THE SEA-SERPENTS OF SCIENCE. 101 



In one instance of this latter kind, related to me by a friend 

 who was an actual spectator, the floating piece of timber 

 assumed a shape imitating in the closest and most remarkable 

 manner the head of some reptile, by the same rule, I 

 suppose, that in the gnarled trunks and branches of trees 

 one may frequently discern likenesses to the human face 

 and to the forms of other living things. In this latter 

 instance, the floating object was perceived at some miles' 

 distance from the deck of a yacht; and even when seen 

 through a telescope, and carefully scrutinised by men 

 accustomed to make out the contour and nature of objects 

 at sea, the resemblance to the head of some animal was so 

 close that the course of the vessel was changed and the 

 object in due time overhauled. This latter, therefore, pre- 

 sents an example of a case, the details of which, when 

 related, tempt people to maintain without further parley, 

 that sea-serpents always resolve themselves into inanimate 

 objects of one kind or another. And so great in some 

 minds is the fear of popular ridicule regarding this subject, 

 that one ship-captain related that when a sea-serpent had 

 been seen by his crew from the deck of the vessel, he 

 remained below; since, to use his own words, "had I said 

 I had seen the sea-serpent, I should have been considered 

 to be a warranted liar all my life after ! " 



But the natural supposition and remark of the inanimate 

 nature of objects seen at sea is at once noted to be anything 

 but universal in its nature and application, when the records 

 of sea-serpent history are examined in detail. Numerous 

 cases exist in which the object, presumed to be a living 

 being, has been scrutinised so closely that, save on the sup- 

 position that senses have played their owners false, or that 

 minds have given way to an unaccountable impulse for 

 lying, we must face and own the belief that living animals 

 have been seen. Let us briefly examine one or two of the 

 accounts of this kind which have been duly and faithfully 

 recorded, with the view of ascertaining whether or not we 

 may detect any inherent or implied elements of improba- 



