New-York tribune., 1885-02-22
MONSTER SEA-SERPENTS.
PROFESSOR pRoCroR's FAITH IN THEM.

r,scovrRIEs WHICH HAVE PROVED TO BIZ REAL.
20 fse Editor Of The TrioHne'
Sir: have been gratiiied and rather amu'cd 10
cnd a short article. which contributed more than
= year since to TIE Aeccasite Weekly Chronicle on the
.nbiect of marine monster seen near Panama, ap-
ne.r,ng in the very valuable report Of Professor
Spencer F. Baird, United ates Commissioner oil
Fish and Fisheries A genial article IN The IRIB-
TINE for Jannary presents my recognition OF
this marine monster and defence of the sea-serpeht
asa tardy admission the partof science that thPre
may be more things in sea and land than had o.eh
dreamt of IN an unpll osOphical philosophy. Bnt
80 far as am concerned there has been DO "rldl-
cule followed by denial, then by doubt, and lastly
by partial acceptance have always boen be-
lever in the sea-serpent OF CAPT. McQuhae, oi ihe
Dadalus. ] was very young lad when MS report
of the strange encounter first appcared but ltseehen
10 ME then, and il to me still, that the sea
captain had much the best of the discussion with
the representatives of There was that eau
tions naturalist and pal@Ontolocst, Richard owen
40 anxious to disprove tine sca-SeTpent tht he PIC
.,rad IN himself ;he captain and officers of British
fr,Oate frightened out Of their S, aud out Of one
at least of their senses, by the sight OF saa-ele-
phant las he tried TO make out rather far away
from its native abode and urging ITS as fast
as possibe homeward. Captain McQuhae. in re-
port TO the Admiralty says that he and has officers
saw long-necked sea monster travelling swiftly III
the teeth of tep-knot breeze on the surface OF the
sea 20 oucklv that he could see the waves frothing
AGAINST the creatures chest 1t passed go near that
he could have distinctly seen the features OF man
Mt the distance. He and his officers had good view
of the CREATURE dor a wonder they were not pos
sessed by the customary desire to shoot II, desire
which speaks honOrably oil the human race as tie
saving Of the North Country miner immortallzcd by
Ieech. who seeing stranger thought it due vel
f.V hvrct at nm rplp
the sea-elephant with derislon entirely Incon-
s,stept with what they had clearly seen; while the
idea of their being. frghtenel-wel, Americans III
old times tackled lew of our British friCa;es with
success but they dill not find our seamen quite 50
timorous as to be likely to trcmbe in their shoes at
the sight even of an extra large sea-ecphant. Yet
Professor Owen persisted IN his belief that the
Dndalus sea-serpent story not worthier of
credence than story about ghosts. That partlcu-
lar ghost he thought he had laid,
Since then all sorts of explanations of seaserpent
stories have been advanced. Because one captain
has mistaken a lot of floating sca-wrack half
miie away for sea monster therefore the story OF
a sea creature seen swiftly advancing against WIND
and sea- at a distance Of less than 200 yards, meant
nothing more than misunderstood seaveed. Another
mistakes flight Of birds in the distance, or shoil
of porp poiseS or even range OF hills beyond the
horizon for some sea-seTpentine monster and lofth
with other a3Spunts however manifesily noolsISt-
ent with such explanations, are re 5arde as eX-
planned away Then worst of all, some idiot inyents
a sea-serpent to begue his time and fnd occupation
for his shallow patio, and so soon as ths story Is
shown to be ouly q story. men OF sense
and standing as incapable Of the idiocy Of invent
ing sea-mOusters as am of nventing planet, are
supposed to have amused their leisure by sending
grave reports Of non-exstent sca-nonsters 10 nlen
under whom they (the seamen notthe sea-monster')
held Office or by taking oath before gistrdtes
that they had seen creatures which they had
invented aud by parallel ab 1rdities.
All this has been done in the case of III" sea-
serpent something akin to it was long since done
m the ease of the cameleopqrd and later IN the
of the gorilla Much e1rlier Herodotus had been
called the Father Of Lies instead of the Father of
History because of wonders related by him which
have siuce beea shown to be facts. The poor Tin
intellect and veracty) are always with us; and they
can never admit that anything exists outside what
they know or understand how any traveller i'll
little known regions fail to lie Justify when hc
comes home again. Among the creatures thls spe-
caly ridiculed the monster carth-wonn descroedpy
Papp soale 40 years ago. was specially ridiculed and
those who believed in ii, or declined utterly to re-
iect IT, were sneered at just those who recognize
the reasonabeness Of the seaserpcnt are laughed at
now. Rapp said he had seen IN South Africa
mOnstrous earthworn, several feet In length One
of these he described Oft. Pin. long and proper
tionately thick. The measurement vas regarded
as not woIthier of credence than GullvcTs precise
statements of the height of Lillipufian aud Brob-
dingnaCian animals. The absurlity and impossi
bihty OF the thing was abuadantly proved A worm
OF the ordinary kind averages let us say. inchss
in length. Here. If this ying traveller was 10 be
believed was an animal aOrc than tive Ve times -
long and therefore some 500 times as large Now,
the ordinary boa c0nstrctor IS about - tHel long;
Multiply his length by - and We get scIp nj ZlG
"a in h (s'pdli U9,
monStrtbly Veador of lies: So at least, sSd-t the
vorns buccaneers of the Press Well, there is now
in tine Geological Gardens IN London living sp'c-
men of the species described by Rapp 1t Is nO5 one
of the largest. Indeed these creatures are hard t.
catch andd,eep alive and Drobabyt the bi 'gGst are
the mos, difficult to secure. They are describe4 as
fairly abundant in the neIghborlooj OF = n !
Elizabeth aud Other parts oi Cape C)!oir Gut tAry
keey out of sight unless eayy rams driVe them ont
of their holes, when hundreds of them caa be seen
crawling about, but thev usually perish soon after
thus visiting the surface. The specimen a. the |
Geological Gtrdens is absut fivefeet long, however:
& a ease wbeIe creature the dissertation of walch !
excfed as much rlcule as that OF he sea-scTpcnis
fDund not Only to exist In Large numbers. bu 70 ne
amenable to the customary treatment extended by
our kindly TO the inferior races. Ne.haVe cap
tuied specimen and keep IT on show. ,
Yet those who formerly laughed at the earth
worm laugh now despite sensible artcIeS ilKe INA,
in THE TRIBUNF of January A. about the fancled |
sea-serpent. They laugh so consumediy aId MAKE |
so much noise over 1.-THE laughter OF such fox |
being " as the cracking OF thoihs un,ier q pot -
that as my friend Mr. w. Matieu Williams points |
out. and rs can confirm much valuable evidence |
concerning the sea-serpent ls suppressed by the |
A,ppant sneerng OF the of writers who require
no other qualification than ignorance of the subject
on. which they write. Scores. perhaps hundreds, OF
Trustworthy mariners OF all ranks. III b9th thc navli
aud mercantile services, have what they be-
leye to be such a creature, but they refuse to pub
lsh any account of their obScrv atoms. knowing |
they will be nsuited and publicly g'bbeted fools
and liars If they do"
The foolish laughed in the same way over the
krsken as yoa point ont. and tAe mon ter they re-
ieced as impossible has been killed and measured.
Whether the sea-serpent or any creature whose
low the surface will ever he captured or killed Is
very doubtful But their existence ought never TO |
have been regarded as doubtful after he evidence