1844 Sea-Serpent. 



proportioned to the value of the character they run the risk of compromising for no 

 obvious use, induces them to withhold. 



But it may be asked, how is it possible to explain the circumstance of these 

 monstra natantia being encountered no farther South than about the sixtieth or iifty- 

 fifth parallel on the European boundary, while in the American waters their domain 

 approaches so much nearer the Equator, as Nova Scotia (or New Scotland) and New 

 England ? By a curious and happy coincidence, of like significance to many that are 

 constantly springing up to confirm the results of independent research, such for in- 

 stance as the print of the piscivorous gavials in a prior leaf of the " stone book '' to 

 the mammalivorous crocodiles ; it happens that precisely a line swerving from Nor- 

 way in a southerly direction to Massachusetts, is the boundary likewise of other ma- 

 rine animals of corresponding types. Among the divisions of the North Atlantic, re- 

 cently marked out by Professor Edward Forbes, as determined by the presence of simi- 

 lar forms of animal life, occurs what is called the " Arctic and Boreal '' province, 

 which " sweeps across the northernmost part of the North Atlantic from Europe, ex- 

 tending down the coast of North America as far as Massachusetts, but nothing like 

 so far on the European side as the American." (Lecture at the Royal Institution, 

 May 14th, 1847). 



Thus copiously backed by the most affirmative evidence, both positive and circum- 

 stantial, all contributing to establish his lawful claim to entity, the " great unknown " 

 of the North Atlantic has still to overcome the strong feeling of discredit so widely 

 associated with his past history, before he can hope to be understood as seriously claim- 

 ing to be a subject of the animal kingdom. If men of the highest name in science 

 condescend to notice him at all, it is most probably with a smile at the expense of 

 what they consider a crude invention, to which no importance should be attached. 

 But authority, however exalted, has no patent of final adjudication in cases where its 

 means of information are confessedly imperfect, as compared with those enjoyed by 

 the supporters of a disputed position. The learned world was centuries in believing 

 the story of Herodotus about little birds resorting to feed on insects within the 

 " stretched jaws " of the crocodile. Bruce all but ruined his credit for a time by re- 

 lating that he had seen the Abyssinians eat the raw flesh cut from one of the haunches 

 of a living cow; and there are some who, with no more reason, pretend to doubt the 

 good faith of a contemporary traveller, who declares that he once made a brief excur- 

 sion on the back of an alligator. The conflicts of discovery and opinion, engross in- 

 deed no small share of the history of human knowledge. There are cases, no doubt, 

 in which both the senses and the judgment of incompetent persons are liable to be 

 imposed upon by irrelevant facts created or qualified for the occasion. But here 

 there is no hypothesis concerned requiring nature to be tortured into its service ; phy- 

 siology can have no latent objections, ready to start up unawares and make a mockery 

 of belief, because some of the serpent kind are indubitably organized for an aquatic 

 medium ; the laws of geographical distribution, deduced irrespectively, yield their 

 consent ; and the integrity of not a few of the narrators is unimpeachable. Are 

 we justified in rejecting the text because the interpretation may not harmonize with 

 our views ; in imputing wilful dishonesty to those who merely describe to the best of 

 their ability what their eyes have disclosed to them ? We do not despise the mermaid, 

 the triton, and syren, as altogether imaginary, but endeavour to reconcile at least their 

 physical attributes with those of the the seal or oriental dugong. The unicorn is 



