Characteristic Replies to Mr. Burroughs 
other glaring counterfeit, or any poor imitation 
of an original, or as | would discredit a story 
of my friend that was not in keeping with 
what I knew of his character.” That is 
pretty extravagant talk; but to what, after 
all, does it amount? To this only: that no 
observation in natural history is to be believed 
if it happens to be at variance with what we 
have already learned. In other 
words, according 
to Mr. Burroughs’ ONS 
amazing concep- ak ees 
tion of science, € ip = 
. . & ly Ke 
nothing in nature Sn Rigel 
is to be believed A an 
unless we know &§ at 
it already! : wo fin, 
We have no 34 *®& es 
é-s \ Ni yfitiy 
doubt that Mr. jf  , 
. i\ 5 “n 
Burroughs will oF oye! (ae é 
discover that his hee 
savage attack on 
Mr. Long has left 
Mr. Long uninjured, while it has done himself some 
damage in the estimation of men whose good opinion 
is worth having; and we sincerely regret that he should 
have fallen into so unpleasant a blunder. 
From The Ypsilantian, July 16, 1903 
Cine 2 of nature study who read in the 
Atlantic Monthly Mr. John Burroughs’ sweeping 
and somewhat dogmatic criticism of the animal 
studies of Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton, Rev. W. J. 
Long, and others, must have felt there was a good 
deal to be said on the other side. Indeed, Mr. Long 
has already said something in the Morth American 
Review, and Mr. Seton will probably take care of his 
end of the controversy when occasion calls for it. For 
Mr. Burroughs, delightful essayist and out-of-doors 
companion as he is, is by no means infallible as a 
7 
