The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-27
Sea SERPENT A DELUSION
So Declares Prof. Steyneger. of the
Smithsonian Institution.
VIII Not believe Such Creature 10
ENist Untii Placed in His Hands
for observation-disclosures as Evil
dcncc of Optical Illusion All
stories of Mariners and Others.

| existence of the sea serpent. The pro-
fessor would naturally be the man, at
least so thought the reporter, under
whose province the monster in question
would come, provided it came at all. a
contingency which, as already stated, the
professor does not regard likely.
The professor acknowledges that his
conviction regarding the non-existence of
the sea serpent is formed in the face of
abundnant evidence to the contrary. Even
a personal friend of his swore in his
| presence that he had himself seen the
| serpent.
Il believe" said Prof Steyneger. that
my friend was convinced of the truth of
what he stated, but such TESTIMONY
though it may go far in a court OF law
toward swearing mans life away, will
not hold with the scientist. If the sea
serpent is brought to me, and l can feel
it and cut it up. and classify it, then
will believe, but not before.
No, no. went on the professor, see
| ing is not, or should not be, believing
with the true reasoner. ! myself was
once the victim of a delusion so strange
that even now / cannot explain it. 1t
happened in this wise / belong to a BIZ
illogical society, the members of which
are well known to each other We have
regular meetings for the discussion of sci
entihc subjects, at which papers are read
by members of the society. / accompa-
MED friend of mine to one of these as
semblages. and as we came rather late we
| had to take separate seats. he sitting but
| one row removed and directly in front of
me.
My attention was attracted to n per-
/ sonage sitting next to my friend and an
| entire stranger to me. l noticed he had
! but one arm, and | observed him, as l am
still convinced. very narrowly. Upon
joining my friend al the conclusion of the
meeting I enquired: Who was the one
armed gentleman sitting next you upon
your right?' You are mistaken returned
my friend, when you say he has but one
arm. He is Mr.. Powell the recently ap-
pointed Superintendent of the Public
Schools. We had quite an argument re-
garding the question of this gentleman's
arms, retaining my original conviction
that he had but one. Now, what l regard
as the strange part of the occurrence is
this: Major Powell, the brother of Super
intendent Powell, whom | know very we'll,
has but one arm. The two brothers are.
however, very dissimilar in personal ap-
pearance and the one-armed stranger at
the meeting never for one instant sug
gested to my conscious mind my friend,
Major POWELL
The term conscious mind induced the
reporter to ask the professor if he be-
in hn Af he ding mil
and the law of unconscious sugge stion.
THE incident ! describe might seem to
warrant such an hypothesis, returned
Prof. Steyneger.
The reporter, realizing at this juncture
that he had depressed somewhat from The
subject of the sea serpent, came back
somewhat abruptly to that monster Re
garding the statements of witnesses who
have left accounts TO the effect that they
have seen the serpent, Prof. Steyneger
remarked that a thousand things in the
ever varying effects of sea and sky might
have caused such decisions. A mans
mind might be in that condition in which
he sees things which in reality, do not |
exist. Snakes, for instance" said the |
professor.
There have been, however many conf |
detn reports made by persons processing /
to have seen the sea serpent. Between |
1874 and 1916, there were reported sew |
eral appearances of this monster in the |
seas fronting the United States and Cana |
da. About the same time similar Great /
ure was stated 10 have presented itself |
near the shores of Norway, considered !
identical with the one depicted in Pom I
topidan's Natural History of Norway |
G752). Twenty years earlier the sea ser
pent was repeatedly reported to have |
been seen on the coasts of this country, /
also about 1915 and in 1906.
On August s, 1913, Her Maiestys ship !
Daedalus, Oh he way from the Cape
OF Good Hope to st. Helena. came near
singular looking object in the water
Captain McQuhae attempted to fear the
ship close up to 1t, but the state of the
wind prevented nearer approach than
200 yards. The others, watching care
fully through their glasses, could trace !
eye, mouth, nostril. and form in the feat
ing mass TO which their attention was di-
rected. The general impression produced
was that the animal belonged rather to
the lizard than 10 the serpent tribe; its
movement was steady, rapid. and uniform.
as IL propelled by fins rather than by I'M
dulating power. The size appeared to be
very great. but as only portion OF the
animal was above water. no exact esti-
mate OF dimensions could be made Meth
err officers aOr seamen ever saw any
thing similar to II before.
The report of this incident caused a
stir among the British naturalibts who
were eager to meet the popular fancy of
the serpent with facts showing the
extreme impTobability Of the existence of
any such creature. Captain McQuhae
nevertheless. insisted on the correctness |
Of his report, and many professed to at
tach little consequence TO the merely
nuegatiye evidence brought against it,
On December u, 1857. the ship Castil- |
ian, bound from Bombay TO Liverpool, !
was at 8 o'clock in the evening about
zen miles distant from the island of St |
Helena. \ monster that suddenly ap- |
Deared in the water was described by the
hree chief officers of the ship-Capt. G. ,
II. Harrington, w. Davis, and f. Wheel
n. The description was entered by Cap ;
ain Harrington in his Official MeteoroI-
1Rical Journal" and was forwarded to
he Board of Trade. Nothing can be more I
Ilain than the honest good faith in which ,
he narrative is written. The chief facts, 8
N the captains own words, are as fol-
ows 6
while myself and officers were stand
nS On the lee side Of the poop looking 6
oward the island we were startled by the 1
light OF huge marine animal which rear d
d its head out Of the water within TWEEN h
y yards Of the ship when IL suddenly dis 1
ppeared for about half a minute. and d
hen made it's appearance in the same a
manner asain-shOwing US distinctly It's 4
eek and head. about ten or twelve feet | O
nj Of the water. Its head WAS shaped I
Ike long nun buoy; and | suppose the u
iamcter TO have been seven or eight feet c
the largest part. with a kind OF scroll, e
Nf -