THE CARDIFF GIANT -1869 -1870 473 



tion of regents of the State University from Albany, in 

 cluding especially Dr. Woolworth, the secretary, a man 

 of large educational experience, and no less a personage 

 in the scientific world than Dr. James Hall, the State 

 geologist, perhaps the most eminent American paleon 

 tologist of that period. 



On their arrival at Syracuse in the evening, I met 

 them at their hotel and discussed with them the subject 

 which so interested us all, urging them especially to be 

 cautious, and stating that a mistake might prove very 

 injurious to the reputation of the regents, and to the 

 proper standing of scientific men and methods in the 

 State ; that if the matter should turn out to be a fraud, 

 and such eminent authorities should be found to have 

 committed themselves to it, there would be a guffaw 

 from one end of the country to the other at the expense 

 of the men intrusted by the State with its scientific and 

 educational interests. To this the gentlemen assented, 

 and next day they went to Cardiff. They came ; they saw ; 

 and they narrowly escaped being conquered. Luckily 

 they did not give their sanction to the idea that the statue 

 was a petrifaction, but Professor Hall was induced to 

 say: &quot;To all appearance, the statue lay upon the gravel 

 when the deposition of the fine silt or soil began, upon 

 the surface of which the forests have grown for succeed 

 ing generations. Altogether it is the most remarkable 

 object brought to light in this country, and, although not 

 dating back to the stone age, is, nevertheless, deserving 

 of the attention of archaeologists.&quot; 1 



At no period of my life have I ever been more discour 

 aged as regards the possibility of making right reason 

 prevail among men. 



As a refrain to every argument there seemed to go 

 jeering and sneering through my brain Schiller s famous 

 line: 



&quot; Against stupidity the gods themselves fight in vain.&quot; 2 



1 See his letter of October 23, 1869, in the Syracuse papers. 



2 &quot;Mit der Dummheit kampfen Gotter selbst vergebens.&quot; Jungfrau von 

 Orleans, Act III, scene 6. 



