{"product_id":"2940012757395","title":"SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED","description":"PREFACE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs I commence this little history of two sea monsters there comes to my\u003cbr\u003emind a remark made to me by my friend, Mr. Samuel L. Clemens--\"Mark\u003cbr\u003eTwain\"--which illustrates a feeling that many a writer must have\u003cbr\u003eexperienced when dealing with a subject that has been previously well\u003cbr\u003ehandled. Expressing to me one day the gratification he felt in having\u003cbr\u003emade many pleasant acquaintances in England, he added, with dry humour,\u003cbr\u003eand a grave countenance, \"Yes! I owe your countrymen no grudge or\u003cbr\u003eill-will. I freely forgive them, though one of them did me a grievous\u003cbr\u003ewrong, an irreparable injury! It was Shakspeare: if he had not written\u003cbr\u003ethose plays of his, I should have done so! They contain _my_ thoughts,\u003cbr\u003e_my_ sentiments! He forestalled me!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn treating of the so-called \"sea-serpent,\" I have been anticipated by\u003cbr\u003emany able writers. Mr. Gosse, in his delightful book, 'The Romance of\u003cbr\u003eNatural History,' published in 1862, devoted a chapter to it; and\u003cbr\u003enumerous articles concerning it have appeared in various papers and\u003cbr\u003eperiodicals.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut, for the information from which those authors have drawn their\u003cbr\u003einferences, and on which they have founded their opinions, they have\u003cbr\u003ebeen greatly indebted, as must be all who have seriously to consider\u003cbr\u003ethis subject, to the late experienced editor of the _Zoologist_, Mr.\u003cbr\u003eEdward Newman, a man of wonderful power of mind, of great judgment, a\u003cbr\u003eprofound thinker, and an able writer. At a time when, as he said, \"the\u003cbr\u003eshafts of ridicule were launched against believers and unbelievers in\u003cbr\u003ethe sea-serpent in a very pleasing and impartial manner,\" he, in the\u003cbr\u003etrue spirit of philosophical inquiry, in 1847, opened the columns of his\u003cbr\u003emagazine to correspondence on this topic, and all the more recent\u003cbr\u003ereports of marine monsters having been seen are therein recorded. To\u003cbr\u003ehim, therefore, the fullest acknowledgments are due.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe great cuttles, also, have been the subject of articles in various\u003cbr\u003emagazines, notably one by Mr. W. Saville Kent, F.L.S., in the 'Popular\u003cbr\u003eScience Review' of April, 1874, and a chapter in my little book on the\u003cbr\u003eOctopus, published in 1873, is also devoted to them. In writing of them\u003cbr\u003eas the living representatives of the kraken, and as having been\u003cbr\u003efrequently mistaken for the \"sea-serpent,\" my deductions have been drawn\u003cbr\u003efrom personal knowledge, and an intimate acquaintance with the habits,\u003cbr\u003eform, and structure of the animals described. It was only by watching\u003cbr\u003ethe movements of specimens of the \"common squid\" (_Loligo vulgaris_),\u003cbr\u003eand the \"little squid\" (_L. media_), which lived in the tanks of the\u003cbr\u003eBrighton Aquarium, that I recognised in their peculiar habit of\u003cbr\u003eoccasionally swimming half-submerged, with uplifted caudal extremity,\u003cbr\u003eand trailing arms, the fact that I had before me the \"sea-serpent\" of\u003cbr\u003emany a well-authenticated anecdote. A mere knowledge of their form and\u003cbr\u003eanatomy after death had never suggested to me that which became at once\u003cbr\u003eapparent when I saw them in life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is a pleasure to me to acknowledge gratefully the kindness I have\u003cbr\u003emet with in connection with the illustrations of this book. The\u003cbr\u003eproprietors of the _Illustrated London News_ not only gave me permission\u003cbr\u003eto copy, in reduced size, their two pictures of the _Dædalus_ incident,\u003cbr\u003ebut presented to me electrotype copies of all others small enough for\u003cbr\u003ethese pages--namely, \"Jonah and the Monster,\" Egede's \"Sea-Serpent,\" and\u003cbr\u003ethe Whale as seen from the _Pauline_. Equally kind have been the\u003cbr\u003eproprietors of the _Field_. To them I am greatly indebted for their\u003cbr\u003epermission to copy the beautiful woodcuts of the \"Octopus at Rest,\" \"The\u003cbr\u003eSepia seizing its Prey,\" and the arms of the Newfoundland squids, and\u003cbr\u003ealso for \"electros\" of the two curious Japanese engravings, all of which\u003cbr\u003eoriginally appeared in their paper. From the _Graphic_ I have had\u003cbr\u003esimilar permission to copy any cuts that might be thought suitable, and\u003cbr\u003ethe illustrations of the sea-serpent, as seen from Her Majesty's yacht\u003cbr\u003e_Osborne_ and the _City of Baltimore_, are from that journal. Messrs.\u003cbr\u003eNisbet most courteously allowed me to have a copy of the block of the\u003cbr\u003e_Enaliosaurus_ swimming, which was one of the numerous pictures in Mr.\u003cbr\u003eGosse's book, published by them, already referred to. And last, not\u003cbr\u003eleast, I have to thank Miss Ellen Woodward, daughter of my friend, Dr.\u003cbr\u003eHenry Woodward, F.R.S., for enabling me to better explain the movements\u003cbr\u003eand appearances of the squids when swimming, and when raising their\u003cbr\u003ebodies out of water in an erect position, by carefully drawing them from\u003cbr\u003emy rough sketches.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e                                        HENRY LEE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  SAVAGE CLUB;\u003cbr\u003e    _July 21st, 1883_.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47081674113264,"sku":"2940012757395","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012757395_p0.jpg?v=1763572204","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012757395","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}