CHAPTER VIII 



The Romance of Numbers and Testimony of Living 



Men as to Reality of the Figures 



Considered Marvelous 



IT has been said by a great author that more ro- 

 mance can be found by intelligent study of a mass 

 of figures, set forth by a statistician, than in any other 

 form known to the writing art. The magic measures 

 ir: numbers, orderly arranged in columns of figures, 

 appeal more strongly to many mathematicians than do 

 the resounding rhythms in Homer's poems. The story 

 of the Passenger Pigeon is neither romance nor poe- 

 try ; yet we must not ignore the figures entirely. The 

 pioneers of Potter county were incredulous of John 

 Lyman's report in 1805. They could not believe that 

 twenty millions of the birds existed along a hundred 

 miles of the upper Allegheny at that time. To them 

 it was only a romance, for five years, until they re- 

 turned, and experts reported that it was history and 

 conservative. 



Of the Susquehanna river nesting city there was no 

 cordial acceptance of what the two young men, William 

 French and John Grimes, reported tliat they had seen ; 

 that millions of the fat squabs had been melted down 

 for their fat alone; that many barrels of the oil went 

 down the river in boat-loads. Most people doubted 



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