137 
In the foreground of every life, distinguished from the 
common life of the crowd, lies some object characteristic and 
nominative, the seal and signature of that man’s demon, by 
which he shall be recognized and spoken of forever. The 
print of a bird’s foot on a slab of red sandstone is the totem 
of Edward Hitchcock. He was not the first to see these 
wonderful remains, nor even the first to see them with an 
eye of trained judicial and executive science. But though 
others built and owned the city, he carried off its gates upon 
his shoulders. His patience in examining these remains ; 
his economical skill in collecting them ;. the taste and large- 
ness of mind which he displayed in their arrangement, and 
the energy with which he pursued this new branch of 
Palxontology, until the world recognized its claims and 
learned its merits, entitle him to rank, at least, as the coequal 
of its true discoverer. Dr. Dean early convinced himself, 
and Dr. Hitchcock afterwards, that the vestiges were those 
of living creatures, birds wading on the estuary flats ; and 
both together convinced the world of it. But, besides this, 
there was much more to do. Specific differences were to be 
determined. He, Hitchcock, determined one hundred and 
twenty species. Comparison with foreign specimens was 
indispensable. He made the-finest cabinet in the world, 
and placed it at the disposal of students. He published 
plates and descriptions of its contents, so that geologists in 
other countries might discuss opinions. He exerted such an 
influence over the public mind that the State of Massachu- 
setts became the publisher of the new department. No 
controversies will ever avail to divorce the name of Edward 
Hitchcock from that of Ornithichnology. His name has 
become itself an imprint — not a bird-track, but a bard- 
track — upon the rock. Sedgwick and the Cambrians, 
Marchison and the Silurians, Hugh Miller and the Devoni- 
uae 
