THE ORNITIIOIIYNCHUS PARADOXUS. 2!7 
in France by the very celebrated author of the Legms 
(TAnatomie comparee^ and by others ; and about ten speci- 
mens, in the best state of preservation, in London. 
Professor Jameson, who did me the honour to entrust 
the dissection to me, encouraged me to proceed in carefully 
noting the details, because, though nothing novel should 
present itself, the investigation might still prove useful, by 
confirming the discoveries of others. We were also aware 
that the descriptions of the most celebrated anatomists were 
completely at variance with each other, and with those of 
naturalists, relative to the anatomy of some very important 
organs; and that, consequently, the physiology of these 
organs must remain doubtful and conjectural, until the 
cause of these differences should be satisfactorily explained. 
I have only farther to mention, that as it was necessary to 
respect the skeleton, which is intended for the Museum, I 
did not consider myself at liberty to attempt any very mi- 
nute dissections of the nerves, organs of sense, ligaments 
of the joints, and soft parts situated in the bottom of the 
neck and upper part of the thorax, which were otherwise 
required to render the observations complete. 
It is well known that the specimens of this very extra- 
ordinary animal first brought to Europe were considered 
by many as impositions. They reached England by ves- 
sels which had navigated the Indian seas, a circumstance 
in itself sufficient to rouse the suspicions of the scientific 
naturalist, aware of the monstrous impostures which the 
artful Chinese had so frequently practised on European 
adventurers ; in short, the scientific felt inclined to class this 
rare production of nature with easternmermaids and other 
works of art ; but these conjectures were immediately dis- 
proved by an appeal to anatomy. 
As tlie animal became better known, attempts were made 
by naturalits to arrange it with the Mammalia, to which 
