43Q THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



pressious, called Omithichnites, or bird-tracks on stone. One of them 

 was a foot of gigantic dimensions, not less than sixteen inches long, 

 three times larger than its nearest living representative. It was no 

 wonder that, in these early days, even the father of the science hesitated 

 to admit these monsters into his ichnitic family, yet so exact are the 

 laws of comparative anatomy, and so like the rows of impressions 

 made by living feet were these giants, that a relationship to existing 

 groups could be no longer denied. 



A few geologists accepted these doctrines immediately after their 

 promulgation ; but most of them, as well as the community in gen- 

 eral, doubted whether the preservation of foot-marks were possible, 

 and especially whether they could have been made by birds. Some 

 thought the resemblance was fanciful ; others that they were the re- 

 mains of peculiar marine plants. The public mind, which had no sci- 

 entific appreciation of the subject, saw abundant opportunity for wit- 

 ticism, and did not spare the shaft of ridicule. The American Asso- 

 ciation of Geologists and Naturalists at length appointed a committee 

 to investigate the subject, including in the list both the friends and 

 opponents of the new views. They visited Prof. Hitchcock in due 

 time, explored the quarries, examined his specimens, and became con- 

 vinced unanimously that his views were correct. Their report to the 

 Association states that " the evidence entirely favors the views of 

 Prof. Hitchcock, and they regret that a difference had existed, if they 

 did not feel assured it would lead to greater stability of opinion." 

 This committee consisted of H. D. Rogers, E. Emmons, Lardner 

 Vanuxem, Richard C. Taylor, and T. A. Conrad. 



The public generally acquiesced in the truth of this report ; they 

 ceased to ridicule, and began to believe that a new chapter in the 

 earth's history had been laid bare for perusal; great popular interest 

 was excited in the foot-marks, and at the present day everybody has 

 heard of the wonderful tracks upon stone in the Connecticut River 

 Valley. The name of their principal expounder, who first published 

 an account of them to the world, and waged a seven years' contest 

 with his compeers and the public on this account, has become indelibly 

 associated with them. 



The results of Prof. Hitchcock's researches have been published in 

 two large quarto volumes entitled " The Ichnology of New England." 

 Of other publications, the " Ichnographs " of the Connecticut sand- 

 stone are worthy of notice as a monument to the memory of Dr. 

 James Deane, whose early interest in the foot-marks never flagged, 

 and who applied himself earnestly to the study of geology, so that his 

 later writings have become invested with the authority of an able and 

 accurate observer. 



Amherst College now possesses the unrivalled collection of ichnites 

 collected by Prof. Hitchcock. They occupy a room 100 feet long and 

 40 feet wide, and are more than 20,000 in number. 



