THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



closely the surmises of philosophers resemble, in 

 these particulars, the description of the eye-wit- 

 nesses of the living animal, as given in the letter 

 and drawings of Captain M'Quhae. In the latter 

 we have many of the external characters of the 

 former, as predicated from the examination of the 

 skeleton. The short head, the serpent-like neck, 

 carried several feet above the water, forcibly recall 

 the idea conceived of the extinct animal ; and even 

 the bristly mane in certain parts of the back, so 

 unlike anything found in serpents, has its analogy 

 in the Iguana, to which animal the Plesioeanroa 

 has been compared by some geologists. But I 

 would most of all insist upon the peculiarity of 

 the animal's progression, which could only have 

 been effected with the evenness, and at the rate 

 described, by an apparatus of fins or paddles, not 

 possessed by serpents, but existing in the highest 

 perfection in the Plesiosaurus." 



A master in science now appeared upon the 

 field,— Professor Richard Owen, who, in a most 

 able article, gave his verdict against the serpentine 

 character of the animal seen, and pronounced it 

 to have been, in his judgment, a seal. This opin- 

 ion is too important to bear abridgment, and 

 must be given in extenso:— 



"The sketch [a reduced copy of the animal seen 

 by Captain M'Quhae, attached to the submerged 

 body of a large seal, shewing the long eddy pro- 

 duced by the action of the terminal flippers] will 

 suggest the reply to your query, 'Whether the 

 monster seen from the Dsedalus be anything but 

 a saurian?' If it be the true answer, it destroys 

 the romance of the incident, and will be anything 

 but acceptable to those who prefer the excitement 

 of the imagination to the satisfaction of the judg- 

 ment. I am far from insensible to the pleasures of 

 302 



