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Review of Gosse's Romance of Natural History
English original
Under the designation of "The Unknown," comes the unicorn, one of the supporters of Britain's shield. A rare little book, entitled, 'Thomæ Bartholoni de Unicornu Observationes Novæ,' Amsterdam, 1678, would have afforded to Mr. Gosse some curious traditional particulars. We remember that when we placed it in the hands of Dr. Livingstone he evinced considerable interest in it, and specially directed our attention to the figure of a long, straight horn. Dr. Andrew Smith, an able and sober zoological investigator of South Africa, has collected considerable information about a once-horned animal as yet unknown to Europeans, and which appears to occupy an intermediate rank between the massive rhinoceros and the lighter for of the horse. A singular and new animal of Kordofan, having a long horn on its forehead, and termed the A'nasa, was reported by M. Antoine d'Abbadie in our own columns, and is cited by Mr. Gosse. The unicorn cannot, therefore, be pronounced a fable, although our national representation of it may prove to be fanciful.