2o6 A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SEAS 



America with a view to taking " close ups." The animal, 

 still unidentified, was made the subject of endless jests and 

 leg-pulls, whilst inns and hostelries within any reasonable 

 distance of the loch enjoyed an unprecedented boom. 

 A shortage of salmon in the loch was of course attributed 

 to it. 



Considerable jealousy was aroused in every monster- 

 haunted district, and some attempt was made to revive 

 interest in the ogo pogo of the Canadian lakes. An 

 American zoo offered £5,000 for the Loch Ness animal — 

 alive. 



When the general enthusiasm was at its height, Sir 

 Arthur Keith published an article pregnant with clear 

 thinking and incurable sanity that one cannot forbear 

 a few selected quotations. Sir Arthur Keith observed : 

 " The scepticism of the professional zoologist is due to 

 the nature of the evidence that is being placed before 

 him. In the case of the okapi, Sir Harry Johnson could 

 at least show a skin, but those who have convinced the 

 Secretary of Scotland and the Chief Constable of Inverness- 

 shire of the existence of the monster have not seen a scale 

 or hair of its skin, or a nail of a toe to produce as evidence. 

 To keep such a big body supplied with food a monster 

 must work long hours, and we should find numerous 

 traces of his repast. He must have a father or mother 

 somewhere living or dead ; he should have sisters and 

 brothers, cousins, and uncles and aunts." Sir Arthur 

 finally reminded his readers of the Russian soldiers said 

 to have passed through England in the first year of the 

 War, and of the angels seen at Mons. He summed up 

 thus : "I spent my boyhood on the banks of a river that 



