o possible solutions of the question,
which created two distinct parties: on one side, those who were for a
monster of colossal strength; on the other, those who were for a
submarine vessel of enormous motive power.

But this last theory, plausible as it was, could not stand against
inquiries made in both worlds. That a private gentleman should have
such a machine at his command was not likely. Where, when, and how was
it built? and how could its construction have been kept secret?
Certainly a Government might possess such a destructive machine. And
in these disastrous times, when the ingenuity of man has multiplied the
power of weapons of war, it was possible that, without the knowledge of
others, a State might try to work such a formidable engine.

But the idea of a war machine fell before the declaration of
Governments. As public interest was in question, and transatlantic
communications suffered, their veracity could not be doubted. But how
admit that the construction of this submarine boat had escaped the
public eye? For a private gentleman to keep the secret under such
circumstances would be very difficult, and for a State whose every act
is persistently watched by powerful rivals, certainly impossible.

Upon my arrival in New York several persons did me the honour of
consulting me on the phenomenon in question. I had published in France
a work in quarto, in two volumes, entitled Mysteries of the Great
Submarine Grounds. This book, highly approved of in the learned world,
gained for me a special reputation in this rather obscure branch of
Natural History. My advice was asked. As long as I could deny the
reality of the fact, I confined myself to a decided negative. But
soon, finding myself driven into a corner, I was obliged to explain
myself point by point. I discussed the question in all its forms,
politically and scientifically; and I give here an extract from a
carefully-studied article which I published in the number of the 30th
of April. It ran as follows:

"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
cannot 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 scarcel