The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-09-22
WHAT Is THE SEA-SERPENT.
AN INQUIRY GrISElHii>l' 40 s-ri'H@NYs
OF NAT;EAa iISyDGE.
a Scientific Statement of Whnt We Know nnd
Don't Know About II.

lhiCC "ltillu u low 't'tJS iHiItiCS oi oi'-
servers whose trustworthinc"s is beyond
question, and in ono case including Il
gentleman Of such cquablc and consurvil-
tive mind as Boston schoolmustor may
be presumed to possess, have reported
the appearance near Cape Ann Of what,
in Difference to an established phrase.
they arc pleased to call 'thc sea scr
pcnt." The account they give is su,-
stantially tho same as annually finds it's
way to public notice, and IS likcly to he
received in tho same spirit OF scrp.;cal
levity which these narratives have nj.
ways encountered. An attitude Of frank
unbcliCf toward all stories that smack of
tho sat water seems to be an iurralica-
bic pcc,liarity of the huuan mind. a
''fish story is II synOnym iora ia.Schood
the world over; and indeed in the court
ofpublic opinion every man who tells II
tale OF sights ut sea is presumed TO be II
liar until lac is proved innocent The
person, therefore, who has the tcrmcrity
to state that he has seen the sea serpent
quite rcgalns his Old position in public
esteem; to have Glanced to Observe IN
unfamiliar marine animal "swiftly un-
lccward" is n violation OF lhC pr0prictics
W ich one can hardly hope 20 live down.
Tllis state of things may bo only one
phase of the general indispoSition OF man
to acknowledge that others haze seen
what circumstances have concealed from
his own sight, but ut all events the So
called sea serpent, whose persistent rc-
appearance may be regarded us Il pathetic
attempt on It's part to prove its own OK
istcncc to q skcptical world, is either
jecrcd by the paragraphiSt or silently
rclcgatcd to that region Of myths over
which Munchauscn and Sinbad hold
sway.
But even Sinbad's tales, when read in
tho light OF modern science, arc readily
lntcrprctablc in many cases us distorted
and magniiicd versions OF actual facts.
And, Ill much the same way, beneath the
cXaggcrations and nbSurlitics with which
different Observers have described the
SO-callcd sea serpent, there is unhuubtod-
ly n basis of truth. Indeed, what reason
is there to doubt that such ~. animal
exists? The only considerable arWumcnt
against its existence is that advanced by
Professor Owen, who objects that if It
existed we should be able to find either
it's separate bones or its cOnplCtc skclo-
validity, because we never find the bones
of whales or seals save on beaches whore
men have killed them; nor DO we over
discover the skeletons Of the countless
thousands of birds that die in the forests.
Nature is her own scavrngcr; We never
como upon her DuryinS places. We may
not, therefore, deny the existence Of Il
sea monster simply because It's skeleton
is not obtainablc for the museums.
On the contrary, the fact Of the exist
cnce of some snakc-iikC marine animal
unknown to the present zUologlst is ut.
tested by throng Of witnesses We may
not rchcarac here the long list OF circuni-
stantial and detailed narratives OF those
more or less eminent men, from Diolo-
rus Siculus to the president of the Glou-
cestcr Common Council, who profess to
have s, en- the monster i'll question. Any
librarian can furnish the inuurinY read
or with sufficient number OF these nc.
counts to keep him IL interesting read
ing for two days Mt least The n0rrators
include clcrgymcn OF all natOnatlcs and
crccds, physicians, experienced travellers,
hard-headCu business men, naval officers
of such rCpute nS our own Commander
Preble, and host of others equally dis
Interested Many of these accounts
for effect. But even then there remains
an accumulation Of evidence too wcighty
to be withstood. THERE'S, Of course, much
cxaggertion; but after setting aside the
personal error" for which trained OBJ
servers always allow, the general cohe
renee Of the details given iii these var-
Gus accounts is indeed remarkable. All
the observers have found the animal only
in northern latitudcs; all agree that its
color is blackish brown above and white
beneath; that its prominent eyes arc on
the top of its ilattCnCd head; that it
moves Mt tho rntC Of five or six knots an
hour; that it is harmless aud even timid,
and that its undulatOry movement IS
caterpillar that is, vertical and not
lateral. There is, too, substantial agree
mont in placing its size mt seventy feet
in length and twelve in circumference.
This concurrent testimony from hun
dreds of witnesses, strangers to each
other and often scpar ted by centuries
of time, sufficiently proves the existence
of such an animal rs they describe, a
line of porpoises, school oi horse
mackerel, mass of sea weed, an old
mast covered with barnaclcs and tossing
on tho waves have each been mistaken
for sea serpent many times. Never
thCless, unless all the laws OF evidence
arc ut fault, there is in actual existence
precisely such marine monster as
reported near Cape Ann. The so.called
sea serpent is not myth.
What, however, as matter of fact, is
the animal which bears i'll popular
phraseology this alliterativo name? We
may boldly assert that it is not n serpent.
All observers agree that ii unduatcs YER
tically, like caterpillar. But any one
who takes tic trouble to examine the
structure OF the vertebr,e OF serpents will
see at once that they arc capable of no
other undulntory movement than later
al one. There are plenty of sea ser
pents, but none over live feet i'll length,
and all have their tails iiattencd side
ways so that they move through the
water like cells. We have, then, as de
scribed by its observers, an animal utter
ly unknown to the zoologist, ut least as
N onnto,o Do,.o ~, form, The only infer