Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-08
MONSTERS OF FICTION,


MONSTERS OF FICTION.
Some Chimeras Dire OF the Deep That
Have Been Exploded.
STORIES OF MERMAIDs ACCOUNTED FOR ON con-
MoNPLACE GROUNDS THEY WERE DUGoNGs
AND SEALS PRoBABLY-Is THE SEA SERPENT
ONLY GIANT sQUID?-woNDER TALES OF THE
KRAKEN.
eeYNHIS Is THE AGE OF FACT RATHER
Il than of fancy" said zooloSist to a
STAR writer, "Many a monster that has
been believed until lately to inhabit the
earth has been relegated by science to the
domain of the imaginary. Writers Of author
ity on natural history only century or two ago
published grave accounts of such superstitious
wonders of the animal kingdom the sea SER
pent, the kraken and the mermaid. L can re-
fer you to very interesting and rlatter-of-
fact account of the latter, which was printed
$50 years ago by tho celebrated Bishop Pontop-
pidan of Norway.
"He says that in the Sea Of Angola mermaids
were frequently caught. being taken in nets
When killed they would CRY and shrek like
women, which they resembled above the waist
the rest of their bodies being like those of fishes
The people along shore we're in the habit Of
eating their flesh, which seemed much the
same pork. Also norman WAS found in
the waters of North America and else
where. its length being about eight spans and
its face being of human cast, with little eyes.
n fiat nose, big mouth and no chin
or ears. Its two arms we're short without
elbows. the hands having four long fingers,
connected with a membrane as of the
foot of goose. The upper part Of the body
was like that Of n human being. the skin
being Of a brownish-gray tint. This extraor-
diuary animal was favorite dish among the
natives of tine countries where it was caught. the
most approved method of cooking it being to
broil 1t on the gridiron. A bone in its head
that divided the brain was powdered by the
Portuguese. who consider ed it excellent
remedy for stone In the bladder.
CLERGYMAN's TESTIMONY.
''The learned bishop. giving numerous au-
thoritics for his statements. refers for con fir
nation to a friend of his own the Rev Peter
Angel, minister to the parish of Vand-Elvens
Geld This clergyman is quoted as saying
that while walking on the beach In the year
l7l9 he found a norman which had been cast
ashore dead. Its head and upper body resem-
bled human being the lower part being fish
like. with the tail OF a porpoise. The back was
very fat and when the flesh was cut of and
boiled together with the liver it yielded Il large
quantity of oil. Popular belief was to the eff
feet that the creature was n fish OF prey. Some
times living specimen was seen with cod in
its grasp. Many young ones were caught
and taken home by fishermen who gave
them milk, which they drank, rolling their
eyes around as if astonshed at what they saw
on land. Most remarkable however, was the
female. which had breasts like q woman and
gave suck in similar manner to her young.
being frequently beheld half out of the water
and in the act OF doing this.
Now. the most skeptical person might be
behalf of this alleged marvel were it not that
all these strange accounts are readily ex-
planned within the lines of everyday zoology.
The creature which had breasts like a woman
and sucked its young in the manner
described was evidently the dugong. Az for the
mermen they were the common hair seals which
answer in all material respects to the descrip-
ton given. To the casual observer the upper
part of the body of this animal is sufficiently
human-lIke to account for the mistake. 1t has
a fiat nose. singularly beautiful, and human
eyes and no chin or external development of
ears. The color of the beast is gray. 1t must
not be confused with the fur seal. which looks
more like Newfoundland dog than anything
else. As for the lower part it has the fish-like
form you know of.
THE SEA SERPENT MYTH.
"More remarkable than the mermaid myth
must be considered that of the sea erpent
which survives even to the present day. SO that
the appearance OF this imaginary reptile of the
deep at various points on the Atlantic coast is
recorded each season with sensational head
lines in the newspapers. Numerous most
printed, together with affidavits by reliable
persons, respecting this gigantic marvel. TAX
ing them all together the creature-if one
exists there are presumably many Of them
may be described as of maximum length of
600 feet, its body as thick as the hull OF a me-
dium-sized vessel. with name, sharp snout
and great eyes like round metal plates. 1t has
also been sometimes observed to be covered
with great scales: it spouts water on
occasions like whale and persons have come
near enough to IL to behold its great nostrils
and whskers. More than once it has been seen
to rear itself higher than the maintop of a
good-sized ship. writer Of 100 years ago,
who had been greatly impressed by u personal
view OF the monster, rcmarked:
''MetEinks he another Behemoth,
Or the Levathan. who dotn despise
All ar.ns. as swords and guns and differing spears;
And opper like the twIgs that bend and break
For thus he is describe in Holy Writ"
THE GIANT soUID.
'Now, no one is able to say with certainty
what the basis for this myth is The most
plausible suggestion, with which | coincide. is
that the original of the sea serpent is the giant
squid-an animal which might itself deservedly
figure as a chimera of fancy were it not fact.
There is no doubt that this creature attains
sometimes the length OF 100 feet-a cast of one
40 feet long is exhibited a. the National
Museum-and there is good reason for be-
| lieving that tic numerous stories of attacks by
large specimens upon boats and other small
craft In the Indian ocean and elsewhere have
some foundation i'll truth. However. whether
that is so or not. such a creature swimming on
the surface of the would answer very fairly
to the accelt ted description OF the sea serpent
progressing backward after its habit. with part
OF its huge body projected out of the
| water, its f1ukes at the tail having the
appearance Of name, spout of foam
proceeding from the great siphon by
which it propels ITSELF and its enormous tenta-
clcs following snake like after the convolutions
| appearing above the surface Unfortunately
for the sea serpent, wherever it has been looked
| upon from the poin. of view of science rather
| than of wonder it has failed to support its rep
! utation. Repeatedly on occasion of its appear
ance within view OF men of an investigating
| turn Of mind it has been found-althongh the
observers themselves were an xous to be amazed
having the natural human appetite for won
ders-to be merely school of porpoises follow
ing one another i'll single file, u flock of shag
birds flying near the water, q barrel afloat with
tions. The most important encouragement
sion was afforded by a captain of q
vessel bound for San Francisco few
| years ago, who, while becalmed in the Pacific,
| saw an animal on the bottom beneath his ship
| which was about sixty feet in length, reseni-
bling in all respects the plesiosaurus Of the
| MOsozOic epoch. Naturalists have never de-
MED that a few survivors of that age
Of reptiles might still exist, but they
have been very skeptical to the
likelihood Of such a thing, and they are nat
urally disposed to pooh-pooh this seaman'i
yarn. At the same time they confess astonish