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"
After
examining
one
by
one
the
different
theories
,
rejecting
all
other
suggestions
,
it
becomes
necessary
to
admit
the
existence
of
a
marine
animal
of
enormous
power
.
"
The
great
depths
of
the
ocean
are
entirely
unknown
to
us
.
Soundings
can
not
reach
them
.
What
passes
in
those
remote
depths
--
what
beings
live
,
or
can
live
,
twelve
or
fifteen
miles
beneath
the
surface
of
the
waters
--
what
is
the
organisation
of
these
animals
,
we
can
scarcely
conjecture
.
However
,
the
solution
of
the
problem
submitted
to
me
may
modify
the
form
of
the
dilemma
.
Either
we
do
know
all
the
varieties
of
beings
which
people
our
planet
,
or
we
do
not
.
If
we
do
not
know
them
all
--
if
Nature
has
still
secrets
in
the
deeps
for
us
,
nothing
is
more
conformable
to
reason
than
to
admit
the
existence
of
fishes
,
or
cetaceans
of
other
kinds
,
or
even
of
new
species
,
of
an
organisation
formed
to
inhabit
the
strata
inaccessible
to
soundings
,
and
which
an
accident
of
some
sort
has
brought
at
long
intervals
to
the
upper
level
of
the
ocean
.
"
If
,
on
the
contrary
,
we
do
know
all
living
kinds
,
we
must
necessarily
seek
for
the
animal
in
question
amongst
those
marine
beings
already
classed
;
and
,
in
that
case
,
I
should
be
disposed
to
admit
the
existence
of
a
gigantic
narwhal
.
"
The
common
narwhal
,
or
unicorn
of
the
sea
,
often
attains
a
length
of
sixty
feet
.
Increase
its
size
fivefold
or
tenfold
,
give
it
strength
proportionate
to
its
size
,
lengthen
its
destructive
weapons
,
and
you
obtain
the
animal
required
.
It
will
have
the
proportions
determined
by
the
officers
of
the
Shannon
,
the
instrument
required
by
the
perforation
of
the
Scotia
,
and
the
power
necessary
to
pierce
the
hull
of
the
steamer
.
"
Indeed
,
the
narwhal
is
armed
with
a
sort
of
ivory
sword
,
a
halberd
,
according
to
the
expression
of
certain
naturalists
.
The
principal
tusk
has
the
hardness
of
steel
.
Some
of
these
tusks
have
been
found
buried
in
the
bodies
of
whales
,
which
the
unicorn
always
attacks
with
success
.
Others
have
been
drawn
out
,
not
without
trouble
,
from
the
bottoms
of
ships
,
which
they
had
pierced
through
and
through
,
as
a
gimlet
pierces
a
barrel
.
The
Museum
of
the
Faculty
of
Medicine
of
Paris
possesses
one
of
these
defensive
weapons
,
two
yards
and
a
quarter
in
length
,
and
fifteen
inches
in
diameter
at
the
base
.
"
Very
well
!
suppose
this
weapon
to
be
six
times
stronger
and
the
animal
ten
times
more
powerful
;
launch
it
at
the
rate
of
twenty
miles
an
hour
,
and
you
obtain
a
shock
capable
of
producing
the
catastrophe
required
.
Until
further
information
,
therefore
,
I
shall
maintain
it
to
be
a
sea-unicorn
of
colossal
dimensions
,
armed
not
with
a
halberd
,
but
with
a
real
spur
,
as
the
armoured
frigates
,
or
the
`
rams
'
of
war
,
whose
massiveness
and
motive
power
it
would
possess
at
the
same
time
.
Thus
may
this
puzzling
phenomenon
be
explained
,
unless
there
be
something
over
and
above
all
that
one
has
ever
conjectured
,
seen
,
perceived
,
or
experienced
;
which
is
just
within
the
bounds
of
possibility
.
"
These
last
words
were
cowardly
on
my
part
;
but
,
up
to
a
certain
point
,
I
wished
to
shelter
my
dignity
as
professor
,
and
not
give
too
much
cause
for
laughter
to
the
Americans
,
who
laugh
well
when
they
do
laugh
.
I
reserved
for
myself
a
way
of
escape
.
In
effect
,
however
,
I
admitted
the
existence
of
the
"
monster
.
"
My
article
was
warmly
discussed
,
which
procured
it
a
high
reputation
.
It
rallied
round
it
a
certain
number
of
partisans
.
The
solution
it
proposed
gave
,
at
least
,
full
liberty
to
the
imagination
.
The
human
mind
delights
in
grand
conceptions
of
supernatural
beings
.
And
the
sea
is
precisely
their
best
vehicle
,
the
only
medium
through
which
these
giants
-LRB-
against
which
terrestrial
animals
,
such
as
elephants
or
rhinoceroses
,
are
as
nothing
-RRB-
can
be
produced
or
developed
.
The
industrial
and
commercial
papers
treated
the
question
chiefly
from
this
point
of
view
.
The
Shipping
and
Mercantile
Gazette
,
the
Lloyd
's
List
,
the
Packet-Boat
,
and
the
Maritime
and
Colonial
Review
,
all
papers
devoted
to
insurance
companies
which
threatened
to
raise
their
rates
of
premium
,
were
unanimous
on
this
point
.
Public
opinion
had
been
pronounced
.
The
United
States
were
the
first
in
the
field
;
and
in
New
York
they
made
preparations
for
an
expedition
destined
to
pursue
this
narwhal
.
A
frigate
of
great
speed
,
the
Abraham
Lincoln
,
was
put
in
commission
as
soon
as
possible
.
The
arsenals
were
opened
to
Commander
Farragut
,
who
hastened
the
arming
of
his
frigate
;
but
,
as
it
always
happens
,
the
moment
it
was
decided
to
pursue
the
monster
,
the
monster
did
not
appear
.
For
two
months
no
one
heard
it
spoken
of
.
No
ship
met
with
it
.
It
seemed
as
if
this
unicorn
knew
of
the
plots
weaving
around
it
.
It
had
been
so
much
talked
of
,
even
through
the
Atlantic
cable
,
that
jesters
pretended
that
this
slender
fly
had
stopped
a
telegram
on
its
passage
and
was
making
the
most
of
it
.
So
when
the
frigate
had
been
armed
for
a
long
campaign
,
and
provided
with
formidable
fishing
apparatus
,
no
one
could
tell
what
course
to
pursue
.
Impatience
grew
apace
,
when
,
on
the
2nd
of
July
,
they
learned
that
a
steamer
of
the
line
of
San
Francisco
,
from
California
to
Shanghai
,
had
seen
the
animal
three
weeks
before
in
the
North
Pacific
Ocean
.
