140 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



people are the same that they were thirty or thirty-five 

 years ago. As to Mr. F., I suppose I have seen what you * 

 alluded to, a foreign criticism written, I presume, by F. 

 himself. I and my works are a standing topic of sneer or 

 attack with him, but he has the game all to himself, as I do 

 not reply, nor do I feel any serious interest in anything he 

 can say about me. 



TO DR. EDWARD HITCHCOCK. 



NEW HAVEN, August 6, 1835. 



MY DEAR SIR, I am much gratified that you are 

 seriously at work upon the turkey-tracks or bird-tracks of 

 whatever kind they may be, and you may rest assured that 

 I shall publish nothing upon the subject until I receive it 

 from you. I will, therefore, expect you to do justice to Dr. 

 Deane, as you are perfectly acquainted with the circum 

 stances, and if you see Dr. Deane, I will thank you to 

 intimate to him what I have just said. My impressions are 

 so strong in favor of the genuineness of the discovery, 

 judging only from the imperfect copy I have in plaster, 

 that I feel exceedingly desirous to have the matter investi 

 gated, and I do not know in whose hands it can be better 

 placed. 



It would be a most interesting geological conclusion to 

 establish, that there were birds at so early an era as the 

 new sandstone, and especially that turkeys were gobbling 

 and strutting so long before their rival, man. 



TO DR. EDWARD HITCHCOCK. 



February 24, 1836. 



I WRITE to apprise you that Professor Kingsley, having 

 perused Mr. Stuart's review of your geological discussions, 

 saw at once that the learned but over confident and vaunting 

 theologue had laid himself open to an unanswerable reply, 

 and I encouraged him to make it. He has done it in a 



