thwarted by his opponents, and he sought consolation in writing, the results being his Origines Hafnienses (1760) and the first two parts of his Den danske Atlas (1763–1767), of which the last five volumes were edited posthumously. He was also active as a political economist, being the editor of Danmarks og Norges ökonomiske Magazin (8 vols., 1757–1764). Sea serpents and giant squids Pontoppidan argued for the existence of the sea serpent, the kraken and the mermaid in his two-volume work, Forsøk til Norges naturlige historie (The Natural History of Norway), published in 1752 and 1753. Herman Melville, in his novel Moby-Dick, talks about "the great Kraken of Bishop Pontoppodan". Jules Verne, in his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, references this aspect of Pontoppidan's work. The narrator, Professor Aronnax, explains that "another bishop, Pontoppidan of Bergen, also tells of a devilfish so large a whole cavalry regiment could maneuver on it." Despite the skepticism of his companions, they soon encounter "a squid of colossal dimensions." See, also, his The Sea Serpent. Influence Pontoppidan's Heller Glaubensspiegel was an influence on Swedish Lutheran lay preacher Carl Olof Rosenius, impressing upon him the importance of conversion and having a living faith. Notes References External links 1698 births 1764 deaths Danish Lutheran bishops Danish ornithologists Pontopiddan, Erik Bishops of Bjørgvin 18th-century Lutheran bishops People from Aarhus 18th-century Danish scientists 18th-century Norwegian clergy