172 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



Part II. of the " Memoir on Dinornis," as your name appears 

 amongst the first in my list of friends to whom I had, or 

 meant to have, sent it. I enclose it herewith to the care of 

 George P. Putnam. At the same time you will receive a 

 copy of my contributions to the history of our fossil mam 

 mals, (additional or supplemental to my 8vo. history,) and 

 also a copy of my work on the Archetype and Homologies 

 of the vertebrate skeleton. You may remember the con 

 dition in which this philosophical department of anatomy 

 was left by the great Cuvier and Geoffroy, and the discus 

 sions which unhappily tended to sever those estimable men 

 in the latter period of their lives. The result was the 

 formation of two schools or parties in the French world of 

 anatomy, and subsequently the facts and arguments bear 

 ing upon these transcendental questions have been viewed 

 in Paris through the prism of such party feeling. 



The chief and most cherished labor and reflections of 

 many past years have been devoted by me to the acquisition 

 of such truth as might lie at the bottom of the well into 

 which this Philosophy of Anatomy seemed to have sunk 

 after the departure of the great luminaries of the Jardin 

 des Plantes. With what success I have drawn from the 

 deep and obscure source, I leave to the impartial students 

 of my little book. My chief hope of a fair reception and 

 appreciation of the philosophy rests with or on the free and 

 clear judgment of your countrymen 



FKOM PROFESSOR DAUBENY. 



Botanic Garden, OXFORD, 

 February 3, 1843. 



DEAR PROFESSOR SILLIMAN, I hope I have not made 

 you an unacceptable return for your many kind attentions 

 in forwarding to me a copy of your interesting Journal, by 

 addressing to you, through the Secretary of the Royal 

 Society, my little Journal in the United States, of which 

 I have printed one hundred copies for private circulation 



