living or dead timber was not confined to England and Scotland.
Vincentius Bellovacensis[86] (1190-1264) in his 'Speculum Naturae,' xvii.
40, states that it took place in Germany, and Jacob de Vitriaco (who
died 1244) mentions its occurrence in certain parts of Flanders.
[86] For this quotation and the following one I am indebted to
Professor Max Muller's Lecture before referred to.
Jonas Ramus gives a somewhat different version of the process as it
occurs in Norway. He writes:[87] "It is said that a particular sort of
geese is found in Nordland, which leave their seed on old trees, and
stumps and blocks lying in the sea; and that from that seed there grows
a shell fast to the trees, from which shell, as from an egg, by the heat
of the sun, young geese are hatched, and afterwards grow up; which gave
rise to the fable that geese grow upon trees."
[87] 'Chorographical Description of Norway,' p. 244.
But, strange to say, if any painstaking enquirer, wishing to investigate
the matter for himself, went to a locality where it was said the
phenomenon regularly occurred, he was sure to find that he had
literally, "started on a wild-goose chase," and had come to the wrong
place. This was the experience of AEneas Sylvius Piccolomini, afterwards
Pope Pius II., who complained that miracles will always flee farther and
farther away; for when he was on a visit (about 1430) to King James I.,
of Scotland,[88] and enquired after the tree which he most eagerly
desired to see, he was told that it grew much farther north, in the
Orkney Islands.
[88] AEneas Sylvius gives us information concerning the personal
appearance of his royal host, whom he describes as, "_hominem
quadratum et multa pinguedine gravem_,"--literally, "a square-built
man, heavy with much fat."
Notwithstanding the suspicious fact that the prodigy receded like Will
o' the Wisp, whenever it was persistently followed up, Sebastian
Munster, who relates[89] the foregoing anecdote of AEneas Sylvius,
appears to have entertained no doubt of the truth of the report, for he
writes:--
[89] 'Cosmographia Universalis,' p. 49, 1572.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--THE GOOSE TREE. _Copied from Gerard's
'Herball,' 1st edition._[90]]
[90] The original of this picture is a small wood-cut in Matthias
de Lobel's 'Stirpium Historia,' published in 1870. The birds within
the shells were added by Gerard. Aldrovandus, in copying it, gave
leaves to the tree, as shown on page 110.
"In Scotland there are trees which produce fruit, conglomerated of
their leaves; and this fruit, when in due time it falls into the
water beneath it, is endowed with new life, and is converted into a
living bird, which they call the 'tree-goose.' This tree grows in
the Island of Pomonia, which is not far from Scotland, towards the
north. Several old cosmographers, especially Saxo Grammaticus,
mention the tree, and it must not be regarded as fictitious, as
some new writers suppose."
Julius Caesar Scaliger[91] (1540) gives another reading of the legend, in
which it is asserted that the leaves which fall from the tree into the
water are converted into fishes, and those which fall upon the land
become birds.
[91] Exercit. 59, sect. 2.
Thus this extraordinary belief held sway, and remained strong and
invincible, although from time to time some man of sense and independent
thought attempted to turn the tide of popular error. Albertus Magnus
(who died 1280) showed its absurdity, and declared that he had seen the
bird referred to lay its eggs and hatch them in the ordinary way. Roger
Bacon (who died in 1294) also contradicted it, and Belon, in 1551,
treated it with ridicule and contempt. Olaus Wormius[92] seems to have
believed in it, though he wrote cautiously about it. Olaus Magnus (1553)
mentions it, and apparently accepts it as a fact, occurring in the
Orkneys, on the authority of "a Scotch historian who diligently sets
down the secrets of things," and then dismisses it in three lines.
[92] 'Museum,' p. 257.
Passing over many other writers on the subject, we come to the time of
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when (in 1597) "John Gerarde, Master in
Chirurgerie, London," published his "Herball, or Generall Historie of
Plants gathered by him," and in the last chapter thereof solemnly
declared, that he had actually witnessed the transformation of "certaine
shell fish" into Barnacle Geese, as follows.
_Of the Goose tree, Barnacle tree, or the tree bearing Geese._
_Britanicae Conchae anatiferae._
THE BREED OF BARNACLES.
