458 A Century of /Science 



three fingers, upon whom he bestowed the name of 

 Homo tridactylus. For companions he gave this 

 personage four species of kangaroo, and from that 

 time forth discoveries multiplied. 



Such claims, when presented before learned 

 societies with the doctor's quaint enthusiasm, and 

 illustrated by his marvellous crayon sketches, 

 were greeted with shouts of laughter. Among the 

 geologists who chiefly provoked his wrath was the 

 celebrated student of fossil footprints, Dr. Edward 

 Hitchcock. " Why, sir," he would exclaim, " Dr. 

 Hitchcock is a perfect fool, sir ! I can teach ten 

 of him, sir ! " In spite of all scoffs and rebuffs, 

 the old gentleman moved on to the end serene in 

 his unshakable convictions. A courteous listener 

 was, of course, a rare boon to him ; and so, in that 

 little town, it became his habit to confide his new 

 discoveries to me. When I was out walking, if 

 chary of my half hours (as sometimes happened), 

 a long detour would be necessary, to avoid his 

 accustomed haunts ; and once, on my return from 

 a journey, I had hardly rung the doorbell when he 

 appeared on the veranda with an essay entitled 

 " An Eocene Picnic," which he hoped to publish 

 in " The Atlantic Monthly," and which he insisted 

 upon reading to me then and there. At one time 

 a very large bone was found in one of the quarries, 



