472 MISCELLANEOUS RECOLLECTIONS -I 



A week after my first visit I again went to the place, by 

 invitation. In the crowd on that day were many men of 

 light and leading from neighboring towns, among them 

 some who made pretensions to scientific knowledge. The 

 figure, lying in its grave, deeply impressed all; and as a 

 party of us came away, a very excellent doctor of divinity, 

 pastor of one of the largest churches in Syracuse, said 

 jpery impressively, &quot;Is it not strange that any human 

 being, after seeing this wonderfully preserved figure, 

 can deny the evidence of his senses, and refuse to believe, 

 what is so evidently the fact, that we have here a fossilized 

 human being, perhaps one of the giants mentioned in 

 Scripture?&quot; 



Another visitor, a bright-looking lady, was heard to 

 declare, i i Nothing in the world can ever make me believe 

 that he was not once a living being. Why, you can see the 

 veins in his legs. l 



Another prominent clergyman declared with ex ca 

 thedra emphasis : This is not a thing contrived of man, 

 but is the face of one who lived on the earth, the very 

 image and child of God. 2 And a writer in one of the 

 most important daily papers of the region dwelt on the 

 &quot;majestic simplicity and grandeur of the figure, &quot; and 

 added, &quot;It is not unsafe to affirm that ninety-nine out 

 of every hundred persons who have seen this wonder 

 have become immediately and instantly impressed with 

 the idea that they were in the presence of an object not 

 made by mortal hands. . . . No piece of sculpture ever 

 produced the awe inspired by this blackened form. . . . 

 I venture to affirm that no living sculptor can be pro 

 duced who will say that the figure was conceived and 

 executed by any human being. 3 



The current of belief ran more and more strongly, and 

 soon embraced a large number of really thoughtful peo 

 ple. A week or two after my first visit came a deputa- 



1 See Letter of Hon. Galusha Parsons in the Fort Dodge Pamphlet. 



2 See Mr. Stockbridge s article in the &quot; Popular Science Monthly,&quot; June, 

 1878. 



3 See &quot;The American Goliath,&quot; Syracuse, 1869, p. 16. 



