770 



THE UNIVERSE. 



more fabulous than what Denis cle Montfort in comjiara- 

 tively recent times gave out as a feast for the credulous. 

 His mind must really have been diseased. 



The lucubrations of this naturalist have found a place 

 in the great edition of Buffon's works. He there states, 

 without the least hesitation, that in the northern seas 

 there are cuttle-fish of such a size that a Avhale is a pigmy 

 in comparison with them. According to him these mol- 

 luscs are even of such prodigious dimensions, that when 

 they rest motionless and half out of the water their bodies, 

 which ages have covered with tufts of marine plants, have 

 sometimes been taken for islands floating on the sur- 

 face of the waves. It is even related in some old Scandi- 

 navian chronicles that sailors, deceived by this treacherous 



337. Cetaceau attacking a Ship. — Facsimile from tLe Work (.if (llaus JIagtms : Dc Gcntihns 



Scptciitrionalibus, 1.5.55. 



sign, have been known to anchor their ships on the flank,'^ 

 of these sea monsters, and land on their backs. 



In those times' of credulity, Avhen the life of the sailor 

 was so full of anxiety and terror, such facts were held to 



