The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-17
THOUGHT GEESE CREW ON THE TREES Ate Them During Lent in
 Eleventh Century POPE ISSUED ORDER Forbade Their Use in This Way-The People Thought They Belonged
 to the Vegetable
 Kingdom

toms of wooden ships and to pieces of timber floating in the sea. Each individ- ual, when fully grown consists of con- tractile and flexible stalk some two to five inches long. by one end of which 1t is firmly cemented to the floating wood, whilst the other end carries a fiat oval bivalve she'll consisting of two triangu- lar white polished calcareous pieces on each side, and another elongated piece at the back. The shells are tightly shut when the animal is removed from the sea water or dead, but when a piece of wood to which live barnacles are at tached is allowed to float in a tank of sea water, and the two sides of the shell open slightly, like the covers of a book. and from within are pushed out group of twelve pairs of dark colored plumes, each consisting of a gracefully curved point stem beset with hairs on each side. These plumes are expanded, and their tips bent inwards like the fingers of a grasping hand,
 By the active swinging movements of the stalk they are made to rake or fish" the water for food particles. These, when entangled by the plumes. are brought to the mouth of the animal lying at their base by the rapid closing together and withdrawal of, the plumes into the space between the two shells, and no sooner have they been withdrawn than they are again shot outwards and recommence their fishing.
 The extraordinary attitude and action of the barnacle when it fixes itself, has been compared to that of a man standing on his head Cor with his head cemented to the pavement), and kicking his food into his mouth with his legs. But one must add to that, in comparing the man
 4s-t. .s,1fc 11n,- na1es ,n that the region between the mans eyes and mouth should grow so as to form a flexible muscular pillar twenty feet to fifty feet high.
 We now come to the myth of the bar naele goose. It first appears in writ ten form as early as the eleventh cen- tury, when a certain Father Damie states that birds can be produced by trees as happens in the Island of Thilor
 in India and in an ancient Oriental book it is stated that the Rabbi Abba saw a tree from the fruits of which birds were hatched But the legend took more definite form in England and Ire land in the thirteenth century. The fruit of the tree which produces a bird was identified with the Cirrhipede barnacle. Giraldus Cambrensis In his account of Ireland, written in the time of Henry II, says:
 There are in this place many birds which are called Bernacae: Nature pro- duees them against Nature in most extraordinary way They are like marsl geese, but somewhat smaller. They are produced from fir timber tossed along the sea, and are at first like gum. After wards they hang down by their peaks as if they were a seaweed attached to the timber and are surrounded by shells in order to grow more freely. Having thus in process of time been clothed with strong coat of feathers, they either fall into the water or fly freely away into the air I have frequently seen,' he proceeds, with my own eyes more than one thousand of these small bodies of birds hanging down on the seashore from a piece of timber. inclosed in their shells and ready formed. They do not breed and lay eggs like other birds, nor do they ever hatch any eggs nor build nests anywhere Hence bishops and clerymen in some parts of Ireland do not scruple to dine off these birds at the time of fasting, because they are not flesh nor born of flesh!'
 Here we have the full story and an exclamation of its motive. The Irish clergy, as learned men, knew the Ori- ental story of the tree which produces birds from it's fruits, and also knew or the ancient Identification of the "cirrhi- pede" barnacle with the fruit which IS converted into a bird. They knew the wild geese which frequent the seashore and marsland, and identified one or more species of wild goose with that said to be formed by the transformation of the barnacle.
 The barnacle was called "bernak." and they accordingly called the goose supposed to be produced by 1t the bernak goose The names became later 'bernacle" and 'barnacle goose.' Later the attempt was made to determine eX- actly which species of goose was the true ,sbarnacle goose The bird is one which does not breed in the British ls- lands. but further north, and hence Tit ted very we'll with the notion that 1t did not generate by eggs at all, put was produced by the transformation or the marine Pharmacies" which were regarded as a vegetable growth. The popularity and importance of this strange story arose from the fact that it enabled priests and other pious people to feed upon goose flesh with clear conscience during Lent and on fast days generally. The matter was discussed by the highest authorities of the church. and Pope ln- nocent III in 1215 considered It necessary to prohibit the eating of barnacle geese in Lent since although he admitted that they grew from wood and are not gen erated in the ordinary way, yet they live and feed like ducks and cannot, he said. be regarded as real differing In nature from other birds. In Brittany, nevertheless, barnacle geese are still eaten by good Catholics on Fridays.
 In old times there was very general belief in the generation of animals of high degree of complexity from slime from sea foam
 It must not be supposed that in the
 five centuries between Giraldus Cam brenis and Sir Robert Moray the leg end of matching of geese from barnacles
 was never contradicted Albertus Mag nus. in 1aO, mocks at the whole story, and declares that he saw the geese lay
 ordinary eggs, and hatch them; but, as a
 matter of fact, he never did see the
 species identified as the ''parnacfe goose"
 laying its eggs. Roger Bacon of Oxford
 (died 129D, contradicted the legend.
 Plus II, visited King James of Scotland
 in 1435, and inquired after the wonderful
 tree that produces geese. But he com
 plains that miracles will always flee fur ther, for when he came to Scotland to see the tree he was told that it did not grow there but further north, in the Orkneys!
 The most decisive blow to the whole story was given by some Dutch sailors, who found the breeding place of the particular species of goose now regular | ly recognized as the "barnacle goose'' in Greenland, saw the young hatched from eggs. killed the birds, and ate
 them, together with @ eggs.
 |
 | NOTICE
 ]ea There will he no change nsn in routes of the North