it may injure him, to be worshipped for the 

 same reason, to be sacrified to since it needs must eat, and we 

 have the voice of the forest resolved into a mythical monster, 

 clothed with flesh, eyes to see, ears to hear, and talons perhaps to 

 tear, and possessing abnormal powers of digestion. 



The most curious observation with regard to the study of these 

 beasts is, that they are in every case, a portraiture of the minds 

 of those who thought them. Thus in Assyria, we have the gods 

 altogether in harmony with the surroundings of that mighty 

 nation, and the beast is built up precisely as assuredly no one but 

 an Assyrian would do. In Greece it is the same, in Italy the 

 same, in Africa the same, and in fact, everywhere the same. 



