LITTELL'S LIVING AGE.-No. 250.-MARCH 3, 1849. From the Westminster Review. us. No bone of a sea-serpent exists in the College of Surgeons. No authentic fragment has reached the British Museum. The eye-witnesses are confined to some two thousand mariners or 1. The Great Sea Serpent. An Essay, showing its History, authentic, fictitious, and hypothetical. By EDWARD NEWMAN. 2. The Zoologist. London: JOHN VAN VOORST, Paternoster-row. 1848. THERE is, perhaps, no phase of the human mind more curious or inexplicable than that state of servile submission to authority in matters of belief which characterizes the majority of mortals. It is, indeed, a humiliating spectacle to behold fullgrown men depending implicitly for opinions on the dictates of their fellow-men; prostrating their intellect, distrusting the evidence of their senses, and absolutely turning a deaf ear to conclusions, however obvious, if not reaching them through the channel of acknowledged authority! Can they not comprehend that just conclusions are to be attained alone by a studiously-careful consideration of a subject in all its bearings, not by adopting the views-the mere ipse dixit—of any man? By the latter course, we not only invest ourselves in a tattered garment of prejudices which every one can see through, but we must also cede the fact, that we have purloined the disreputable clothing which we parade. Now, as there is no position so fatal to the admission of truth as the position of prejudice, so is there no prejudice so degrading as that which is purloined. We do not hesitate to say, that the progress of science in this country is arrested by the strong hand of self-elected authority, and the promulgation of scientific truth retarded by those who arrogate to themselves an exclusive monopoly of philosophic lore. This state of affairs is baneful in two ways:-it not only checks the dissemination of recently-discovered truths, but it invests the select few with the power of disseminating and positively enforcing the reception of error. It moreover persecutes, with relentless severity, every individual who may have the courage to expose the blunders of any magnate whose influence upon the distribution of the scientific patronage of government, and of learned societies, might be thereby compromised. These remarks are, however, levelled at the system, not at individuals; and they have been elicited by the more than equivocal reception accorded to an apparently trustworthy announcement of the recent appearance of a certain illustrious individual, whose positive identification might possibly upset some cherished hypothesis, and lead to the necessity of numerous modifications of accepted scientific dogmas. From their lucubrations, lately paraded before the public, it appears that no one connected with the coteries of scientific exclusives has ever seen the animal whose history Mr. Newman has given countrymen who have no acquaintance with the terms nematoneurous, homogangliatous, and the like; and the evidence cited in support of the phenomena observed is given by parties scarcely amounting to an eighth part of their entire number, and who, in their general knowledge of technical natural history are not a whit before the great body of eye-witnesses from whom they appear to have been selected at random; and, therefore, neither the great mass of eye-witnesses, nor those selected to give evidence, are worthy of the slightest credence! So say the exclusives. The present age exhibits many similar instances of learned incredulity; public lectures have been given to show that Shakspeare never existed, that Ben Jonson is a myth; and our witty contemporary "Punch" declares that Pickford is a myth also. Yet at this very moment credulity is making exhibitions equally eccentric, and millions believe in the universal efficacy of bread-pills, if sold in the name of some liberally advertising quack doctor. It were a study worthy of the psychologist, this simultaneous exhibition of stolid incredulity and headlong confidence; the first would, perhaps, be traced to a preponderance of self esteem, the second to a too great development of veneration for others. It seems to us that the witnesses called on be half of the sea-serpent afford the very best evidence that could be wished. The majority of our professors and curators would not know a whale from a porpoise, a porpoise from a shark, a shark from an ichthyosaurus, if they beheld these creatures in their native element; it is when beasts are stuffed with straw, or reduced to skeletons, or when fragments of their bones are placed under the compound microscope, that the knowledge of them among these savans begins and ends; but the mariner, the whaler, the harpooner, the porpoiseshooter, the practical fisherman,-these know the creatures of the deep from each other, and can pronounce with wonderful exactitude if they see but the smallest portion above the water: they are the men whose sight is sharpened by use, whose book is nature, whose knowledge is practical, and whose evidence on such a subject is far better than any other. The men "who go down to the sea in ships" are they of whom we