The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-10-07
||!Sl l@l|
| Il
l|!5;ill IgS!l!

sional appearance gives rise to report
that the sea serpent has been met
with? While the majority of scien-
tiflc men would also say no to this
question, now and then one, might be
found who would admit that this is
possible in spite of the fact that no
naturalist has ever set eyes upon the
animal.
Ii is true that the sea serpent has an
aggravating way of keeping out of
sight of those who are most desirous
of making his acquaintance, and
neither bone, tooth, nor scale of the
monster has ever fallen under the eye
of scientific observer. But while
this is very much to his discredit, it Is
a habit shared by other animals, and
need not necessarily imply that he has
no existence. 1t is not so long ago
that whalemen's stories of giant squids
were generally disbelicved, and not un-
til one or two moderate sized speci-
mems were taken on the coast of New
foundland was their authenticity con-
sidered as definitely established.
There is certainly very consider
able amount Of testimony to the occur
renee of some huge. snakc-like Great
ure. sufficient. as Professor Wilson
notes, to establish any ordinary fact in
court of law. How abundant is this
testimony, and how we'll entitled to
crcdence, the reader may easily ascer-
tain by referring to The Strand for
August, 1895, where it is published in
considerable detail. 1t will not do to
say that all these statements are based
on a misinterpretation of some familiar
thing-a whale. a school of porpoises.
flock of birds. or drifting kelp-for
the average ships officer is well ac-
quainted with such objects. Moreover.
neither focks of birds nor kelp occur
in some of the places named. and it is
impossible to avoid the conclusion that
some animal was seen with which the
observer was quite unfamiliar.
Oudemans. a Dutch naturalist, was
so impressed with the belief that such
an amount of testimony must rest on a
firm foundation of fact that he wrote q
book to show that the animal seen was
an enormous seal-lke creature of prim
tive type, which now and again
came within the ken of seafaring men
That such creature should be so sell
dom seen is not surprising. One may
be on the ocean for weeks without
catching a glimpse of a sail. and If a
ship with towering masts and spread
ing canvas escapes notice it is small
wonder that an animal which rarely
puts its nose above water should moi
be more generally known.
Says Professor Andrew Wilson
MANY of the tales of sea serpents are
amply verified when judged by the or
dinary rules of evidence. and Ger
tain gigantic marine animals, at pres
ent unfamiliar or unknown to science
do certainly exist" And the late DR.
G. Brown Goode wrote in the introduc
ton to ocean Ichthyology:" ut cal
not be doubted that somewhere in th'
sea. at an unknown depth below thu
surface. there are living certain fish
like animals, unknown to science, ant
Of great size, which come occasionally
to the surface and give foundation t.
such stories as those of the sea ser
pent."
The hypothesis most commonly &C
cepted, and one that fits admirabl!
with many descriptions of the sea ser
pent, is that a giant squid has Deei
seen swimming at the surface, the pro
jecting tail serving for the head, whil
the long tentacles, dragging for fift.
feet behind. constituted the body. Still
this does not cover all the cases on rec
ord, and it even remains to be proves
that the great squids ever swim in tn
manner indicated. A more daring sul
gestion is that some of the extr0ord
nary sea monsters that flourished whe
the earth was young are still living
and at the time of the Hassler eXped
ton, in 1876, no less an authority tina
Louis Agassiz intimated that some an
mails thought to have been long extinc
might still linger in the depths of tn
sea. The gar pike, that mailed fresl
water tyrant, is common enough /
parts of the United States TO be nui;
ance, and we find practically the sam
fish in Eocene strata of the West Tll
Port Jackson shark of Australia trace
his pedigree back TO Carboniferou
times. A great plesiosaur, swimmin
at the surface, with head raised an
neck outstetched, would HARMONIC
we'll with some descriptions of the sc
serpent. Mosasaurus and his kindre'
the sea lizards, that abounded In oil
Cretaceous sea, are also among the a.
imals that have been nominated for Il
post of sea serpentship. But trut
compels us to say that the close of IL
Cretaceous period, during which the'
creatures hourished. was most disa
trous to living things, and scores
strange species were then blotted o.
of existence. Exactly what We're II
causes of such widespread destructit
we know not, but Dana calls 1t zone
the most, noted in all geological HI
tory" And while probably not
tenth part OF the animal species of Il
world disappeared at the time
the change was so comprehensive tn
no Cretaceous species Of vertebrate
yet known to occur in the rocks OF q
American Tertiary. -. Here end
not only the living species Of dinosaul
Of mosasaurs and pterosaurs, but the
tribes of reptiles" There is anoth
objection TO the majority Of these al
mails, which is that with the excepti
OF one or two OF the largest plesiosau
thav xuara anSfralu tro small m fill 4