314 THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, [Ne. 131.] 
“] have the honour to remain, Sir, your obedient servant 
“Gr. El blarrimetrome 
“To Rear-Admiral W. A. B. Hamilton” 
This letter was again answered in a very witty way in the Times 
of Febr. 23, 1858; this however, will be inserted in our chapter 
on Explanations. 
In the Zoologist for 1858, p. 6015, Mr. Aurrep Cuaries Surra, 
an old acquaintance of ours (p. 299) now wrote the following 
remark : 
“'l'o one who firmly believes in the existence of some huge 
marine monster of the serpent-form, such as the Northmen love to 
descant upon (and I am not ashamed to own to such credulity, 
as I have already declared in my Notes on Norway (Zool. 3229), 
the clear and minute account of Capt. Harrington, on the sea- 
monster which he and twenty people saw on the 12th of December 
last, off the coast of St. Helena, was exceedingly interesting; nor 
did the subsequent letter of Mr. F. Smith tend to shake my belief 
in the accuracy of Capt. Harrington’s statement, the particulars of 
the two alleged appearances being so very different. I am not, 
however, about to argue the point, the premises before us being 
far too unsatisfactory and vague to argue from. I merely write to 
express my hope that as you have admitted the first correspondence 
on the subject to the pages of the Zoologist, you will give both 
parties fair play, and msert the remaining letters, which appeared 
in the Zimes of February 16th and 23 respectively , copies of which 
I enclose, so that naturalists may have an opportunity of studying 
the case in all its bearings, before they form their conclusions. 
Alfred Charles Smith; Yatesbury Rectory, Calne, March 5, 1858.” 
Of course, it was but natural that also foreign newspapers should 
take great delight in this polemic. So we find in the Revue Britan- 
nique, of 1858, n° 2, Febr. p. 496, an article full of erroneous 
statements : 
“Amongst the grave questions of the day, we did not think of 
meeting again, in the newspapers, with the famous sea-serpent, the 
problematic existence of which seemed to be bannished to the world 
of apocryphal, or at least antediluvian animals; but no! three new 
eye-witnesses declare to have seen it, and very well too. Now a 
Captain Smith, of Newcastle, writes that he is convinced that these 
witnesses have been illuded, as he himself was on the 28th. of 
December, 1848, when after believing to see through his telescope 
an extraordinary monster, and after lowering the great net of the 