must inquire its wonders. They, indeed, may see a schull of por poises following each other, head to tail; they may watch their gambols, and haply single out a big one for a trial of the harpoon or the rifle; but no seaman would mistake them for anything else: : In the lower part was formed like a snake. After some time, the creature plunged backwards into the water, and then turned its tail up above the surface, a whole ship-length from the head. The following evening we had very bad weather. The statement is accompanied by a figure in which the characters above enumerated are shown. Now, we have no objection to make every deduction that the most rigid cross-examination could elicit; we are perfectly willing to make every allowance for the emotions of wonder and fear; we will not insist on the height to which the head was raised, or the sharpness of the snout, or the breadth of the flappers, or the scales on the skin, or the distance from the head to the tail. Let the incredulous pare down the marvellous as much the sight is as familiar to him as a string of lawyers to a dweller in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and has certainly no greater similarity to a serpent. all our inquiries we must have regard to the capacity of a witness for giving information. Even the microscope, the secret-revealing implement of the learned, requires a kind of education on the part of the beholder. Doubtless the mariner who first peeped through the wonder-working tube, would arrive at conclusions as erroneous as the learned fool who comments on the creatures of the deep but he surely would not venture to print his blunders, or pass off his crude observations as worthy the attention of the world. And yet our savans are forever doing this; and forever giving opinions on subjects which they cannot understand; promulgating hypotheses founded on imagined as he pleases, and then, after every allowance facts; drawing ideal pictures of nature and rea-soning on them as truths; throwing aside realities for fictions; and hermetically sealing their eyes, and closing their ears against the entrance of information, because information itself is supposed to clash with preconceived opinions, to interfere with hypotheses to which they are pledged, and, in fine, to damage their claim to the exclusive dis-one of these tribes. It seems to us indisputable, posal of scientific knowledge: their object is to represent all matters as they would have them, without any reference to what they are. But let us proceed with our inquiry. and deduction, let him say what Mr. Egede saw. The high character of the narrator, and his otherwise unquestioned veracity, are sufficient guarantees for his having seen something; his extraordinary knowledge of the Cetacea and seals, extending to the most minute distinctions of species, proves that his monster could not have been that Mr. Egede, from personal observation and with rigid integrity of purpose, describes and figures an animal decidedly and widely different from any living creature hitherto admitted into our systematic classifications. That it was a sea-serpent, or a serpent of any other kind, certainly does not appear, neither does the writer make any such assertion. In the figure, description, and name, of Egede's "sea monster," we find nothing to constitute it a serpent; this name appears to have been subsequently applied; and yet, so great is the ingenuity of man, that this very name has been tortured into a proof of the falsehood of Mr. Egede's statement. The first witness whom we shall call on the part of the sea-serpent is the Rev. Mr. Egede, whose journal of the Greenland mission is a masterpiece of minute accuracy; it is illustrated with figures of the human inhabitants, the bears, seals, whales, birds and plants, distinguished by a fidelity which at that date, 1734, is almost without parallel; indeed, the peculiar structure of the head of the narwhal, or sea-unicorn, proving the single horn to be a tooth on one side of the jaw, developed at the expense of the corresponding tooth on We will now proceed to Pontoppidan's “Natuthe other side of the jaw, is exhibited with a mi-ral History of Norway," published shortly after nute attention to anatomical truth that leaves noth- Egede's "Journal," and quoting that author's ing to be desired. Egede's statements are equally description. Pontoppidan was Bishop of Bergen, trustworthy with his drawings; there is no at- a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at tempt at exaggeration, and he appears to be actuated by no other motive than that of modestly disseminating a knowledge of Natural History, facts which he had himself observed, and which he believed to be before unrecorded. Not the slightest doubt has ever been entertained, as far as we can discover, of his veracity, piety, and single-minded-reader on his guard against giving them implicit ness; the indubitable value of the greater part of his observations is sufficient to establish the authority of the whole. The single blot on this reverend gentleman's character appears to be his having seen a sea-serpent. He writes as follows: On the 6th of