Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-02-23

Richard A. Proctor ON Sea monsters.

Richard A. Proctor on Sea Monsters.
Mr.. Richard Proctor writes in the Lon
don Echo:
1.-THE sea serpent has long been regarded
by most persons as simply gigantic fraud.
Either the object which appeared like
sea serpent was something altogether diff
ferent-a floating tree entaged in sea weed,
the serpentine outline of distant hills half
lost under scudding haze, a row of leap
ing porposes, or, If single living creature
al all, then one of known species seen
under unusual and deceptive conditions
or else the circumstantial accounts which
could not be thus explained away we're
concoctions of fasehood.
"Yet, as the naturalist Gosse long since
pointed out, in his curious essay on THE
Great Unknown IL is altogether unlikely
that men know all the forms Of animals
which exist in the ocean, and the antece-
dent against the theory Of tho existence of
creatures such as the great sea serpent has
| been described 10 be Is not sufficient to
outweigh the evidence which has been
given respecting such creatures. No one
who has read the account given by the Of
iicers and men of the D@dalus, for in
stance, can for moment suppose that they
were deceived in any of tie ways ingen-
iously imagined; we must assume that
they all told untruths before we can reject
| the belief that some as yet unknown sea
creature was seen by them. That creature,
quite possibly, may not have been SER
pent properly so called the picture drawn
by one Of tho midshipmen may have been
incorrect in detail las Professor Owen in
sisted it must have been); but, unless the
whole affair was fraud, sea animal was
seen which had all the appearance Of gi-
gantic serpent.
"And the idea of fraud in such matters
is not nearly so reasonable as many seem
10 imagine. Travellers are sometimes said
to tell marvellous stories; but it is note
worthy fact that in nine cases out of ten the
marvellous stories of travellers have been
confirmed. Men ridiculed the tale, brought
by those who had sailed far 10 the south,
that the sun there moves from right to left,
instead OF from left to right, as you face his
midday place; but we know that those
travellers told the truth. The first account
| OF tho giraffe was laughed to scorn, and it
was satisfactorily proved that no such cre-
ture could possibly exist. The gorilla
would have been jcered out of existence
but for the fortunate arrival OF skeleton
OF his at an early stage Of our acquaintance
with that prepossessing cousin of ours.
Monstrous cutie fish were thought to be
monstrous lies till the Alecton, in 1861,
came upon one, and captured its tail,
whose weight OF forty pounds led natural
lists TO estimate the entire weight OF the
creature at 1900 pounds, or nearly couple
OF tons. In 1873, again, two fishermen en-
countered a gigantic cutie in Conception
Bay, Newfoundland, whose arms were
about thirty.five feet in length Qhe fisher
men cut Off from one arm piece twenty
five feet long,, while its body was estimat-
ed at sixty feet in length, and five feet in
diameter-so that the devil fish OF Victor
Hugo's famous story was mere baby cut
tie in comparison with the Newfoundland
monster. The mermaid, again, has been
satisfactorily identified with the mans atee,
or woman fish, as the Portuguese call it,
which assumes, as Captain Scoresby says,
such positions that the human appearance
was very closely initiated
'As for stories Of sea serpents, natural
lists have been far less disposed to be in
credulous than the general public. DIR.
Andrew Wilson, for instance, after speak
ing OF The recorded observations, in much
such terms as 1 have used above, says
we may affirm, safely, that there are ma
| r. esf
marine forms having been met with, which
evidence, judged according 10 ordinary and
common sense rules, so to prove that GER
ia in hitherto undescribed marine organ
isms do certainly exist in the sea depths
As to the support which natural history
eau give TO the above proposition, 'zoolo-
gists can but admit he proceeds, "the
correctness OF the observation Certain
organisms, and especially those of marine
(e. g., certain whales) are known to be OF
exceedingly rare occurrence. Our knowl-
edge Of marine reptilia is certainly very
small and, best of all, there is no counter
objection or feasible argument which The
naturalists can offer, by way Of denying
the above proposition. lie would be forced
TO admit the existence OF purely marine
genera Of snakes, which possess compress
ed tails, which are adapted for swimming
and other points of organization admitted
ly suited for purely aquatic existence.
"If, therefore, we admit the possibility
nay, even the reasonable probaDility-tha
gigantic members of the water snakes may
occasionally be developed, we should state
powerful case for the resumed and prob
able existence of natural sea serpent.
We confess we do not well see how such {
chain of probabilities can be readily Sc
aside, supported, as they are, in the posi-
bility Of their occurrence by geological sci
ence, and, in the actual details Of the case
by evidence as trustworthy, in many cases
as that received in our courts OF law
When we remember how few fish, or otbe
inhabitants OF the sea, are ever seen, com
pared with the countless millions which
exist, that not one specimen of some tribe
will be seen for many years in succession
aud that some tribes are ouly known Il
exist because a single specimen, or even
single skeleton, has been obtained, W,
may as well believe that in the sea, as wei
as in heaven and earth, there are NOR
things than are known in our philosophy,
, white, OF SelbOrne.
Gilbert White, the father of English nat