244 
grew out of rotten shipwrecked timber, 
and other kinds of wood and trees which 
lay under water in the sea, and that these 
shells owed their origin to spume or froth, 
which in a short time assumed a fungus ap- 
pearance upon the wood: others affirmed 
that they were produced from the palms 
or fruits of a tree like the willow, which, 
when ripe dropped off into the water 
and became a living bird. But even to 
enumerate these authors or to quote the en- 
tertaining parts of the wild whimsies with 
which they have embellished their descrip- 
tions of this bird, would far exceed the 
limits of this work, and would only serve 
to prove (were that necessary) how credu- 
lous, not only the great unthinking mass, 
but even the Philosophers once were, and 
how far it was possible for such circumstan- 
tially told miracles to lay the understand- 
ings of mankind asleep. We will however 
for the amusement of our readers give an 
extract from Gerard's Herbal, published 
in 1597. 
" But what our eyes haveseene, and 
hands have touched, we shall declare. 