July, 1734, there appeared a very large and frightful sea monster, which raised itself so high out of the water, that its head reached above our main-top. It had a long sharp snout, and spouted water like a whale; and very broad flappers. The body seemed to be covered with scales, and the skin was uneven and wrinkled, and Copenhagen, evidently a good naturalist, and withal a man of unimpeachable veracity: he exhibits no undue credulity; and although he has heard from sailors, and others residing near the coast, a variety of marvellous stories concerning the sea monster, he quotes them doubtingly, and puts his credence; that a fixed and ineradicable belief in this sea monster, existed universally along the coast in Pontoppidan's time is shown by the following quotation In all my inquiry about these affairs, I have hardly spoke with any intelligent person, born in the manor of Nordland, who was not able to give a pertinent answer, and strong assurances of the existence of this fish; and some of our north traders, that come here every year with their merchandise, think it a very strange question, when they are seriously asked whether there be any such creature; they think it as ridiculous as if the question was put to them, whether there be such fish as eel or cod. That an equally firm and ineradicable belief exists at the present day, is shown by a parallel passage, just published in the "Zoologist." seen. As some interest has been excited by the alleged appearance of a sea-serpent, I venture to transmit a few remarks on the subject, which you may or may not think worthy of insertion in your columns. There does not appear to be a single well-authenticated instance of these monsters having been seen in any southern latitudes; but in the north of Europe, notwithstanding the fabulous character so long ascribed to Pontoppidan's description, I am convinced that they both exist and are frequently During three summers spent in Norway, I have repeatedly conversed with the natives on this subject. A parish priest residing on Romsdal fjord, about two days' journey south of Drontheim, an intelligent person, whose veracity I have no reason to doubt, gave me a circumstantial account of one which he had himself seen. It rose within thirty yards of the boat in which he was, and swam parallel with it for a considerable time. Its head is described as equalling a small cask in size, and its mouth, which it repeatedly opened and shut, was furnished with formidable teeth; its neck was smaller, but its body-of which he supposed that he saw about half on the surface of the water-was not less in girth than that of a moderate sized horse. Another gentleman, in whose house I stayed, had also seen one, and gave a similar account of it it also came near his boat upon the fjord, when it was fired at, upon which it turned and pursued them to the shore, which was luckily near, when it disappeared. They expressed great surprise at the general disbelief attaching to the existence of these animals amongst naturalists, and assured me that there was scarcely a sailor accustomed to those inland lakes, who had not seen them at one time or another.-The Zoologist, p. 2311. But Pontoppidan does not satisfy himself with any general expressions of belief, however distinct and explicit; he collects and publishes the most direct and positive evidence, and derived from sources which in the present age we should call the most respectable. The first of these is Laurence de Ferry, at that time commander of Bergen. We subjoin the entire statement, premising that the commander, in order to satisfy the bishop, took two of the seamen who were with him before a magistrate, when they both solemnly swore to the truth of the following particulars : The latter end of August, in the year 1746, as I was on a voyage, in my return from Trundtheim, in a very calm and hot day, having a mind to put in at Molde, it happened, that when we were arrived with my vessel within six English miles of the aforesaid Molde, being at a place called JuleNæss, as I was reading in a book, I heard a kind of murmuring voice from amongst the men at the oars, who were eight in number, and observed that the man at the helm kept off from the land. Upon this I inquired what was the matter, and was informed that there was a sea-snake before us. I then ordered the man at the helm to keep to the land again, and to come up with this creature, of which I had heard so many stories. Though the fellows were under some apprehensions, they were obliged to obey my orders. In the mean time, this seasnake passed by us, and we were obliged to tack the vessel about, in order to get nearer to it. As the snake swam faster than we could row, I took my gun, that was ready charged, and fired at it; on this he immediately plunged under the water. We rowed to the place where it sunk down (which in the calm might be easily observed,) and lay upon our oars, thinking it would come up again to the surface; however, it did not. When the snake plunged down, the water appeared thick and red; perhaps some of the shot might wound it, the distance being very little. The head of this snake, which