THE STAG. 113 



the form of the slot have led you to a wrong conclusion, 

 the measurements afterwards made will show 3^ou your 

 error. Thus, as you will see later, it is not any single, 

 separate sign which is to determine your decision, but 

 the summed up evidence of all which is to appeal to 

 your judgment. You must judge of each circumstance 

 in connection with the accessory facts by which it is 

 sivrrounded. For example, the concave impressions left 

 by the ball-shaped part of the hoof, which sign is next 

 to attract attention, are sometimes so alike in the male 

 and female animal, that you might easily be misled were 

 you to take this alone as a criterion. 



Then see if the round heart-shaped elevation 

 (Burgstall) is to be discovered. Also if the fine thread- 

 like line (Fadlein), so peculiar to the stag, is visible upon 

 it. You should follow the tracks for some distance, and 

 if you find it in them all consecutively, there can be no 

 doubt the slot is that of a stag. 



And even when pretty sure you are right in your 

 judgment, omit on no account to verify it by as many 

 other attendant circumstances as possible. As you 

 prove a sum by adding these and those figures toge- 

 ther, so should you prove the opinion come to in one 

 way, by subjecting it to the ordeal of still further 

 comparison. 



Sand, being so liable to disturbance, is not much to be 

 relied on for the accuracy of an impression ; therefore, 



I 



