An illustration of the “Martinique Triton” from The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, vol. XXIX (1761).
Featured on PDR in the essay Mermaids and Tritons in the Age of Reason
For much of the eighteenth century, Western intellectuals chased after tritons and mermaids. Vaughn Scribner follows the hunt, revealing how humanity’s supposed aquatic ancestors became wondrous screens on which to project theories of geographical, racial, and taxonomical difference.
Also appearing in the essay…
Martinique Triton
Date
1761
From
The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure
