208 Remarks on. Mr. Owen’s Leiter 
Perihelion passage, . . . Feb. 274579857 m.t. Green. 
Longitude of perihelion, . 279° 40/35”.50 Q 
tans of Tadic node, . 15° 0' 56”.45 : meq. Men 
Pnclinations Pos. cw eva hnde SAS 21e> bY 
Eccentricity, . . . . . 1.0008560 
Gaussian angle, 20. 4..-y-29 23", 04.76 
Perihelion distance,. . . 0.00415697 
Mean daily motion retrograde, 146”.50299. 
We have the honor to be your obedient servants, 
Sears C. Waker, 
E. Oris Kenpatu. 
To Messrs. John K. Kane, Alexander Dallas Bache, LL. D., 
Robley Dunglison, M. D., Joshua Francis Fisher. 
Arr. XXII.—Remarks on Mr. Owen’s Letter to the Editors on 
Dr. Harlan’s New Fossil Mammalia. 
[To THE EDITORS OF THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.] 
New Orleans, May 5, 1843. 
Gentlemen—lIn the last number of your Journal, (Vol. xxiv, No. 
2, p. 341, April, 1843,) I was gratified with the perusal of an in- 
teresting letter by Prof. Owen of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
London. The observations and opinions of Dr. O. on fossil oste- 
ology, are entitled to the highest respect; placed at the head of 
the richest osteological collection in the world, and endowed with 
a genius which peculiarly qualifies him for the successful prose- 
cution of his favorite department of science, he has perhaps ac- 
complished more for its advancement than any other single living 
laborer in this attractive field of research. His criticisms on my 
‘notice of new fossil mammalia,” are conceived in the proper 
spirit, having no other object than the advancement of science, 
and as such are duly acknowledged. 
I write under a full conviction of the difficulties attending my 
present isolated position: there does not exist a scientific library 
within a thousand miles, and the natural and physical sciences 
have consequently few votaries. 
The observations of Dr. Owen and myself on certain fossil 
mammals, have resulted in some discrepancies of opinion, which 
I conceive require some explanation on my part. 
