That is the very reason why this story was written . There are a great many things in the world which you never heard of ; and a great many more which nobody ever heard of ; and a great many things , too , which nobody will ever hear of , at least until the coming of the Cocqcigrues , when man shall be the measure of all things . `` But there are no such things as water-babies . '' How do you know that ? Have you been there to see ? And if you had been there to see , and had seen none , that would not prove that there were none . If Mr. Garth does not find a fox in Eversley Wood -- as folks sometimes fear he never will -- that does not prove that there are no such things as foxes . And as is Eversley Wood to all the woods in England , so are the waters we know to all the waters in the world . And no one has a right to say that no water - babies exist , till they have seen no water-babies existing ; which is quite a different thing , mind , from not seeing water-babies ; and a thing which nobody ever did , or perhaps ever will do . `` But surely if there were water-babies , somebody would have caught one at least ? '' Well . How do you know that somebody has not ? `` But they would have put it into spirits , or into the Illustrated News , or perhaps cut it into two halves , poor dear little thing , and sent one to Professor Owen , and one to Professor Huxley , to see what they would each say about it . '' Ah , my dear little man ! that does not follow at all , as you will see before the end of the story . `` But a water-baby is contrary to nature . '' Well , but , my dear little man , you must learn to talk about such things , when you grow older , in a very different way from that . You must not talk about `` ai n't '' and `` ca n't '' when you speak of this great wonderful world round you , of which the wisest man knows only the very smallest corner , and is , as the great Sir Isaac Newton said , only a child picking up pebbles on the shore of a boundless ocean . You must not say that this can not be , or that that is contrary to nature . You do not know what Nature is , or what she can do ; and nobody knows ; not even Sir Roderick Murchison , or Professor Owen , or Professor Sedgwick , or Professor Huxley , or Mr. Darwin , or Professor Faraday , or Mr. Grove , or any other of the great men whom good boys are taught to respect .
They are very wise men ; and you must listen respectfully XXXXX all they say : but even if they should say , which I am sure they never would , `` That can not exist .
about as at before if in into that to until