THE SEA-SERPENTS OF SCIENCE. 10; 



a lifeless for a living object, cannot for a moment be reason- 

 ably entertained. Laying aside for the present all questions 

 as to the zoological position and rank of the animal, we 

 may take it for granted, as based on evidence of reasonable 

 kind, that the " something" seen in each of these cases 

 which, be it remarked, are but types of many other authen- 

 ticated records of similar kind was an active living animal. 

 And we may also affirm that, from the circumstances in 

 which the statements were made, as well as from the 

 character of our witnesses, from their evident desire and 

 from the trouble taken by them to place on record a faith- 

 ful account of what they had seen, we have ample evidence 

 to prove that part of our second issue which dealt with the 

 question of the living or lifeless nature of the objects seen. 

 If internal evidence is to be trusted at all, the present case 

 strongly exemplifies its worth and value. 



\Ye have, however, still to deal with a point in our 

 second proposition, which brings us within the scope of 

 truly scientific inquiry, namely, that devoted to the con- 

 sideration of the kind or nature of the animals observed by 

 narrators of sea-serpent tales. In the elucidation of this 

 topic we may incidentally discover implied proofs of the 

 correctness and truth of the narratives on which the history 

 of the sea-serpent is literally founded. The discussion of 

 the question from a zoological point of view may be fitly 

 prefaced by an allusion to certain readily explained cases 

 of serpentine appearances caused by well-known and 

 common forms of marine life assuming peculiar attitudes 

 in the water, and of being indistinctly seen by observers. 

 The instance already alluded to, of a shoal of porpoises 

 swimming in line, with their backs and dorsal fins appearing 

 now and then, with a kind of regular alternating motion 

 above the surface of the water, presents an example of a 

 deceptive appearance brought about by a somewhat unusual 

 habit of familiar animals. I well remember being struck 

 with surprise at an unwonted spectacle I beheld in the 

 Frith of Forth some years ago, of an apparently long 



