8 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 



some curious impressions upon slabs of stratified sandstone that had been brought 

 from Turner's Falls, near Greenfield, to be used for sidewalks in the village. 

 One of the wisest of his fellow townsmen remarked, "We all saw them, and, 

 mentally at least, exclaimed, ' they are bird-tracks,' and then went away and 

 thought no more about them." Dr. Deane alone recognized in their mute 

 teachings sublime indications of an Almighty hand. He seems from that moment 

 to have entered upon the investigation of the whole subject with that earnest 

 but quiet and never yielding enthusiasm, that had always been his peculiar 

 characteristic. He sought knowledge everywhere upon the subject. He visited 

 the spot whence the slabs had been procured. He wrote to the men most noted 

 for their learning in geology. At first, the whole scientific world was against 

 his belief that they were the tracks of birds. Gradually the naturalists of this 

 country, and many in Europe, yielded to the accumulated evidence, and more 

 especially to the facts as subsequently given to the public by Prof. Hitchcock 

 in a scientific form; and the tracks became generally regarded as those of birds. 

 There is reason to believe, however, that before his death, Dr. Deane materially 

 modified his opinion on this point. In proof of it we could refer to conver- 

 sations held with Mr. Roswell Field and others, a few months before his decease, 

 and to letters to Drs. Gould and Wyman, which will be quoted in the text. 

 It is not, however, upon the precise point as to whether these tracks were those 

 of birds or otherwise, that we dwell. The object we have in view is to show 

 that from the first moment that the tracks came under his observation they 

 were ever the source of deep interest and severe study for him. Particularly 

 was this the case during the last few years and months of his life, when every 

 moment that could be spared from great professional labor was directed to this 

 his darling study. In proof of this, let the following facts and statements be 

 noted. 



In 1844 he sent a paper to the American Journal of Science, which was 

 published, with drawings; and he remarks that it is "to accumulate facts that 

 bear upon this interesting subject" that he presents the communication. 



In 1845 (vol. 49, p. 79) he describes other species of tracks, probably those 

 of a batrachian reptile. He closes with these words : " An indescribable interest 

 is imparted by opening the long-sealed volume that contains the records of these 

 extinct animals. The slabs were uncovered and raised under my supervision, 

 and page after page, with their living inscriptions, revealed living truths. There 



