Mythical Monsters

Charles Gould, geological surveyor of Tasmania, spent 400 pages and 93 engravings arguing that dragons, sea-serpents and unicorns are not inventions but memories — real animals, seen, feared, and distorted by time.

The Dragon

28 pages in this part of Mythical Monsters.

The Dragon (FIG Draco OR FLYING LIZARD)

The Dragon: Europe

Among the earliest classics of Europe, its existence is asserted as a scientific fact, and accepted by poets as a sound basis for…

The Dragon: Book

Southey, in his Commonplace Book, pityingly alludes to this passage, saying, "He believes in dragons and griffins as having heretofore…

The Dragon: Pliny

A somewhat inexplicable habit is ascribed to the dragon in Book ix.* : "When the draco has eaten much fruit, it seeks the juice of the…

The Dragon: Zaledj

While El Edrisi says : "On peut encore citer le serpent de Zaledj dont parlent Ben Khordadébe, l'auteur du Livre des Merveilles, et divers…

The Dragon: Juba

It is doubtful whether large serpents, or real dragons, are referred to by Pliny in the following interesting passages which I give at…

The Dragon: Quedah

Captain Sherard Osborn, in his description of Quedah in * Broderip, Leaves from the Note Book of a Naturalist, p. 357. + Australasia, p…

The Dragon: Malay

Unfortunately the exciting story of a serpent, between forty and fifty feet in length, which I extract from the North China Daily News of…

The Dragon: Voyage

Mr. McLeod, in the Voyage of the Alceste, states that during a captivity of some months at Whidah, on the coast of Africa, he had…

The Dragon: Darling

That harmless snakes of from twelve to fourteen feet in length occur abundantly in Northern Australia is generally known; but it is only of…

The Dragon: Moffatt

Mr. Moffatt learnt personally from a Mr. Beveridge, son of Mr. Peter Beveridge, of Swan Hill station, that he had actually seen one, and…

The Dragon: Herodotus

To my mind, Herodotus speaks without the slightest doubt upon the subject in the following passages. "Arabia* is the last of inhabited…

The Dragon: Moses

Josephus* unmistakably affirms his belief in the existence of flying serpents, in his account of the stratagem which Moses adopted in…

The Dragon: Egypt

Cicero, again, speaks of the ibis as being a very large bird, with strong legs, and a horny long beak, which destroys a great number of…

The Dragon: Government

Similar instances of failure could be easily multiplied. It is found, as with us, that one of the chief causes of non-success is the fact…

The Dragon: China

I feel bound to refer, although of course without attaching any very great weight of evidence to them, to the numerous stories popular in…

The Dragon: Arabia

This is copied by Gesner, who repeats the story of its flying out of Arabia into Egypt.† I attach considerable importance to the short…

The Dragon: Hesiod

The poets of Greece and Rome introduce the dragon into their fables, as an illustration, when the type of power and ferocity is sought for…

The Dragon: Ovid

Ovid* locates the dragon slain by Cadmus in Bœotia, near the river Cephisus. He speaks of it as being hid in a cavern, adorned with crests…

The Dragon: Phryxus

Diodorus Siculus disposes of the Colchian dragon and the golden-fleeced ram in a very summary manner, as follows :- "It is said that…

The Dragon: Parthians

Several nations, as the Persians, Parthians, Scythians, &c., bore dragons on their standards: whence the standards themselves were called…

The Dragon: Celtic

The dragon plays an important part in Celtic mythology. Among the Celts, as with the Romans, it was the national standard.

The Dragon: Wantley

Among the latest surviving beliefs of this nature may be cited the dragon of Wantley (Wharncliffe, Yorkshire), who was slain by More of…

The Dragon: Collection

For instance, Pigafetta, in a report of the kingdom of Congo,* " gathered out of the discourses of Mr. E. Lopes, a * The Harleian…

The Dragon: Aldrovandus

Ulysses Aldrovandus, who published a large folio volume on serpents and dragons, entirely believed in the existence of the latter, and…

The Dragon: Styria

He instances Gesner as saying that, in 1543, he understood that a kind of dragon appeared near Styria, within the confines of Germany…

The Dragon: Kircher

Lacus Lucernen pars Lacus Pilati Mons Pilati FIG. 39.--THE DRAGONS OF MOUNT PILATE. (From the "Mundus Subterraneus" of Athanasius Kircher.)…

The Dragon (LIANUS DE NATURA ANIMALIUM)

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