Quadrupeds, 1 623 



2. From H. D. Richardson, Esq., of Dublin. 



Dublin, Dec. 16, 1846. 



Sir, — My attention has just been invited to a letter from Professor 

 Owen, which appeared in your paper of Saturday last, relative to cer- 

 tain skulls, of the extinct gigantic deer, recently found in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Limerick, and described in a late No. of the Gazette. 

 For your very kind and flattering allusion to my work on the animal 

 in question, T beg to offer my sincere thanks ; and, as no erroneous 

 statements relative to any subject, but more especially to one possess- 

 ing so much general interest as that of the great Irish deer, should 

 be suffered to remain uncorrected, I have to request your permission 

 to make a few remarks upon Mr. Owen's letter, which I shall do as 

 briefly as possible. 



That Mr. Owen is a man of no ordinary ability is sufficiently attes- 

 ted by the brilliant position, in the world of literature and science, to 

 which he has attained ; but his celebrity by no means renders him in- 

 fallible, nor are the mere dicta of any man, however profound may be 

 his philosophical acquirments, to be implicitly received, far less bowed 

 to as oracular, until after they have been duly and thoroughly investi- 

 gated, and their actual bond fide value ascertained — even old Homer 

 will be caught napping. 



Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus. 



The eloquent Buffon fell into error, and subsequently admitted his 

 mistake; and the immortal Cuvier was himself deceived relative to 

 the very animal, respecting whose remains, T now feel myself reluc- 

 tantly compelled to assert Mr. Owen also, to be, in the present in- 

 stance, wholly mistaken. Mr. Owen, though a very great man, a very 

 profound philosopher, and a comparative anatomist of the very high- 

 est standing, is, surely, in none of these respects, the superior of the 

 mighty dead, whom I have just named, whose illustrious names shed 

 lustre upon the age in which they lived, and upon the country which 

 gave them birth; and when they could be mistaken, need Mr. Owen 

 feel annoyed at being detected likewise in error ? 



The grand question at issue, with respect to the extinct gigantic 

 deer, is, whether it was contemporary with man on the surface of this 

 globe, or whether the stupendous remains of that animal, found in so 

 many parts of this country, are but the relics of a former world, as yet 

 untrodden by a human foot, upon which man had not as yet been 

 placed by the creative hand of the Omnipotent Supreme. The for- 



