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.
Hand-coloured engraving from 1817 by John Paas, “Mermaids Exhibited Successively in the Years 1758, 1775, & 1795”source
