Rafinesqne' s Mlantic Journal. 509 



person, have been usefully applied, and have been praised ; and if 

 he had not been so paradoxical, and so off from the perpendicular 

 in his writings, his authority, in matters of natural history, would 

 have had some weight. We have observed with regret, for a 

 long time past, that the European naturalists have not given that 

 credit to the professor, which, from the necessity of the case, and 

 from courtesy, they always extend to those of their brethren 

 whose respectability and veracity is undoubted. We have ob- 

 served that nobis out of the professor's mint was not current ; but 

 we never thought the magical letters Raf. would find their par 

 value so soon. 



The two productions, whose titles we have placed at the 

 head of our remarks, satisfactorily explain why this is so. The 

 most malignant enemy could not have injured the professor as 

 much as they inevitably must do ; nothing but a rash pre- 

 sumption of a general ignorance, that w^ould dishonour us all, 

 and of the public inability to discover the worthlessness of such 

 a farrago as he has now let loose upon us, could have encouraged 

 him to produce, what is entirely beneath the dignity of criticism. 

 Nevertheless, the reputation of the country abroad, and the 

 satisfaction of the lovers of sound learning at home, require our 

 'nterference, and we think this a fit occasion to enter upon 

 that part of the duties alluded to in our prospectus, " to put 

 down impostures and puerilities as they arise." 



Let us first examine the " Enumeration," &lc. where, in his 

 * Article 1, Fossil Remains of Quadrupeds," he has brought 

 such strange names, strange things, and strange language 

 together, that we are quite sure he has every thing to learn 

 concerning geology and fossil remains. 



And first, we have No. 1, Mazama Sal'maria, of Rafinesque. 

 A new genus, upon the authority of nothing but a piece of horn, 

 five inches long, found in an old saline of the Indians, in Ken- 

 tucky. The description concludes, " it belongs to the latest geo- 

 logical age of fossil animals.^'' The professor says it approximates 

 to his genus Mazama, which yet exists in South America. What 

 he means by the " latest geological age of fossil animals," we 

 are utterly at a loss to comprehend under all these circum- 

 stances. 



Next comes Panallodon Tumularium of Raf. which owes its 

 existence to a jaw bone, six inches long, found in a Solar tern- 



