Excerpt from Romance of Natural History If I may venture to point out one subject on which I have bestowed more than usual pains, and which I myself regard with more than com mon interest, it is that of the last chapter in this volume. An amount of evidence is adduced for the existence of the sub-mythic monster popularly known as the sea-serpent, such as has never been brought together before, and such as ought almost to set doubt at rest. But the cloudy un certainty which has invested the very being of this creature; its home on the lone ocean; the fitful way in which it is seen and lost in its vast solitudes; its dimensions, vaguely gigantic; its dragon-like form; and the possibility of its asso ciation with beings considered to be lost in an obsolete antiquity; all these are attributes which render it peculiarly precious to a romantic natu ralist. I hope the statisticians will forgive me if they cannot see it with my spectacles. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.