THE SEA-SERPENTS OF SCIENCE. 97 



themselves into shoals of porpoises swimming in line, readers 

 of such detached statements are apt to rush to the settled 

 conclusion that all sea-serpent tales are explicable on some 

 analogous footing. The relegation of the subject to the 

 sphere of fable is therefore to be accounted a perfectly 

 natural result of the almost invariable construction put upon 

 a few ill-founded tales and mediaeval myths to be presently 

 alluded to and also of the indifference with which zoolo- 

 gists themselves have treated the subject ; whilst ignorance 

 of the existence of a great body of perfectly reliable evidence 

 supporting the view that large serpentine forms have been 

 seen, together with a common incompetence to weigh evi- 

 dence and to decide upon the merits of the case, may also 

 be cited as two important factors in inducing a general dis- 

 belief in the personality of the modern Leviathan. 



Of the older chroniclers of sea-serpent lore, perhaps the 

 most noteworthy is Olaus Magnus, the worthy archbishop of 

 Upsala, who devotes a whole chapter in the course of his 

 writings to the sea-serpent, and discourses most volubly upon 

 the marine snake, and other monsters of the deep, such as 

 krakens, whales, and the like. Speaking of some sea mon- 

 sters, the exact nature of which it is zoologically impossible 

 to define, Magnus writes that "their forms are horrible, 

 their heads square, all set with prickles, and they have 

 sharp and long horns about, like a tree rooted up by the 

 roots. They are ten or twelve cubits long, very black, 

 and with huge eyes, the compass whereof is about eight 

 or ten cubits. The apple of the eye is of one cubit, and 

 is red and fiery coloured, which in the dark night ap- 

 pears to fishermen afar off under waters as a burning fire r 

 having hairs like goose feathers, thick and long, like a beard 

 hanging down. The rest of the body, for the greatness of 

 the head, which is square, is very small, not being above 14 

 or 15 cubits long. One of these sea monsters will easily 

 drown many great ships, provided with many strong 

 mariners." 



The sea-serpent of this writer appears to have been a 



H 