¶ _The Description._
Hauing trauelled from the Grasses growing in the bottome of the
fenny waters, the Woods, and mountaines, euen vnto Libanus itselfe;
and also the sea, and bowels of the same, wee are arriued at the
end of our History; thinking it not impertinent to the conclusion
of the same, to end with one of the maruels of this land (we may
say of the World). The history whereof to set forth according to
the worthinesse and raritie thereof, would not only require a large
and peculiar volume, but also a deeper search into the bowels of
Nature, then my intended purpose will suffer me to wade into, my
sufficiencie also considered; leauing the History thereof rough
hewen, vnto some excellent man, learned in the secrets of nature,
to be both fined and refined; in the meane space take it as it
falleth out, the naked and bare truth, though vnpolished. There are
found in the North parts of Scotland and the Islands adjacent,
called Orchades, certaine trees whereon do grow certaine shells of
a white colour tending to russet, wherein are contained little
liuing creatures: which shells in time of maturity doe open, and
out of them grow those little liuing things, which falling into the
water do become fowles, which we call Barnacles; in the North of
England, brant Geese; and in Lancashire, tree Geese: but the other
that do fall vpon the land perish and come to nothing. Thus much by
the writings of others, and also from the mouthes of people of
those parts, which may very well accord with truth.
But what our eies haue seene, and hands haue touched we shall
declare. There is a small Island in Lancashire, called the Pile of
Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised
ships some whereof haue beene cast thither by shipwracke, and also
the trunks and bodies with the branches of old and rotten trees,
cast vp there likewise; whereon is found a certaine spume or froth
that in time breedeth vnto certaine shells, in shape like those of
the Muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour; wherein
is contained a thing in forme like a lace of silke finely wouen as
it were together, of a whitish colour, one end whereof is fastened
vnto the inside of the shell, euen as the fish of Oisters and
Muskles are: the other end is made fast vnto the belly of a rude
masse or lumpe, which in time commeth to the shape and forme of a
Bird: when it is perfectly formed the shell gapeth open, and the
first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string; next
come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth greater it
openeth the shell by degrees, til at length it is all come forth,
and hangeth onely by the bill: in short space after it commeth to
full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth
feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than a Mallard, and lesser
than a Goose, hauing blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers
blacke and white, spotted in such manner as is our Magpie, called
in some places a Pie-Annet, which the people of Lancashire call by
no other name than a tree Goose: which place aforesaid, and all
those parts adjoyning do so much abound therewith, that one of the
best is bought for three pence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt,
may it please them to repaire vnto me, and I shall satisfie them by
the testimonie of good witnesses.
Moreover, it should seeme that there is another sort hereof; the
History of which is true, and of mine owne knowledge; for
trauelling vpon the shore of our English coast betweene Douer and
Rumney, I found the trunke of an old rotten tree, which (with some
helpe that I procured by Fishermen's wiues that were there
attending their husbands' returne from the sea) we drew out of the
water vpon dry land; vpon this rotten tree I found growing many
thousands of long crimson bladders, in shape like vnto puddings
newly filled, before they be sodden, which were very cleere and
shining; at the nether end whereof did grow a shell fish, fashioned
somewhat like a small Muskle, but much whiter, resembling a shell
fish that groweth vpon the rockes about Garnsey and Garsey, called
a Lympit: many of these shells I brought with me to London, which
after I had opened I found in them liuing things without forme or
shape; in others which were neerer come to ripenesse I found liuing
things that were very naked, in shape like a Bird: in others, the
Birds couered with soft downe, the shell halfe open, and the Bird
ready to fall out, which no doubt were the Fowles called Barnacles.
I dare not absolutely auouch euery circumstance of the first part
of this history, concerning the tree that beareth those buds
aforesaid, but will leaue it to a further consideration; howbeit,
that which I haue seene with mine eies, and handled with mine
hands, I dare confidently auouch, and boldly put downe for verity.
Now if any will object that this tree which I saw might be one of
those before mentioned, which either by the waues of the sea or
some violent wind had beene ouerturned as many other trees are; or
that any trees falling into those seas about the Orchades, will of
themselves bear the like Fowles, by reason of those seas and
waters, these being so probable conjectures, and likely to be true,
I may not without prejudice gainsay, or endeauour to confute.
