A False Conclusion.
Amongst the deliramenta of the learned, which have amused mankind, the following deserves a place:—
In 1815 a noted London professor occupied a window which overlooked the college garden. Amid the trees in the latter a number of rooks had taken up their abode. A young gentleman, who lodged in an attic opposite, frequently amused himself by shooting the rooks with a cross-bow. The professor noticed that the birds frequently dropped senseless from their perches, no sound being heard, no person being visible. It was a strange phenomenon, and he set his wits to work to account for the cause of it. At length he became fully satisfied that he had made a great ornithological discovery which would add vastly to his fame. He actually wrote a learned treatise, stating what he had seen, and declaring that it was a settled conviction in his mind that rooks were subject to falling sickness.