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Notices of Books . 133 
rack stretching out into the Norwegian Seas may, under certain 
favourable conditions of the atmosphere, have seemed like the 
coils of a vast snake. We do not for a moment doubt but that 
all these, and perhaps other phenomena, may have occasionally 
passed muster for avatars of “ the sea-serpent.” But the question 
is, can all the described appearances be thus explained away ? 
In three of the best-established cases quoted by Dr. Wilson — 
those of the Dcedalus , the Pauline , and the Georgina — the pro- 
blematical animal was seen either too close at hand or under such 
circumstances that all the above-mentioned hypotheses must be 
regarded as utterly inadmissible ; and we have merely the alter- 
native of branding the narrators as wilful and deliberate liars, or 
accepting their statements as substantially true. Now, great as 
may be the human tendency to falsehood, men of Teutonic or of 
Celtic blood may generally be depended upon when they have 
nothing to gain by a departure from the truth. What possible 
advantage could the crews of these three vessels hope to gain by 
the circulation of such narratives, and by what inducements were 
they brought to persist in the story in face of ridicule ? We have 
heard, indeed, that the after life of Captain iVTQuhae, of H.M.S. 
Dcedalus , was embittered, if not shortened, by the reflections cast 
upon his personal honour. 
Our author, after describing certain other cases where the un- 
known animals seen were apparently other than Ophidian in 
structure, concludes “that many of the tales of sea-serpents are 
amply verified when judged by the ordinary rules of evidence ; 
this conclusion being especially supported by the want of any 
prima facie reason for prevarication ; that laying aside appear- 
ances which can be proved to be deceptive, and to be caused by 
inanimate objeefts or by unusual attitudes on the part of familiar 
animals, there remains a body of evidence only to be explained 
on the hypothesis that certain gigantic marine animals, at present 
unfamiliar or unknown to Science, do certainly exist, and that the 
existence of such animals is a fact perfectly consistent with sci- 
entific opinion and knowledge, and is most readily explained by 
recognising the fadt of the occasional development of gigantic 
members of groups of marine animals already familiar to the 
naturalist.” 
A far stronger demand is made upon our powers of assent by 
the narratives concerning an underground monster of Southern 
Brazil — the “ minhocao.” Yet the eminent naturalist Fritz 
Muller, who is collecting evidence on this subject, sees reason for 
admitting that there is a substratum of truth in the exaggerated 
stories in circulation. 
Will the time ever come when such books as the one before us 
will be to a great extent substituted for the literary rubbish, grave 
or light, which now fills the shelves of libraries and engrosses the 
leisure of the reading public ? 