it held more than two feet above the surface of the water, resembled that of a horse. It was of a greyish color, and the mouth was quite black and very large. It had black eyes, and a long white mane, that hung down from the neck to the surface of the water. Besides the head and neck, we saw seven or eight folds or coils of the snake, which were very thick, and, as far as we could guess, there was about a fathom distance between each fold. After citing a variety of other instances, giving the names of his witnesses without reserve, Pontoppidan deduces this general conclusion from the entire evidence : It appears that this creature does not, like the eel or land-snake, taper gradually to a point, but the body, which looks to be as big as two hogsheads, grows remarkable small at once, just where the tail begins. And again : The eyes of this creature are very large, and of a blue color, and look like a couple of bright pewter plates. Egede gives us the pointed head, the power of spouting water like a whale, the broad anterior flappers or paddles, the bulky trunk, and the pointed tail. Pontoppidan adds the enormous eyes the mane, the dorsal protuberances, the sudden narrowing where the trunk ceases and the tail begins. The next author cited is Sir A. de Capell Brooke. Although in the course of his rambles in Scandinavia this worthy gentleman had not the pleasure of falling in with this creature himself, he nevertheless heard many statements from eyewitnesses respecting it; none of these, however, throw new light on the subject, or assign any characters to the animal which were not previously known. As far as they go their tendency is to confirm the statements previously published; they The relate to the years 1817, 18, 19, and 22. only subsequent information from the locality in question is contained in the fifteenth number of the " Zoologist;" we quote the entire passage, without abbreviation or alteration. In the neighborhood of Christiansand and Molde, in the province of Romsdal, several persons, highly respectable and credible witnesses, have reported that they have seen this animal. In general, they state that it has been seen in the larger Norwegian fjords, seldom in the open sea. In the large bight of the sea at Christiansand, it has been seen every and said he found a great resemblance between it and the animal he had seen. He likewise said that some of the other sea-serpents he had seen were a great deal longer than the one above described. year, though only in the warmest season, in the the same thickness; it was not pointed, but round. dog-days, and then only when the weather was per- The eyes were very large, round, and sparkling. fectly calm and the surface of the water unruffled. Their size was about the diameter of the box here, The following persons, whose names are here men- (five inches,) and they were as red as my neckertioned, give the subjoined testimony:-Niles Roe, chief (crimson.) Close behind the head, a mane, workman at Mr. William Knudtzon's relates: "I like a horse's, commenced along the neck, and saw the serpent twice, once at noon, and two days spread itself on both sides, right and left, while afterwards towards the evening, in the fjord at the swimming on the water; it was of tolerably long back of Mr. Knudtzon's garden. The first time it hair. The mane, as well as the head and the rest was about a hundred feet distant. It swam first of the body, was brown as this looking-glass frame along the fjord, and then afterwards direct over to (old mahogany.) Spots, stripes of other colors I the spot where I stood. I observed it for above did not observe, nor were there any scales; it half an hour. Some strangers who were on the op- seemed as if the body was quite smooth. Its moveposite shore fired at it, when it disappeared. The ments were occasionally fast and slow, which latter second time it was further from me. It was small, was the case when it neared my boat; I could perhaps twice as long as this room (about forty-four clearly observe it; it was serpent-like, and moved feet;) while swimming, it made serpentine move-up and down. The few undulations which those ments, some to the side, others up and down. I parts of the body and tail that were out of the cannot state what thickness it was, but it appeared water made, were scarcely a fathom in length. to be about as thick as a common snake in proportion These undulations were not so high that I could to its length. It was thinner towards the tail. The see between them and the water." When Lars head was several times slightly elevated above the | Johnöen had given this explanation, he was shown surface of the water. The front of the head was the drawing which Pontoppidan has given of this rather pointed; the eyes were sharp, and glistened animal. He looked at it with astonishment, smiled, like those of a cat. From the back of the head a mane like that of a horse commenced, which waved backwards and forwards in the water. The color of the animal was a blackish brown." John Johnson (merchant, about sixty years of age :) "I saw the animal some years since in the fjord; it was about a thousand paces distant