128 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



feature being everywhere so clear and near. The little 

 bill like that of a goose, the eyes marked, the head, 

 neck, breast, wings, tail and feet formed, the feathers 

 everywhere perfectly shaped and blackish coloured, and 

 the feet like those of other waterfowl — to my best remem- 

 brance. All being dead and dry, I did not look after 

 the inward parts of them." If the reader will now look 

 at Fig. 1 5 , C, which represents the soft parts of a barnacle 

 when the shells of one side are removed, he will see 

 how far Sir Robert Moray must have been the victim — 

 as so many people naturally are under such circumstances 

 — of imagination and defective memory when he wrote this 

 account. I have put into italics in the above quotation 

 from his " Relation '' his confession that he is writing, not 

 with his specimens before him, but from remembrance of 

 them. Moreover, he tells us, with admirable candour, 

 that the specimens were dead and dry when he examined 

 them ! One could not desire a better justification for 

 the motto adopted by the Royal Society, " Nullius in 

 verba," and for the procedure upon which in its early 

 days the Society insisted — namely, that at its meetings the 

 members should " bring in " a specimen or an experiment, 

 and not occupy time by mere relations and reports of 

 marvels. It is necessary even at the present day to 

 insist on such demonstration by those who urge us to 

 accept as true their relations of mysterious experiences 

 with ghosts, and their " conviction " that they have con- 

 versed with " discarnate intelligences." 



