Word: themermaid
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...week only. By chance, after this week, the mermaid moved to the AmericanMuseum, where Barnum welcomed it with an 18-footflag of a beautiful mermaid. Barnum dismissed allthis as a "ploy" to attract people to his museum.His carefully-planned publicity campaign workedwell; museum receipts almost tripled, and themermaid was off to tour the country...
Barnum brought the feejee mermaid to Charlestonin the 1840s, and played right into the hands ofNott and his contemporaries. Nott used themermaid, and many of Barnum's other oddities, toshow that the human species can diverge. Themermaid, which he professed to be genuine, provedthat this half-human was of a different species,as were the different races. The mermaid wascaught up in the intense debate over the unity ofthe human species...
...naturalists, heargued that the mermaid was simply the body of amonkey sewn to a fish, and that it wasanatomically inaccurate. The mermaid, encased inglass, was not allowed to be examined, sobelievers in the mermaid accused the naturalistsof taking authority in a matter which they hadnever submitted to scientific examination. Themermaid, or rather Barnum's business, suffered agreat deal during this time, and Barnum wiselydecided to bring the mermaid back to New York...
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