¶ _The Place._
The bordes and rotten plankes whereon are found these shels
breeding the Barnakle, are taken vp in a small Island adioyning to
Lancashire, halfe a mile from the main land, called the Pile of
Foulders.
¶ _The Time._
They spawn as it were in March and Aprill; the Geese are formed in
May and June, and come to fulnesse of feathers in the moneth after.
And thus hauing through God's assistance discoursed somewhat at
large of Grasses, Herbes, Shrubs, Trees, and Mosses, and certaine
Excrescenses of the Earth, with other things moe, incident to the
historie thereof, we conclude and end our present Volume, with this
wonder of England. For the which God's name be euer honored and
praised.
Gerard was probably a good botanist and herbalist; but Thomas Johnson,
the editor of a subsequent issue of his book, tells us that
"He, out of a propense good will to the publique advancement of
this knowledge, endeavoured to performe therein more than he could
well accomplish, which was partly through want of sufficient
learning; but," he adds, "let none blame him for these defects,
seeing he was neither wanting in pains nor good will to performe
what hee intended: and there are none so simple but know that
heavie burthens are with most paines vndergone by the weakest men;
and although there are many faults in the worke, yet iudge well of
the Author; for, as a late writer well saith:--'To err and to be
deceived is human, and he must seek solitude who wishes to live
only with the perfect.'"
It is difficult to comply with the request to think well of one who,
writing as an authority, deliberately promulgated, with an affectation
of piety, that which he must have known to be untrue, and who was,
moreover, a shameless plagiarist; for Gerard's ponderous book is little
more than a translation of Dodonaeus, whole chapters having been taken
verbatim from that comparatively unread author without acknowledgment.
After this series of erroneous observations, self-delusion, and
ignorant credulity, it is refreshing to turn to the pages of the two
little thick quarto volumes of Gaspar Schott.[93] This learned Jesuit
made himself acquainted with everything that had been written on the
subject, and besides the authors I have referred to, quotes and compares
the statements of Majolus, Abrahamus Ortelius, Hieronymus Cardanus,
Eusebius, Nierembergius, Deusingius, Odoricus, Gerhardus de Vera,
Ferdinand of Cordova, and many others. He then gives, firmly and
clearly, his own opinion that the assertion that birds in Britain spring
from the fruit or leaves of trees, or from wood, or from fungus, or from
shells, is without foundation, and that neither reason, experience, nor
authority tend to confirm it. He concedes that worms may be bred in
rotting timber, and even that they may be of a kind that fly away on
arriving at maturity (referring probably to caterpillars being developed
into moths), but that birds should be thus generated, he says, is simply
the repetition of a vulgar error, for not one of the authors whom he has
examined has seen what they all affirm; nor are they able to bring
forward a single eye-witness of it. He asks how it can be possible that
animals so large and so highly-organised as these birds can grow from
puny animalcules generated in putrid wood. He further declares that
these British geese are hatched from eggs like other geese, which he
considers proved by the testimony of Albertus Magnus, Gerhardus de Vera,
and of Dutch seamen, who, in 1569, gave their written declaration that
they had personally seen these birds sitting on their eggs, and hatching
them, on the coasts of Nova Zembla.
[93] 'Physica Curiosa, sive Mirabilia Naturae et Artis,' 1662, lib.
ix. cap. xxii. p. 960.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--THE BARNACLE GOOSE TREE. _After Aldrovandus._]
In marked and disgraceful contrast with this careful and philosophical
investigation and its author's just deductions from it, is 'A Relation
concerning Barnacles by Sir Robert Moray, lately one of His Majesty's
Council for the Kingdom of Scotland,' read before the Royal Society, and
published in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' No. 137, January and
February, 1677-8.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--DEVELOPMENT OF BARNACLES INTO GEESE. _After
Aldrovandus._]
Describing "a cut of a large Firr-tree of about two and a half feet
diameter, and nine or ten feet long," which he saw on the shore in the
Western Islands of Scotland, and which had become so dry that many of
the Barnacle shells with which it had been covered had been rubbed off,
he says:--
"Only on the parts that lay next the ground there still hung
multitudes of little Shells, having within them little Birds,
perfectly shap'd, supposed to be Barnacles. The Shells hung very
thick and close one by another, and were of different sizes. Of the
colour and consistence of Muscle-Shells, and the sides and joynts
of them joyned with such a kind of film as Muscle-Shells are, which
serves them for a Hing to move upon, when they open and shut....
