New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-08-29
THE SCI SERPEN1.

| When sea-serpent stories appear during what
| Is called the "silly season." certain amount
Of suspicion attaches to them unavoidably, and
the scoffcr hastens to make fun Of the statement
This is well enough, for the time is not so hal
lowed and gracious as to preclude the possible
| ity Of unveracious allegations touching 80 in
definite personality as that OF the marine Great
| ure referred to. But while the sardonio smile
may be evoked, and the lip OF scorn be pro-
truded, by the ordinary sensational variations OF
the summer solstice, the sea serpent is entitled
to the benefit OF the doubt which hinges upon
the antecedent probability Of his existence. to
say nothing Of the evidence for his reality long
since adduced by many competent and trust
worthy observers.
Some thirty years ago the captain. officers and
nearly the whole watch on deck OF II. nj. s..
Dadalus united in declaring that they had seen
the sea serpent, and the account they gave OF
the creature was such as any naturalist would
admit to be that Of a wholly possible marine
reptile. In fact it may be said that the infer
cnces of science decidedly favor the sea serpent
as a bona fide creature. There is not one valid
objection to him, and there arc many reasons
why his existence should be expected. The
conservatism of human nature is the real cause
OF the general Discrimination to extend a cordial
welcome to the prolonged stranger, and there is
some danger always that this conservatism
may degenerate into stupidity Culture, indeed.
has never been a protection against the chronic
temptation to gauge the bounds Of nature by
individual knowledge. Thus when Du Chaillu
first announced that interesting but not hand
some beast the gorilla naturalists of reputation
IN ho FRAY Iaro If
an imposition upon the world. and declared that
there was no such animal and when Victor
Hugo described the pieuvre or octopus, it was
gravcly asserted that he was romancIng un-
warrantably, though very much larger pcuvres
have since been caught off the coast Of New
fOundand.
As to tho sea serpent, there is nothing in any
way incredible about him. We know, thanks 10
palaOntoogy, 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 inhabitlng the ocean depths may have
lived on to the present day, for they would en-
counter where they were none OF the changes
Of environment which forced out Of existence
the early saurans that inhabited the llttora
waters and the coasts. In fact the conditions
which favor the survival Of the great cetaccans
must be equally kind to marine ophidians. and
a sea serpent, it may almost lie said. is therefore
necessary to the balance Of things The retir-
ing habits Of the creature, on the one hand,
and the appa, cnt absence in him of the CONNER
cial element, which procurs so hard life for
the whales, combine to maintain about him that
veil Of mystery which encourages the sccpcal
to deny him "A local habia ion and name.
But the weight Of evidence in his behalf. added
to the scientific reasons for not rejecting the
legend of him. will probably in time overcome
the inertia of conventional habits Of thinking,
and the sea serpent will bc accepted. not merely
as a possibility, bnt as a solid and snuOus fact