when nearest to me. It swam very swiftly; in the same time that we rowed about a quarter of a mile to the side from it, it had swam about double the distance. I saw it most plainly when it swam in a semicircle round a tolerably large rock that obstructed its passage; in doing this, it partly raised itself above the surface of the water. Its color was blackish-brown, and about the length of this house (55 feet.) With the exception of the head, I did not remark much of its body, as that appeared but little above the surface. Judging from what I observed, I should say the thickness of the body was that of a stout man. The agitation it caused in the water was very strong. Its movements were serpentine, up and down, like a leech swimming." Lars Johnöen (fisherman at Smölen, about fifty years of age :) "I have several times seen the sea-serpent; but, some time since, twelve years ago, in the dog-days, in the fjord, not far from here, one afternoon as I was fishing in my boat, I saw it twice in the course of two hours, and, for some time, quite near me. It came close to my boat, so that it was only about six feet from me. I became alarmed, recommended my soul to God, laid down in the boat, and only held my head so far over it that I could observe the serpent. It swam now past the boat, that was agitated by the ripple caused by its movement in the water, which was previously smooth, and after-out of the water. I remarked as well two or three wards removed itself. After it had swam a considerable distance from me, I began again to fish. Not long afterwards, the serpent came close to the boat, which was strongly agitated by its movements in the water. I laid down and remained quite still, and, notwithstanding my fright, kept a watchful eye on the animal; it passed me, disappeared, and returned, though not so close as previously, and disappeared entirely when a light wind arose, and ruffled the water. Its length was about five to six fathoms, and the body, which was as round as a serpent's, was about two feet in diameter. The tail seemed to be very round. The head was about as long as a brandy anker (ten-gallon cask,) and about Mr. William Knudtzon and Candidatus Theologiæ Bochlum, gave the following written account: "We together saw the sea-serpent in a narrow fjord, at a distance of about one sixteenth of a mile, (half an English mile,) for about a quarter of an hour; afterwards it dived, and came up so far from us that we could not see it plainly. The water was smooth as a mirror, and the animal had, as it moved on the surface, the appearance of a serpent. Its motions were in undulations, and so strong that white foam appeared before it, and at the side, which stretched out several fathoms. It did not appear very high above the water, and its length was quite discernible. Once it stretched its head quite erect in the air. The body was somewhat dark, and the head nearly black, it had nearly the form of an eel or snake, and a length of about 100 feet, and in proportion to it an inconsiderable thickness. The breadth diminished remarkably from the head, so much so that the tail ended in a point. The head was long and small in proportion to the throat, as the latter appeared much greater than the former, probably as it was furnished with a mane." Foged (Sheriff) Göttsche made the following remarks: "I saw the sea-serpent for some time in a small fjord, first from a boat, afterwards from the beach, several minutes, at a distance of from thirty to thirty-six feet. In the beginning, it swam round the fjord at Torvig; afterwards it went into the deeps. I saw its head stretched considerably undulations of the forepart of the body. Its motion was not like that of an eel, but consisted in waving undulations, up and down. They were excessively strong, and caused tolerable large waves; they were largest at the forepart of the animal, and towards the back gradually lessened. The traces of them I discerned in a length of eight to ten fathoms, and a breadth of two to three fathoms. The head seemed blunted, and had the size and form of a ten-gallon cask; the undulations of the body were round, and about the dimensions of a good timber stock (twelve to fourteen inches square.) The entire length of the animal I could not judge, as it was not possible to observe the extremity. Its . fifty-third number of the "Zoologist," and we are not aware that it has elsewhere appeared in print. than this account; and we think our readers will Nothing can be more precise and circumstantial be struck with the remarkable similarity between this and the more recently published statement of Captain M'Quhæ. It is impossible to believe that two distinct parties, without communicating with each other, could by any chance have placed on record statements so similar if they were not strictly true. color appeared to be dark gray. At the back of the head there was a mane, which was the same color as the rest of the body." The writer of this article received letters from Mr. Soren Knudtzon, stating that a sea-serpent had been seen in the neighborhood of Christiansand by several people, and from Dr. Hoffman, a respectable surgeon in