The Lambertville record., 1907-12-04
MERMA|DS OF LEGEND
Sea Wcmen That Were Vouched
For by Ancient Writers.
ORIGIN OF THE DELUSION.
These Traditional Creatures Were
Probably Dusonss and Manatees.
Seal Maidens of Fable--Mermaids of
Fiction and the Seal of Fact.

Probably Dueonss and Manatees.
Seal Maidens of Fable--Mermaids of
Fiction and the Seal of Fact.
There is decided fascination about
the mermaids of legend. Considering
their traditional form, 1t does not seem
quite certain whether they can be In
cluded among the fair "humanities" of
old religion, but II would be extremely
interesting TO see one. In all serious,
ness the truths and poetry underlying
and Inherent in the old myths are well
worth attention. but apart from these
there Is something distinctly entertain
ing in the quasi-historlcal accounts
that we have of mermaits and the he.
role attempts ut rationalstic explana-
ton The fancy has taken tirmer hold
on popular imagination than many of
the old legends. OF course they are
recognized as nonexlstcnt: but, unlike
the majority of neurological beings,
they are invested colloquially with Il
sort of humorous reality.
~ lliSioiN VI iHt gives
Il circumstantlal account of great
tempest which washed ashore near
lIaarlem Il "sea woman as she was
swimming about She was captured
aud clcansed from the "sea moss that
had grown about her" and became n
was always trying TO escape into the
water. And II is added, MANY persons
worthy of credit have Justified In their
writings that they had scene her In the
said towne of Haarlem." In the six
teenth century Off Ceylon some sailors
captured "sevcn mcrmcn and mer-
maids" several priests and physicians
testifying to the fact and the latter
leaving 1t on record that after exami-
nation and dissection they found the
external and internal structures rcsem-
bled those of human beings. Hudson,
the famous navigator, declared that
his ships company had seen n mer-
mad. the upper part Of her body like
n woman. skin very white and long
black hair An old Iceland history
tells of one near Greenland, "the neck
and head In all respects like human
being The Norwegian Bishop Pontip-
pidan, who wrote In the eighteenth CEN
tury, records the appearance OF
mermaid which was deposed TO on onth
by the observers" And not to multi
ply quotations proving the belief even
OF the learned In the actual existence
Of the mermalds, Pllny asserts author
itatively that "ns for the meremaidens
It is no fabulous tale that goeth Of
them, for locke how painters draw
them, so thay are indeed"
II seems hard after nll these weIghty
testimonies that we should be assured
that the "hlstorlcal'' mcrmaids were
only dugongs or manatecs, seals or
sea lions. especially as some of these
interesting creatures measure some
eighteen feet In length and are by no
means attractive In appearance. Some
thing In the shape OF the head and tho
breast Is relied on by the ratlonalistlc
scientists as explaining the delusion,
but one Is Mt loss TO understand how
this can account for the circumstan-
to us. C0cvals of those old writer's
have proved to us by their paintings
that they held very much the same
views as to what constitutes feminine
beauty as we have, and we should
certainly not discover In the dugong or
manatee anything whatever to suggest
IN the very faintest degree the idea Of
a pretty woman. Yet there Is general
ly the implication of comcliness In the
verbal pictures the old writer's give
of their mcrmads, though Columbus,
who reported that he had seen two or
three admitted that he saw no beauty
IN them. The seal explanation perhaps
does the least violence TO ones tradi-
tlonal Ideas, MS, whatever may be
thought Of It's resemblance to wo-
man, II Is In Itself graceful and Its face
and eyes are pleasing.
There is, at any rate, rather sug-
gestive coincidence In the view that
fact, for closely allied II not identical
with mermaids were the seal maid
ems" Of thousand fables. The ac
ceptcd tradition was that these maid
ems assumed the form Of seals, which
they could relinquish at any moment
by dlveatlng themselves of the seal
skins. Only If while they were dis
porting themselves In quasi human
gulsc their seal integumcnts were stol-
en- or hidden they would have to re-
main as "mndens" and could not re-
sumo the form OF seals. We know on
the authority Of many song and
legend that willingly or uDwillngly II
man has been
married TO u mermaid
At tho bottom OF the deep blue sea-
but IN the case OF the fortunate pur
lolncr of seal maiden's troublesome
disguise" there was no need for u sub
marine descent. She could quite COM
fortably live on land and, indeed, had
to unless she found her scalskin again.
though always longing, like the mer-
maid OF Haarlem, to become sea
dweller once more. There Is therefore
unquestionably II certain poetic pro-
priety In the scientific Identification OF
the mermaid with the seal. - London
Globe.
Remuneration.
II have always been a good friend to