Why did one newspaper say the mermaid was “the most odd of all the oddities earth or the sea had ever produced

Which quotation from the passage best supports the themethat humans have a natural desire to learn about theworld? "they were men. i remember the dead man's face.""at least, we make a beginning."and the magic tools are broken—but we can look atthem and wonder."but they were men who built the city, not gods ordemons.