...he wrote, "have such a horror of being taken in, or such an elevated opinion of their own acutness, that they believe everything to be a sham, and in this way are continually humbugging themselves." In illustration he gave the instance of a Yankee lady who visited the Museum to see the whales. Barnum...

...much. "Many persons have such a horror of being taken in," he wrote, "that they believe themselves to be a sham, and in this way are continually humbugging themselves." Hundreds who believed implicitly in his (fake) angel fish refused to admit the reality of a whale exhibited...

...little than too much. Many persons have such a horror of being taken in, or such an elevated sense of their own acuteness, that they believe everything...light the basement with gas, and that frightened the sea monster to such an extent that he kept at the bottom of the tank, except when he was compelled...