^ 



M'QUH^'S EEPLY TO OWEN. 833 



used in propelling it througli the water, either by vertical 

 or horizontal undulation/ 



" It is also assumed that the ' calculation of its length 

 was made under a strong preconception of the nature of 

 the beast ; another conclusion quite the contrary to the 

 fact. It was not until after the great length was developed 

 by its nearest approach to the ship, and until after that 

 most important point had been duly considered and 

 debated, as well as such could be in the brief space of 

 time allowed for so doing, that it was pronounced to be a 

 serpent by all who saw it, and who are too well accustomed 

 to judge of lengths and breadths of objects in the sea to 

 mistake a real substance and an actual living body, coolly 

 and dispassionately contemplated, at so short a distance 

 too, for the 'eddy caused by the action of the deeper 

 immersed fins and tail of a rapidly-moving gigantic seal 

 raising its head above the water, ' as Professor Owen 

 imagines, in quest of its lost iceberg. 



" The creative powers of the human mind may be very 

 limited. On this occasion they were not called into 

 requisition ; my purpose and desire being, throughout, to 

 furnish eminent naturalists, such as the learned Professor, 

 with accurate facts, and not with exaggerated representa- 

 tions, nor with what could by any possibility proceed 

 from optical illusion ; and I beg to assui-e him that old 

 Pontoppidan's having clothed his sea-serpent with a mane 

 could not have suggested the idea of ornamenting the 

 creatui^e seen from the Dcudalus with a similar appendage, 

 for the simple reason that I had never seen his account. 



