392 Prof. Hitchcock's Rejoinder to Dr. Deane. 



mains, or he would not have referred these markings to a living 

 species or even genus of birds ; secondly, that he was not aware 

 but that the tracks of birds were common on stone ; thirdly, that 

 of course he could not know about the Scottish tracks, the only 

 then known example in the world ; and finally, that he had not 

 made, nor intended to make, any scientific examination of these 

 tracks, and therefore that his opinion concerning them was the 

 result of casual inspection, and of no more consequence than the 

 opinion of any respectable sagacious man who was not acquaint- 

 ed with the subject. Such certainly were my conclusions ; and 

 accordingly on the 15th of March I replied, expressing a desire 

 to have the specimens" preserved, and suggesting that perhaps 

 they might prove to be something else than tracks. On the 20th 

 of March Dr. Deane sent another letter, saying — " I received 

 your letter this morning, which excites my curiosity more than 

 ever, relating to those tracks." He then says, that he had ex- 

 amined them anew, and presents similar conclusions to those in 

 his former letter. As he was stimulated to this examination by 

 the facts in my letter, and as he could have had only a few 

 hours for his new examination, I saw nothing to alter my im- 

 pressions derived from his first note, or to need a reply. A few 

 days afterwards, I received from him two plaster casts of the im- 

 pressions, with a note, I think, though I have no recollection of 

 its contents ; and unfortunately the original cannot be found on 

 the files of Prof Silliman or myself. It is easy for Dr. Deane 

 to magnify the importance of this lost document ; but 1 am sure 

 it contained no new facts or reasoning not in his previous letters. 

 Certain I am that it made no impression on me ; though the 

 casts excited stronger desire to see the specimens. My doubts 

 were not in the least diminished by any of his letters, just be- 

 cause his first letter showed conclusively that he was not enough 

 acquainted with the subject to judge correctly concerning it, and 

 had given it only the slightest examination. In a few days I 

 visited Greenfield, and found that the specimens had not been 

 removed from the streets ; nor did Dr. D. express any unwilling- 

 ness to let me have them ; nor then, or at any subsequent time, 

 did he intimate that he intended to investigate the subject, or 

 publish its history ; and since he asks the question, I state most 

 decidedly, that at no time up to this hour, unless my memory de- 

 ceives me, have I had the least apprehension or suspicion that he 



