The Merman.
The Times, 1824-06-26T00:00:00

There is a il'rerman now exhibiting ix a IodgingA.house. in Picca: dilly, and it las followed the MAnrmaid from Batavia. Both were rntnufactured by the JapUiese both were purchased (we bei;eve unsuspectinglvyfby Captains of shnips, and they are alike gCiznie. The Merm3ii was the better piece of work of thie two, and if exhi- bited, as we mentioned at the time, as an example of the mechanical ingenuity of the curiosity.-caterers in Japan, would have been praise_ worthy. The head was that ofthe green African monkey, the arms those of the monkey and ape, the bodv and tail the salmon's, the skin of which was, whlen fresh taken off, in a gelatinnus state, then dried fince dowvn wvith pammice-stone, gummed, and laid on over the dor.sal bones (of a fish) so as to display the vertebrae, and finally ex- posed to the air and insects,so as to acq uirc the discolouration and per- foration of antiquity. The arms in thoe M[ert2id being those of the apeandnmonkey,thefn:ilsbeitg well cut out of birda'quills, and thejunction of the neck to the monkey's skull being neatly insertedt the whole f gure vas capitally managed for a show. But not SO this liferman, who is (probably as a distinctian of biis sex) rmlstructed of ruder materials. The head is hideous; and if, like Cerberus, op'ning his greedy grinning jaws,h' he does not "gape with three enormous mouths,"be has one mouth biggerand more hideous t'han them all. The head is exactlv thatof the catfisk, which is remarkable for its round head and projecting teeth (as in this figure); the distended and deformed face is an artificial mask, manu- factured upon the fish-skull; but .the most clumsy contrivance of all, is the hair upon the head. Now, surely, a Aferntan or lAfer- naid ouglht, were it only in comnmon courtesy to the best auttiten- ticated accounts, ancient and modern, to have the green hair flowinng in graceful curls down the shoulders, so as to permit the elegant ac- tion of throwing it aside when buffetting the " angry deep ;,' then we can undcrstand Shaksjaeare's " Mermaid on a dolphin's back Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, "That the rude sea grew civil at her song." Butt what will the reader think when he is informed that the Picca- dilly Afer,nn has a fine well-brushed head of hair, rising perpen- dicslarly from the crown of the head in the newvest Dand# fashion ? it is soft and downy, resembling iR length and texture the best muff far-it is, in fact, nothing more nor less than the thinner coat of hair of the young fox orjackall, the coloar almost that of the common animal, light reddish brown with a gray root. We imagine they are not much in the habit ir Japan of seeing the seal or other ma- rine animals which are tufted with hair, or they would have seen that such hair is long and fibrous, and from tne nature of the ele- ment It lives in, always clinging along the skin, and in its growth and texture bearing no r ce to that of land animals. It would have been just the b le to have manufactured the one hair az the other, and is no doubt that the Japane4e will improve upon the model he arms are entirely artificial, and in that respect the Mern is very inferior to the Mlfermaid. oldanr,boty will le to observe the articulation of the shondders, they will see the impetfect imitation of thebiLland socket, and then, again, ugers at the palm of the hand; on the back, the shape and flexi y of the fingers is given, but no so in the inner side, there is nttempt made there to define the shape which gives to them the lateral or circular motion, or for lodging the teadons of what are called " the fleXor muscles." these fingers could not berd-thav want all the beautiful meebanism of anatomy: the Japanese must also irnprove in that science, before they send us another Atermsen. As to the shape of the rest of thte bodv, it is that of the common salmon, or cod-fish, the skin of which, a good full grown scaly one being procured, is exposed to the process of drying and darkening which we have already mentioned; it has not bcen fined down as in the Mermaid, and therefore the wtinkles are coarser, and the vertebrce (the regular fish-bonc) not so well displayed; the skin has, however, collapsed sufficiently upon the bones to give the full outline. The tail et the Mfermal' is coiled up, to give the figurc a capacity for moving perpendicularly in the water; through a mistake the Mcienman's finny exttemity has only the common fish's tail, and is only capable of lateral motion- so that, supposing this figure to have life, the imnplse of its motion must be Florizontal-its face being thts downwards in the water, its eyes become useless, and deprived of exposure to the rays of light; Derhaps the laws of nature differ, however, for Mcirmen. Let some intelligent Af1erman resolve this optical axiom. This is our opinion of the Mlferman, but every spectator can judge for himself. We are not unaware of the danger of onposing tihe "'well-authenticated accounts" of itferven and Mernnatuds, from the " wilde or sauvage man in the sixt yeare of King John's raigne at Oreford, in Suffolk," caught by the fishermen " in theyr nettes,". and a full account of whom will be fomtnd, and bow- he ultirmately " fledded secretlye to the sea, and was never after seene nor bearde off," in ThUe Gentlcmaic's 111agarzne for 1762, down to the " syreni or mermaid," shown " sporting about in the vessel of water at the fair of St. (Germain's in the year 1758, (see Twe Gentlecnan's M,aga- zinc for 1759); but still we want to have better evidence of the facL We know there are affidavits in abundance to verify " sights"' seen at nioonlight upon the ocean; and a black man who waits upon the ci-erman in Piccadilly, has latelvsworn before the Lord M'tlayor, first (.and weareglad to hearim) that " he waseducated in the Christian reli- eion,"and seconidly,thatabout2b years ago,hesaw(not thisanimal,but) " an animal alive at lMlanilla, which was called a ZIrermaid," that it was kept at the Governor's house, but "its distressing cries" in- duced hi,at, after three days' keeping, to put it back into the river, and restore it to its natural element. It is somewhat singular, that it was left to the poor black man, after a lapse of years, to remember what must have been known at the titne, according to his statement, throughot the whole Philippine islands but which was not sooner brought to light; and Yet we do know tbat Sir Joseph Banks took great pains by an extensive correspondence throughout the world, to investigate all the rumours and affidavits of these Memaids, and was, aftler a laborious inquirv, satisfied that their existence must be consigned to the inagination of poets. The exhibitor of this *iferman states the probable retreat of the Mermaids to be " in the most remote and fathmnless depths of the sea." This is as it should be-Poets make ghnsts " choose the darkest part o' th' grove," and say of " the ugly subjects" of night, that- " Ash am'd and feartfl to appear, " They skreen their horrid shapes with the blamjk hemisphere.i' The witches of old, too, before " ill tongues ' which are now upon the Mernznids were upon them, always peri'ormed their ncantations by night. We agree is the propriety of bay- ing a '- fathomless abyss" for the Metrmen. The exhibitor is quite shocked at the idea of being called upon to expose the figure to dissection, " merely to gratifv idle wanton cvr:osity;" buit he declares, " that so soon as a moderate sum is realized by the ex- hibition, he will offer it to the facultv, to add the final proof of its genuineness, and thns show that Mtfirmaids and ier-men form a part of the creattion." TVe ti:ne of this dissection will never dome; in the interim, why do not some of the ingenious pupils of Mr. Brookes construct a ltfermaid from some of the ample materials in his museum, which would bear dissection ? lVhy are Captains of ship, stopped in their voyages at Batavia,hy the Japanese mennaid. agemns,and poor natives brought fromn the Philippine islands to mal'e affidavits of what they saw 20 years ago, for a commodity, which if the experiment be made, can, from our better knowledge of anatomy, be made cheaper and more perfect at home ? THE MllERAfA1V.