The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 96,
October 1865, by Various

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Title: The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 96, October 1865

Author: Various

Release Date: December 2, 2006 [EBook #19996]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE

ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

_A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics._

VOL. XVI.--OCTOBER, 1865.--NO. XCVI.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by TICKNOR
AND FIELDS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the
District of Massachusetts.

Transcriber's Note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes moved
to the end of the article.

SAINTS WHO HAVE HAD BODIES.

All doubtless remember the story which is told of the witty Charles II.
and the Royal Society: How one day the King brought to the attention of
its members a most curious and inexplicable phenomenon, which he stated
thus: "When you put a trout into a pail full of water, why does not the
water overflow?" The savans, naturally enough, were surprised, and
suggested many wise, but fruitless explanations; until at last one of
their number, having no proper reverence for royalty in his heart,
demanded that the experiment should actually be tried. Then, of course,
it was proved that there was no phenomenon to be explained. The water
overflowed fast enough. Indeed, it is chronicled that the evolutions of
this lively member of the piscatory tribe were so brisk, that the
difficulty was the exact opposite of what was anticipated, namely, how
to keep the water in.

This story may be a pure fable, but the lesson it teaches is true and
important. It illustrates forcibly the facility with which even wise men
accept doubtful propositions, and then apply the whole power of their
minds to explain them, and perhaps to defend them. Latterly one hears
constantly of the physical decay whic