Dr. Deane's Surrejoinder to Prof. Hitchcock. 399 



utation, I can leave them nothing. If the claims now set up 

 are acknowledged, a taint of dishonorable suspicion will attach 

 to me, and the credit be wrested from me, of the most original 

 and laborious scientific efforts of my life — and that too by friends ! 

 For in spite of the needless severity of Dr. Deane's article, I will 

 still believe him sincere and honest in maintaining his claims. 

 And now that we have referred our cause to the scientific public, 

 he will, if he chooses, find me ready to reciprocate the offices of 

 private intercourse and friendship. 



I hope the Editors of the Journal will not consider all the 

 space devoted to this discussion as lost to their readers. For it 

 seems to me that the principles examined, are important to the 

 decision of many cases of a similar character which are frequently 



occurring. 



Amherst College, Sept. 16, 1844. 



Art. XVI. — Answer to the "Rejoinder" of Prof. Hitchcock ; by 



James Deane, M. D, 



The preceding rejoinder being in the main repetitions of for- 

 mer statements, I had deemed any farther refutation unnecessary, 

 but I am compelled to think a few brief explanatory remarks are 

 indispensable, relating chiefly to matters of fact. ^ 



In the first place, the date 1834 was not quoted by me from the 

 Report of Mr. Hitchcock as he affirms, but from his Northampton 

 letter. 



2. I never declared that the impressions were the tracks of a 

 turkey, but of some bird, probably of the turkey species. It was 

 the expression of an opinion, not of a fact, and I have shown that 

 this loose comparison has often been made by Mr. H. 



3. I solemnly reaffirm that Mr. Wilson never gave me infor- 

 mation concerning the original discovery, and the statement that 

 this gentleman pointed out the specimens to me, is unjust. 



4. The circumstance of not removing the slabs is at most a 

 negative argument of little moment. I had secured them from 

 injury; they were large and heavy, and distant but a few yards 

 from my study. But the true reason of this apparent negligence 

 was, not that the specimens were indifferent to me, but that I 

 had determined to present them to Mr. H. 



