368 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xxi 



elusive. He goes on to tell how a scientific friend's state- 

 ment once almost convinced him until he read the quarter- 

 master's deposition, which was supposed to corroborate it. 

 The details made the circumstances alleged by the former 

 impossible, and on pointing this out, he heard no more of 

 the story, which was a good example of the mixing up of 

 observations with conclusions drawn from them. 



And on the following day he replies to another such 

 detailed story — • 



Admiral Mellersh says, "I saw a huge snake, at least 18 feet 

 leng," and I have no doubt he believes he is simply stating a 

 matter of fact. Yet his assertion involves a hypothesis of the 

 truth of which I venture to be exceedingly doubtful. How does 

 he know that what he saw was a snake ? The neighbourhood of 

 a creature of this kind, within axe-stroke, is hardly conducive to 

 calm scientific investigation, and I can answer for it that the 

 discrimination of genuine sea-snakes in their native element 

 from long-bodied fish is not always easy. Further, that " back 

 fin " troubles me ; looks, if I may say so, very fishy. 



If the caution about mixing Up observations with conclu- 

 sions, which I ventured to give yesterday, were better attended 

 to, I think we should hear very little either about antiquated 

 sea-serpents or new " mesmerism." 



It is perhaps not superfluous to point out that in this, 

 as in other cases of the marvellous, he did not merely 

 pooh-pooh a story on the ground of its antecedent improba- 

 bility, but rested his acceptance or rejection of it upon the 

 strength of the evidence adduced. On the other hand, the 

 weakness of such evidence as was brought forward time 

 after time, was a justification for refusing to spend his time 

 in listening to similar stories based on similar testimony. 



Among the many journalistic absurdities which fall in 

 the way of celebrities, two which happened this year are 

 worth recording ; the one on account of its intrinsic extrava- 

 gance, which succeeded nevertheless in taking in quite a 

 number of sober folk ; the other on account of the letter it 

 drew from Huxley about his cat. The former appeared in 

 the shape of a highly-spiced advertisement about certain 

 Manx Mannikins, which could walk, draw, play, in fact do 