The Shells hang at the Tree by a Neck longer than the Shell, of a
kind of Filmy substance, round, and hollow, and creased, not unlike
the Wind-pipe of a chicken, spreading out broadest where it is
fastened to the Tree, from which it seems to draw and convey the
matter which serves for the growth and vegetation of the Shell and
the little Bird within it. This Bird in every Shell that I opened,
as well the least as the biggest, I found so curiously and
compleatly formed, that there appeared nothing wanting as to
internal parts, for making up a perfect Seafowl: every little part
appearing so distinctly that the whole looked like a large Bird
seen through a concave or diminishing glass, colour and feature
being everywhere so clear and neat. The little Bill, like that of a
Goose; the eyes marked; the Head, Neck, Breast, Wings, Tail, and
Feet formed, the Feathers everywhere perfectly shap'd, and blackish
coloured; and the Feet like those of other Water-fowl, to my best
remembrance. All being dead and dry, I did not look after the
internal parts of them. Nor did I ever see any of the little Birds
alive, nor met with anybody that did. Only some credible persons
have assured me they have seen some as big as their fist."
It seems almost incredible that little more than two hundred years ago
this twaddle should not only have been laid before the highest
representatives of science in the land, but that it should have been
printed in their "Transactions" for the further delusion of posterity.
Ray, in his edition of Willughby's Ornithology, published in the same
year as the above, contradicted the fallacy as strongly as Gaspar
Schott; and (except that he incidentally admits the possibility of
spontaneous generation in some of the lower animals, as insects and
frogs) in language so similar that I think he must have had Schott's
work before him when he wrote.
Aldrovandus[94] tells us that an Irish priest, named Octavianus, assured
him with an oath on the Gospels that he had seen and handled the geese
in their embryo condition; and he adds that he "would rather err with
the majority than seem to pass censure on so many eminent writers who
have believed the story."
[94] 'Ornithologia,' lib. xix. p. 173, ed. 1603.
In 1629 Count Maier (Michaelus Meyerus--these old authors when writing
in Latin, latinized their names also) published a monograph 'On the
Tree-bird'[95] in which he explains the process of its birth, and states
that he opened a hundred of the goose-bearing shells and found the
rudiments of the bird fully formed.
So slow Bootes underneath him sees,
In th' icy isles, those goslings hatched on trees,
Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water,
Are turned, they say, to living fowls soon after;
So rotten sides of broken ships do change,
To barnacles, O, transformation strange!
'Twas first a green tree; then a gallant hull;
Lately a mushroom; then a flying gull.[96]
[95] 'De Volucri Arborea,' 1629.
[96] Du Bartas' "Divine Week" p. 228. Joshua Sylvester's
translation.
Now, let us turn from fiction to facts.
[Illustration: FIG 37.--SECTION OF A SESSILE BARNACLE. _Balanus
tintinnabulum._]
Almost every one is acquainted with at least one kind of the Barnacle
shells which were supposed to enclose the embryo of a goose, namely the
small white conical hillocks which are found, in tens of thousands,
adhering to stones, rocks, and old timber such as the piles of piers,
and may be seen affixed to the shells of oysters and mussels in any
fishmonger's shop. The little animals which secrete and inhabit these
shells belong to a sub-class and order of the Crustacea, called the
_Cirrhopoda_, because their feet (_poda_), which in the crab and lobster
terminate in claws, are modified into tufts of curled hairs (_cirri_),
or feathers. When the animal is alive and active under water, a crater
may be seen to open on the summit of the little shelly mountain, and, as
if from the mouth of a miniature volcano, there issue from this
aperture, from between two inner shells, the _cirri_ in the form of a
feathery hand, which clutches at the water within its reach, and is then
quickly retracted within the shell. During this movement the
hair-fringed fingers have filtered from the water and conveyed towards
the mouth within the shell, for their owner's nutriment, some minute
solid particles or animalcules, and this action of the casting-net
alternately shot forth and retracted continues for hours incessantly, as
the water flows over its resting-place. The animal can live for a long
time out of water, and in some situations thus passes half its life.
