CHAP. XIII. A FIRE-PROOF FISH, 253 



commencing " What is certain/' and especially by the title of his 

 paper (Memoir upon a new species of Pimelode throivyi out by the 

 Volcanoes of the Kingdom of Quito). In Aspects of Naiure he 

 says that these fish live in subterranean reservoirs in the Vol- 

 canoes. There seems no limit to the credulity of man. All these 

 marvels have been frequently embodied in works treating upon 

 Natural History, without protest. 



I venture to point out that from 12,000 feet upwards the 

 slopes of Cotopaxi are iininliabited ; that the height of 16,000 to 

 16,600 feet is an altitude to which the natives of Ecuador never 

 go under ordinary circumstances, still less would they be there 

 during an eruption ; and that no one can possibly affirm from 

 personal knowledge that these fish have ever been thrown out 

 from the crater, or from fissures at the height of 16,000 feet. 



From 15,000 feet upwards the cone of Cotopaxi was found 

 to be so warm as to quickly liquefy snow which fell upon it 

 (see p. 142). At 19,500 feet the face of the slope was observed 

 to have a temperature of 50° Faht., and at the depth of eight feet 

 110° Faht. (see p. 148). At this height, water boiled at 179° '1 

 Faht. It was clear that at a very moderate distance below the 

 surface the boiling-point of water would be reached. A subter- 

 ranean reservoir of quite small dimensions would necessarily be 

 surrounded by rock at a temperature probably much exceeding 

 the boiling-point of water. 



As it is stated that the fish which are supposed to have been 

 ejected from the crater, or to have been expelled from the subter- 

 ranean reservoirs, were frequently alive, and had their flesh in 

 good preservation, it appears to me there is stronger evidence 

 against the notion that they dwell in subterranean reservoirs than 

 in favour of it. Fish cannot emerge in this rough manner from 

 boiling-water or from super-heated steam alive, and with their 

 skins intact. Yet I do not like to abandon all belief in this pet 

 story of childhood, as wonderful in its way as the history of 

 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Possibly, after some eruptions 



