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PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OP 



to find aa acceptable explanation of the credence which has been given to the 

 supposition. I need not say, in this Hall, that the thing is impossible. Mr. 

 Miller is no longer among the living ; the hand of death has removed restraints 

 ■which might have prevented the voluntary proffer of any denial of such an imputa- 

 tion as is implied upon me, upon you, and upon our associates, by the paragraphs 

 which I have read to you. I shall have your and their approval, when I give 

 to the memory of the deceased, as a tribute of respect, the most emphatic dis- 

 claimer of any thought which could impeach the integrity of his motives in the 

 construction of his argument; or which could attribute to him conscious neglect 

 of the rights of others, in that most unfortunate interpretation which he has put 

 upon the Proceedings of this body. 



Having said thus much towards the dead, let me add a few words in the way 

 of caution to ourselves. Each of us is engaged in some pursuit which touches 

 adversely the opinions, the prejudices, the self-love, perhaps the religious senti- 

 ment of a portion of mankind. Even in what might appear to an uuimpassioned 

 observer the most tranquil of occupations, there arise competitions; and the 

 very love of truth often makes us impatient disputants. We have seen that 

 under a sudden sensibility to a logical criticism, not so phrased as expressly to 

 forbid the meaning erroneously attributed to it, a stranger, with no cause of 

 quarr *, has been supposed by an author of respectable fame to make an accusa- 

 tion of mendacity against him ; and a learned body of established reputation 

 has been believed to have promoted the publication of the charge. To a judg- 

 ment thus unconsciously clouded, see how naturally all that followed became 

 distorted. I had said that the proceeding of the author was " a fallacious use 

 of a generalization made for a purpose, and upon a principle not properly availa- 

 ble for the writer's argument ;" and the author forgetting the distinction be- 

 tween &f(tUacii and a falsehood, and overlooking too the grammatical relation of 

 the parts of the sentence, italicized the words " 7nade for apur2}ose" so that his 

 readers could not avoid the suggestion that it was the '■'■fallacious use" and not 

 the " generalization," which had been mac?e /o?* a j9!<rjuose, inapplicable to bis 

 object. Nay more ; such was the effect upon the author's mind, that he closed 

 his quotation with an "&c." at the very point at which began the sentence which 

 I have read to you, referring to the " esteem in which he was deservedly held in 

 the United States" — took no notice whatever of the tenor of that sentence, but 

 said," so far the Proceedings of the Academy," &c. It need not surprise you, sir, 

 after such examples, to find that I am said to treat the carboniferous period as the 

 latest of the palaeozoic series. A glance at my phraseology will be sufficient to 

 show you that the " series" referred to was one reckoned " from the carboniferous 

 rocks downwards, (backward in order of time,)" and that the rocks in this series 

 were selected by me to show the inconsistency of the argument with the facts ; and 

 that my choice had no connection with the limitation of the palaeozoic system. 

 That my use of the word series was not a novelty, may be easily shewn by refer- 

 ence to British as well as American authors.* I have no wish to multiply these 

 observations ; my peculiar personal interestin the misapprehensions of the author, 

 ends with the explanation which has been made in relation to that which wounded 

 his feelings ; yet, in illustration of the reflection to which my last remarks have 

 been directed, it may not be improper to mention two or thi'ee additional ex- 

 amples. Thus, although a member of this body, surrounded by the choice 

 geological library through the use of which so manj^ Americans have become 

 known abroad for learning in natural science, it is assumed that I am igno- 

 rant of the relation of the " Permian " rocks to the Palceozoic system — a relation 



* " The use of the word series in describing the subdivisions of the palaeozoic 

 system, is by no means an innovation, but is, on the contrary, a return to the 

 language formerly in very common use among tlie members of the Geological 

 Society, as any one may see on turning over the pages of the early volumes." 

 Synopsis of the Classification of the British Palceozoic Rocks. By the Rev. Adam 

 Sedyivick, 3L A., F. K. S., Woodwardian Professor and Felloio of Trinity College, 

 Camhridye. London, 1855, 



[May, 