Under such circumstances, the shells, containing a reserve of moisture,
remain firmly closed until the return of the tide brings a fresh supply
of water and food. These are the "acorn-barnacles," the _balani_,
commonly known in some localities as "chitters."
Barnacles of another kind are those furnished with a long stem, or
peduncle, which Sir Robert Moray described as "round, hollow, and
creased, and not unlike the wind-pipe of a chicken." The stem has, in
fact, the ringed formation of the annelids, or worms. The shelly valves
are thin, flat, and in shape somewhat like a mitre. They are composed of
five pieces, two on each side, and one, a kind of rounded keel along the
back of the valves, by which these are united. The shells are delicately
tinted with lavender or pale blue varied with white, and the edges are
frequently of a bright chrome yellow or orange colour.
It is not an uncommon occurrence for a large plank entirely covered with
these "necked barnacles" to be found floating at sea and brought ashore
for exhibition at some watering-place; and I have more than once sent
portions of such planks to the Aquaria at Brighton, and the Crystal
Palace.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--PEDUNCULATED BARNACLES. (_Lepas anatifera._)]
It is most interesting to watch a dense mass of living cirripedes so
closely packed together that not a speck of the surface of the wood is
left uncovered by them; their fleshy stalks overhanging each other, and
often attached in clusters to those of some larger individuals; their
plumose casting-nets ever gathering in the food that comes within their
reach, and carrying towards the mouth any solid particles suitable for
their sustenance. How much of insoluble matter barnacles will eliminate
from the water is shown by the rapidity with which they will render
turbid sea water clear and transparent. The most common species of these
"necked barnacles" bears the name of "_Lepas anatifera_," "the
duck-bearing _Lepas_." It was so entitled by Linnaeus, in recognition of
its having been connected with the fable, which, of course, met with no
credit from him.
Fig. 39 represents the figure-head of a ship, partly covered with
barnacles, which was picked up about thirty miles off Lowestoft on the
22nd of October, 1857. It was described in the _Illustrated London
News_, and the proprietors of that paper have kindly given me a copy of
the block from which its portrait was printed.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--A SHIP'S FIGURE-HEAD WITH BARNACLES ATTACHED TO
IT.]
Others of the barnacles affix themselves to the bottoms of ships, or
parasitically upon whales and sharks, and those of the latter kind often
burrow deeply into the skin of their host. Fig. 40 is a portrait of a
_Coronula diadema_ taken from the nose of a whale stranded at
Kintradwell, in the north of Scotland, in 1866, and sent to the late Mr.
Frank Buckland. Growing on this _Coronula_ are three of the curious
eared barnacles, _Conchoderma aurita_; the _Lepas aurita_ of Linnaeus.
The species of the whale from which these Barnacles were taken was not
mentioned, but it was probably the "hunch-backed" whale, _Megaptera
longimana_, which is generally infested with this _Coronula_. This very
illustrative specimen was, and I hope still is, in Mr. Buckland's Museum
at South Kensington. It was described by him in _Land and Water_, of May
19th, 1866, and I am indebted to the proprietors of that paper for the
accompanying portrait of it.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--WHALE BARNACLE (_Coronula diadema_), WITH THREE
_Conchoderma aurita_ ATTACHED TO IT.]
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--A YOUNG BARNACLE. (_Larva of Chthamalus
stellatus._)]
The young Barnacle when just extruded from the shell of its parent is a
very different being from that which it will be in its mature condition.
It begins its life in a form exactly like that of an entomostracous
crustacean, and, like a Cyclops, has one large eye in the middle of its
forehead. In this state it swims freely, and with great activity. It
undergoes three moults, each time altering its figure, until at the
third exuviation it has become enclosed in a bivalve shell, and has
acquired a second eye. It is now ready to attach itself to its
abiding-place; so, selecting its future residence, it presses itself
against the wood, or whatever the substance may be, pours out from its
two antennae a glutinous cement, which hardens in water, and thus fastens
itself by the front of its head, is henceforth a fixture for life, and
assumes the adult form in which most persons know it best.[97]