pr e ser - power to examine the entrails o f all thefe fifh, becaufe I do not
VATION'
of m a r i - *n Wfi doubt, but the examination o f them would have imrne-
. NERS- diately Ihewed the true caufe of thefe fymptoms; and as nothing
occurs, which might have caufed thefe effedts, I fufpedt that thefe
fiih live chiefly upon blubbers, (Medufoe) fome o f which we know
to be o f a very burning quality, when brought into contact with
our ftin , and probably would be capable o f producing all the
abovementioned fymptoms i f taken internally. It might be here
objedted, that i f the blubbers are fo noxious, how happens it that
the fiih eat them without being affedted in the fame manner as we
were : but i f we confider, that fiih eat, without injury, even man-
chenil-apples (Hippomane MancinellaJ which would kill a man;
k becomes fo much the more probable that fiihes may live on a
food, which to men is highly noxious. T h e natives, however,
fam to be well acquainted with the poifonous quality o f the fiih : it
would be advifeable therefore to enquire o f them whether it may be
eaten with fafety, and they are every where good-natured enough to
give fair warning when there is the leaft danger. This circumilance
leads us to make the following remarks : the firfl: is, that mankind
ought to be confidered as the members o f one great family; therefore
let us not defpife any o f them, though they be our inferiors in regard
to many improvements and points o f civilization ; none o f them
is fo defpicable that he ihould not, in fome one point or other,
know
649
know more than the wifeft man of the moftpolilhed nation. This pre ser-
knowledge may be eafily obtained from them by friendlinefs,
kindnefs, and gentlenefs; and i f fo bought it is cheaply obtained. ners.
T h e fecond obfervation points out the neceflity o f fending out
men verfed in fcience, and the knowledge o f nature on all occa-
fions to remote parts o f the world, in order to inveftigate the powers
and qualities o f natural objefls; and it is not enough to fend
them out, but they ought likewife to be encouraged in their laborious
talk, liberally fupported and generoully enabled to make fuch
enquiries as may prevent their fellow creatures in future times
from becoming facrifices to their own ignorance.
Spuibufdam & iis quidem non admodum indoEtis, totum hoc dif-
plicet, philofophari. Qyidam autem id non tam reprehendunt,
f i remijjius agatur: Jed temtum Jludium, tamque multam operant
ponendam in eo non arbitrantur.
M . T u l l i u s C i c e r o .
De finibus bon. & malor. lib. i. initio.
P I N I S.