The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-10-02

tens to make fun of ..,s statement This
is well enough, for the tire is not SO
hallowcd and gracious as to preciude
the possibility of unvcracious allega-
tions touching so indefinite a PERSONAL
ity as that of the marine creature re-
ferrcd to. But while the sardonic smile
may be evoked. and the lip Of scorn be
protrudcd, by the ordinary sensational
narrations OF the summer solstice, the
sea serpent Is entitled to the benefit of
the doubt which hinges upon the ante
cedent probability Of his existence. to
say nothing Of the evidence for his real
ity long since adduccd by many compe-
tent and trustworthy observers.
Some thirty years ago the captain,
officers and nearly the whole watch on
deck Of H. M. $. D,rdalus united in de-
claring that they had seen the sea SER
pent, and the account they gave OF the
creature was such as any naturalist
would admit to be that of wholly
possible marine reptile. In fact 1t may
be said that the inferences of science
decidedly favor the sea serpent as n
bona fide creature. There is not one
valid objection to him, and there are
many reasons why his existence should
be expected. The conservatism OF hui
man nature is the real cause of the gem
eral disinclination to extend a cordial
welcome to the prolonged stranger, and
there is some danger always that this
conservatism may degenerate into stu
pidity. Culture. indeed. has never been
q protection against the chronic
temptation to gauge the bounds
of nature by individual know
ledge. Thus when Du Chaillu
first announcing that interesting but not
handsome beast the gorilla. naturalists
of reputation were swift to accuse the
traveller of practicing an imposition up
on the world, and declared that there
was no such animal; and when Victor
Hugo described the peuvre or octopus,
it was gravely asserted that he was
romancing unwarrantably, though very
I much larger picuvres have since been
caught off the coast of Newfoundland.
AS to the sea serpent, there is nothing
in any way incredible about him. We
know, thanks to palnontology, that
huge reptiles existed both on land and
in the ocean, in distant ages, and it is
by no means impossible that some of
the species inhabiting the ocean depths
may have lived on to the present day.
for they would encounter where there
were none of the changes of fenvironment
which forced out of existence the early
saurians that inhabited the littoral
waters and the coasts. In fact the con-
ditions which favor the survival
of the great cetaceans must be
equally kind to marine ophidians, and a
sea serpent, it may almost be said, is
therefore necessary to the balance of
things. The retiring habits of the crea-
ture, on the one hand. and the apparent
absence in him of the commercial ele-
mcnt, which procures so hard a life for
the whales, combine to maintain about
him that veil of mystery which encour-
ages the skeptical to deny him local
habitation and name. But the weight
OF evidence in his behalf, added to the
scientific reasons for not rejecting tho
legend of him, will probably in time
overcome the inertia of conventional
habits of thinking, and the sea serpent
will be accepted. not merely as pos
sibility, but as solid and snuous fact.
N. y Tribune.