238 THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, [1827.] 
a grandeur in our estimation far surpassing those which inhabit 
the earth. The monsters of the deep appear so independent of our 
influence, and so far removed from any connection with us, that 
any increase of our knowledge in reference to them must be highly 
gratifying.” 
“It was during the year 1817 that it began to be correctly re- 
ported, that in the neighbourhood of Boston and Gloucester in 
America, an animal, in general construction nearly resembling a 
serpent, had been frequently seen. These rumours created a good 
deal of excitement, insomuch that, at a meeting of the Linnaean 
Society of New England, it was determined more fully to invest- 
igate the matter. The Honourable Lonson Nash of Gloucester was 
appointed by a Committee to gather together all the mformation 
which might be obtained.” 
“It is unnecessary here to dwell at any length upon the athe 
which his unremitting and meritorious exertions procured. From 
different quarters, individuals of the highest respectability com- 
municated all the information which it was in their power to 
proffer, and all declared themselves prepared to take an oath upon 
the accuracy of their narrations. No testimony was received, except- 
ing from those who professed to have been personal witnesses of 
the monster: no weight was given to their accounts deduced from 
the reports which were everywhere circulated: — the unadorned 
and unexaggerated style in which their statements were worded is 
of itself perfectly sufficient to win over to all unqualified trust. The 
witnesses for the most part, unite in ascribing a vertical motion 
to the creature. Fifty or sixty yards was no uncommon distance 
between it and the spectators, and it was never seen except in 
weather the most calm and bright. But these facts, along with 
the various depositions, have been long laid before the public in the 
“Report of the Committee of the Linnaean Society of New England”, 
and it is our part now merely to adduce some corroborative cir- 
cumstances which have lately occurred, and which we think puts 
the matter for ever beyond the possibility of a doubt; — facts 
which have already completely satisfied some highly scientific gentle- 
men, who before were entirely sceptical.” 
He next gives the letter from Mr. Warsurton, of which we 
have spoken above, and the letter from Mr. Boorr, parts of which 
we have inserted in n°. 63 and 70. After the different passages 
from various transactions and journals referring to the papers in 
Sir Joseph Banks’ library (p. 220), Dr. HooxEr goes on: 
