The Boys' and Girls' Pliny · the Elder Pliny
FOOTNOTES
"Mensibus erratis vos ostrea manducatis." "In the r'd months you may your oysters eat." [159]Literally, "Having beautiful eyebrows." [160]Those of Rutupæ, the present Richborough in Kent, were highly esteemed by the Romans. See Juvenal, Sat. 4. l. 141. [161]They probably gave the name of "oyster" to some other shell-fish of large size. In Cook's Voyages we read of cockles in the Pacific, which two men were unable to carry. [162]From {tris}, "thrice," and {dyknô}, "to bite." [163]Ajasson, however, remarks that many persons are unable to digest oysters in an uncooked state. [164]Father Lobo, in his account of Abyssinia, says that when the ostrich is running at great speed, it throws the stones behind with such violence, that they would almost seem to be thrown at those in pursuit. An ostrich, Cuvier says, will swallow anything, but it is by no means able to digest everything. He says, that he has seen ostriches with the stomach ruptured by nails which they have swallowed, or dreadfully torn by pieces of glass. [165]All these relations are neither more nor less than so many absurd fables or allegories, but the description given is exactly that of a bird which does exist--the golden pheasant. [166]Five hundred and thirty-two years. [167]This erroneous notion is still entertained by the French peasantry. [168]Cuvier remarks, that this is not a very good reason; but we have not yet been able to find a better.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.