Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-07-24
The Trail OF the sea-serpens


We might naturally expect to look
for sea-monsters in the tropics, but
here we find that tho creature which is
called the sea-serpent has invariably
been seen in northern latitudes, and
always in the summer or autumn Its
ise is tolerably uniform,
so, indeed, considering the great diff
Guilty of estimating the length of any
animal In the sea. The color is invari-
ably the same; those who saw only the
upper surface taking it to be black or
blackish-brown, and those who saw
the undersurface describing it as white.
Those who saw the eyes describe them
as prominent, and on the upper part of
the head. The duration Of each ap-
pearance above the water is the same
throughout The speed is given as the
same, that is, five or six knots per
hour, and every one seems to have
noticed the foam or spray thrown up
before it, and the wake left behind it
Had the narrators wished to extol the
dangers which they had run in encoun-
tering so dreadful a monster, they
would have reported it as fierce and
irritable. But on the contrary, all
agree in stating that it is perfectly
harmless creature, and that even when
it appeared to be attacking q boat it
turned off short and changed its course.
lmposters would have armed its mouth
with frightful teeth, whereas not only
teeth are not mentioned, but the Prin-
cess was so close to the animal that the
passengers looked into its open mouth,
and could ascertain that no teeth were
visible. All agree in the character of
the undulating movement; !. e., that it
is vertical. and not lateral. The only
discrepancy is that between the ac-
counts of Mr.. Lawrence and Mr.. Was
son. But the former saw nothing but
the head and shoulders, whereas the
latter saw nothing but the back. Both
narrators agree in the color and the
speed, both carefully refraining from
the slightest mention of any detail
which they did not see.
Next comes the question: What can
this thing be? 1t is quite certain that
it does not correspond with any con-
temporary animal at present known to
biologists. Mr.. Arthur Lawrence Of
fers suggestion that it may possibly
be surviving Plesiosaurian, ,--an idea,
by the way, which was ingeniously
used by the late Lord Lytton in his
Coming Race. The distance, however,
between the great saurians which are
now only known by their fossil re-
mains and those of the present day is
too wide to be bridged by survivor.
But though not surviving saurian,
it may be survivor of some group of
animals which is on the verge of ex-
tinction. In the first place, it cannot
be a serpent, as the peculiar move
ments which have been described can
not be performed by serpent; the
structure of the vertebr@ prohibiting
them.
There are plenty of sea-serpents,
none of them measuring more than q
few feet in length and all have the tail
fiattened sideways, SO that they undu-
late through the water, just as an eel
does. Tho monster in question how
ever, undulates up and down, like a
caterpillar" Now, the only marine
animals which possess this power are
those belonging to the whale tribe.
These, as is seen from the structure
of their vertebr@, can undulate up and
down, but not sideways, the proiec-
tions on either side of each verteDra
interlocking with the vertebra immedi-
ately behind it. Now, suppose that
there might be a much-elongated ceta-
cean, being to the rest of the whales
what the eels are to the fishes, the
creature would behave exactly as our
sea-serpent behaved. Every movement
of the creature is cetacean. The habit
of pushing the head out of the water is
distinctly cetacean, the sperm-whales
being much addicted to this custom.
The caterpillar-like bend of the body
is also cetacean, and may be witnessed
any day when a school of porpoises
curve their graceful course over the
waves. The sudden rising of the body,
as described by Mr.. Wasson, is also a
cetacean characteristic. The whales,
when their lungs are inflated, are lit
tie lighter than water. But they pos
sess the power of contracting their
whole bodies, so that they can sink
like stones,-a property which is ex-
tremely exasperating to the whale
fishers. When they relax the muscu-
lar apparatus by which this object is
effected, the body resumes its former
size, becomes lighter than water, and,
surges to the surface, exactly as de-
scribed by Mr.. Wasson.
The unexpected harmlessness of so
powerful creature is another charac-
teristic which, fortunately for man, be-.
longs to the whales, which
never attack but under exceptional cir
cumstances. There are many whales
now known to science, some of them
being much more slender than others.
1t is certain, moreover, that there are
many which are yet unknown. g.
Wood IN Jane atlantic.
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