SQUAMATA 149 



injury to the fossil, and he then, by degrees, cleared away the yielding matrix 

 and exposed the extraordinary jaws and teeth, which have since been the sub- 

 ject of so many drawings, descriptions, and discussions. This fine specimen 

 which Dr. Hofmann had transported with so much satisfaction to his collection, 

 soon became, however, a source of much chagrin to him. Dr. Goddin, one of 

 the canons of Maestricht, who owned the surface of the soil beneath which was 

 the quarry whence the fossil was obtained, when the fame of the fossil reached 

 his ears, pleaded certain feudal rights in support of his claim to it. Hofmann 

 resisted and the canon went to law. The whole chapter supported their rever- 

 end brother, and the decree ultimately went against the poor surgeon, who 

 lost both the specimen and his money, for he was made to pay the costs of the 

 action. The canon, leaving all remorse to the judges who pronounced the 

 iniquitous sentence, became the happy and contented possessor of this unique 

 example of its kind. [Translation by Leidy.] 



But the canon was ultimately despoiled of his ill-gotten treasure. 

 At the siege of Maestricht in 1795, the famous skull to which Hof- 

 mann had devoted so much anxious thought and labor, fell into 

 the hands of the French and was carried off as one of the spoils 

 of war. So widely celebrated had the specimen become during 

 the fifteen years which had elapsed since its discovery, through 

 the writings of several noted scientific men, that the French general 

 commanded his artillerists to spare the house in which it was known 

 to be. The canon, however, shrewdly suspecting that such an 

 unexpected and extraordinary mark of favor was not for his own 

 sake but rather for the sake of the famous fossil, had it removed 

 and carefully hidden in a house in the city. After the capitula- 

 tion of Maestricht the eagerly sought-for fossil was not to be found, 

 and the offer of a reward of six hundred bottles of wine, so the 

 story goes, was made for its recovery. So tempting was the offer 

 that, ere long, it was brought in triumph to the house of St. Faujas 

 de Fond, by a half-dozen grenadiers, whence it was later trans- 

 ferred to Paris, where it now is. 



We may well sympathize with Dr. Hofmann in the loss of his 

 cherished specimen, since, had it not been for his zeal, money, and 

 labor, it would never have escaped the usual fate of such things — ■ 

 complete destruction. But we must remember that St. Faujas 

 de Fond, the recorder of this history, was a Frenchman, and some- 

 what interested in robbing the reverend canon of it; possibly there 

 is another side of the story which has never been told. 