Molde, lying on a considerable fjord to the south of Christiansand, Rector Hammer, Mr. Kraft, curate, and several persons, very clearly saw, while on a journey, a sea-serpent of considerable size. The Rev. Mr. Deinboll, Archdeacon of Molde, gives the following account of one which was seen last summer near Molde. The 28th of July, On the 15th of May, 1833, a party consisting of 1845, J. C. Lund, bookseller and printer; G. S. Captain Sullivan, Lieutenants Maclachlan and MalKrogh, merchant; Christian Flang, Lund's ap-colm of the Rifle Brigade, Lieutenant Lyster of the prentice; and John Elgenses, laborer, were out Artillery, and Mr. Ince of the Ordnance, started on Romsdale-fjord, fishing. The sea was, after a from Halifax in a small yacht for Mahone Bay, warm sunshiny day, quite calm. About seven some forty miles to the westward on a fishing exo'clock in the afternoon, a little distance from shore, cursion. The morning was cloudy, and the wind near the ballast place and Molde Hooe, they saw a S. S. E., and apparently rising; by the time we long marine animal, which slowly moved itself for- reached Chebucto Head, as we had taken no pilot ward, as it appeared to them, with the help of two with us, we deliberated whether we should proceed fins, on the forepart of the body nearest the head, or put back, but after a consultation we determined which they judged from the boiling of the water on on the former, having lots of ports on our lee. both sides of it. The visible part of the body ap- Previously to leaving town, an old man-of-war'speared to be between forty and fifty feet in length, man we had along with us, busied himself in inquiand moved in undulations like a snake. The body ries as to our right course; he was told to take his was round, and of a dark color, and seemed to be departure from the Bull Rock, off Pennant Point, several ells (an ell two feet) in thickness. As and that a W. N. W. course would bring us direct they discerned a waving motion in the water be-on Iron Bound Island, at the entrance of Mahone or hind the animal, they concluded that part of the Mecklenburgh Bay; he, however, unfortunately body was concealed under water. That it was one told us to steer W. S. W., nor corrected his error connected animal they saw plainly from its move- for five or six hours; consequently we had gone a When the animal was about one hundred long distance off the coast. We had run about half yards from the boat, they noticed tolerably correct- the distance, as we supposed, and were enjoying ly its forepart, which ended in a sharp snout; its ourselves on deck smoking our cigars, and getting colossal head raised itself above the water in the our tackle ready for the approaching campaign form of a semicircle; the lower part was not vis- against the salmon, when we were surprised by the ible. The color of the head was dark brown, and sight of an immense shoal of grampuses, which the skin smooth. They did not notice the eyes, or appeared in an unusual state of excitement, and any mane or bristles on the throat. When the ser- which, in their gambols, approached so close to our pent came about a musket-shot near, Lund fired at little craft that some of the party amused themselves it, and was certain the shots hit it in the head. by firing at them with rifles; at this time we were After the shot he dived, but came up immediately. jogging on at about five miles an hour, and must He raised his head in the air like a snake prepar- have been crossing Margaret's Bay; I merely coning to dart on its prey. After he had turned and jecture where we were, as we had not seen land got his body in a straight line, which he appeared since a short time after leaving Pennant Point. Our to do with great difficulty, he darted like an arrow attention was presently diverted from the whales against the boat. They reached the shore; and and "such small deer" by an exclamation from the animal, perceiving that it had come in shallow Dowling, our man-of-war's-man, who was sitting water, dived immediately, and disappeared in the to leeward, of, "Oh! sirs, look here!" we were deep. started into a ready compliance, and saw an object which banished all other thoughts save wonder and surprise. ment. Such is the declaration of these four men ; and no Molde, the 29th Nov., 1845. At the distance of from 150 to 200 yards on our starboard bow, we saw the head and neck of some denizen of the deep, precisely like those of a common snake, in the act of swimming, the head so far elevated and thrown forward by the curve of the neck as to enable us to see the water under and beyond it. The creature rapidly passed, leaving a regular wake, from the commencement of which to the fore part, which was out of water, we judged its length to be about eighty feet; and this is within rather than beyond the mark. We were, of course, all taken aback at the sight, and with staring eyes half a minute: there could be no mistake, no deluand in speechless wonder stood gazing at it for full sion, and we were all perfectly satisfied that we had been favored with a view of the "true and veritable sea-serpent," which had been generally considered |