The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-12
WHAT SEA sERPENTs ARE.
Monsters That Have Survived Most e
 Their Species.


 Monsters That Have Survived Most of
 Their Species.
 Hartford Courant.
 Prof. Charles L. Edwards, of Trinity Col lege. told the Hartford Scientific Cociety re- gently lot about the sea serpent and had shown on a screen pictures of the monsters calculated to scare an innocent youngster out of a years growth. Unfortunately, none of the pictures was an actual photograph, but the lecturer seemed to tend to the be. lief that there was something doing in the monster line. and Rev James Goodwin, the President of the Society, said at the close of the lecture that he for one believed more in the thing than he had before As to how great that previous belief had been he did not say.
 Prof. Edwards. in the first part of hIs lee- ture. had thrown on the screen pictures of sea monsters as represented in years past. He explained in his talk that, while he spoke of "sea serpents.' the so-caIIed and oft-repeated sea serpent could not be a biz snake but some other kind of a monster of 1t was anything). As back as far as Job mention Is made of great leviathan and accounts of some great things are found in all early histories One myth seems to have come from sperm whale and another from the seQuid.- Even the indians had a belief in monster sea serpent and thought one lived in the great lakes and broke m the Ice in the winter when 1t became irri- tated.
 Prof Edwards gave long list of dates when the sea serpent had been reported and related some of the circumstances They stretch from 1889 down to 1903. bfshop. Commodore Preble, crews of British war ships and many persons have made the re. ports. A noted appearance was in oiouces- ter and Nahant Mass. in 1917. when hun dreds of reputable citizens saw somethinv testified n Ca from 500 to 700 persons saw it and people even drove along the beach in crowds. keep Ing up with 1t as it swam along off the shore. Prof Edwards said there was no doubt that something was seen at that time.
 It is always described as black or brown ish, with eyes in the upper part of the head. swimming at speed of five or six knots. carrying Its head out of water, gem eraily with rpane. and proceeding with humping motion like caterpillar cu- rious appearance was one reported in lsas- 99 in Swedish lake, where it was de- clared, huge animal had been seen e num- Der of times and had been watched through glasses for long periods. Finally. a newspaper sent an eminent naturalist to investigate and he reported as his conciu sions that several monsters from six to four feet long had certainly been seen in the lake.
 Prof. Edwards said that probably in all the many cases reported something had been seen. for 1t was impossible to believe that all these people were liars. The uni versal declaration that the thing proceeded With an unduiating motion does away with the theory of It's being actually big snake. He showed that the stories might arisa from the appearance of manatee, A biz stingray. n gigantic saud Cone was cauqbt with arms and body 100 feet lonR), A bask. ing shark, whales or school of porpoises. A few years ago what was called the FJor,da monster was found near St. Augustine. with arms nearly 100 feet long. The basIxing shark grows to forty feet long. certainly There is no known limit to the growth o, fishes.