Editing Mermaid (section)

==== Colonial Brazil ====
[[File:Bartholin(Copenhagen1854)-Hist anat-p164a-siren-top.jpg|thumb|Bartholin's siren (1654). The bones of the "hand" in the drawings on the right correspond to the flipper of a manatee.]]

Danish physician and natural historian [[Thomas Bartholin]] wrote about a mermaid specimen caught in Brazil (probably a manatee<ref name="senter&snow"/>) and subsequently dissected at Leiden.<ref name="broedel"/>{{Refn|name="bartholin-brazil"|Bartholin: "prope Brasiliam.. captus suit homo marinus..",<ref name="bartholin(copenhagen)1654"/> but Webster: "a Sea-Man taken by the Merchants of the West-India Company..", the latter omits mention of Brazil.}} Though referred to in the text as a "sea-man" (''homo marinus'') from Brazil, the account was accompanied by an engraved drawing captioned "Sirene", whose appearance was that of a humanoid female with bared breasts (a mermaid).<ref name="scribner2020-bartholin-pic">{{harvp|Scribner|2020}}: "{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgrtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT101|2='Sirene'.. with certain popular features of a mermaid (exposed breasts and a humanoid face.. odd, webbed hands, buttocks at the front)}}"</ref><ref name="bartholin(copenhagen)1654"/> The specimen's body was deformed and "without the sign of a tail",<ref name="bartholin-tr-webster"/> matching the drawing. And "a membrane [that] join [the fingers] together"<ref name="bartholin-tr-webster"/> is also reflected in the drawing as well (as her webbed pair of hands/forepaws).<ref name="scribner2020-bartholin-pic"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Bartholin subsequently provides a textual description of a neckless siren with lactating breasts,<ref name="broedel"/> however, that is the description from an entirely different specimen caught in the River Cuama off the [[Cape of Good Hope]], quoted from Bernardinus Ginnarus.<ref name="bartholin-tr-webster"/>}}

The specimen's account and illustration was later reproduced by Linnaeus, who captioned the beast "Siren Bartholini",<ref name="linnaeus-1769"/><ref name="scribner2021"/> hence "Bartholin's Siren".

Bartholin was actually not the sole proprietor of the specimen, but he came into possession of its hand and ribs, which he also illustrated in his book (figures above).{{sfnp|Scribner|2020}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Bartholin describes in detail that it was caught off of Brazil by merchants of the (Dutch) [[Dutch West India Company|West India Company]], the GWC, and the dissection conducted in Leiden by Petrus Pavius ([[Pieter Pauw]]), attended by [[Johannes de Laet]] (who was director of the GWC); Bartholin was given a hand and few ribs from de Laet, as a token of friendship.<ref name="bartholin-tr-webster"/>}} Based on the illustration, the "hand" has been determined to be the front flipper belonging to a manatee by a team of researchers.<ref name="senter&snow"/>

Bartholin himself had argued that it was a sea mammal closely related to seals (''phocae'').<ref name="bartholin-tr-webster"/><ref name="broedel"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Bartholin writes [[Phoca]]e,<ref name="bartholin-tr-webster"/> which is the genus, but perhaps he intended [[pinnipeds]]<ref name="broedel"/> more broadly.}} His rationale was that since there are several marine counterparts to land mammals e.g. "sea-horses",{{efn|A "sea-horse" in reality was either [[walrus]] or sea-unicorns/[[narwhal]]s, both sources for marine ivory. For water-horse as sea-unicorn, see {{harvp|Francisci|1668}}, opposite p. 1406, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-RTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1407 |2=Plate XLVII}}.}} the possibility of a marine creature with striking likeness to humans could not be ruled out,<ref name="bartholin(copenhagen)1654"/> though they should all be classified among seal-kind.<ref name="bartholin-tr-webster"/>

Erasmus Francisci ([[Erasmus Finx]], 1668) associated this Brazilian specimen with the local native lore of the "Yupiapra" (Ipupiara).{{efn|cf. [[#Iara and Ipupiara|§Iara and Ipupiara]], supra.}}<ref name="francisci"/><ref name="jcb-library"/>