BIRTH-MARKS AND TELEGONY 407 



of a fish placed in a bowl of water held forth at great 

 length and gave ingenious reasons as to why this is so. 

 But the King said, " Don't chatter ; make trial ! " And 

 the weighing was done, in the King's presence, by some 

 of the Fellows of the Royal Society. It was found that 

 the weight of the jar with its contained water was in- 

 creased when the fish was placed therein by exactly the 

 number of ounces which the fish weighed when placed 

 separately in the balance. So the" King won his bet, 

 and the sham philosophers were silenced. The whole 

 spirit of science, as contrasted with that of superstition 

 and ignorance, is summed up by the Royal Society's 

 motto, " Nullius in verba " (on no man's assertion !), and 

 the King's command, " Don't chatter ; make trial ! " 



