The Springfield Republican published a revival of the argument after James Deane's death in 1858. This time, Hitchcock didn't fare as well. Image courtesy of Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association Library.

After the publication of the exchange, Silliman encouraged Deane and Hitchcock to patch things up. They tried. They were cordial to one another in print and acknowledged each others' contributions to the study of fossil footprints, but they never returned to the easy companionship of their earlier friendship. Still, when Dexter Marsh died in 1853, they assessed the fossils in his estate together in preparation for auction.

In 1858, Deane died of typhoid fever, a bacterial disease. He was only 57. Just under a year later, wanting to defend his honor, his friends once again raised the issue of priority in the discovery of fossil footprints, this time in the pages of Massachusetts' Springfield Republican newspaper. 

Writing on Deane's behalf was Dr. Henry Ingersoll Bowditch, a prominent physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an active abolitionist. As a member of the Boston Society of Natural History, he was familiar with the fossils. He did not know Deane well, but they had met through the Massachusetts Medical Society. Bowditch was impressed by Deane's general character and capabilities as a physician, and they held similar views on slavery and abolition. He had already written a eulogy of Deane at the request of the Boston Society of Natural History. 

Hitchcock had to defend himself yet again. His presidency at Amherst College was over and he could devote his days to the work that interested him most. His masterpiece on the fossil footprints, Ichnology of New England, was nearing publication, and as always, thoughts of religion consumed his mind, sharpened by age and the prospect of meeting his Maker. The last thing he wanted to do was to engage in another public fight about fossil footprints, but he could see no way out of it.

The Republican printed Bowditch's letter on May 7, 1859, and Hitchcock's reply a few days later. Unfortunately, Hitchcock's hurt and anger came across to many as arrogant and dismissive, and the newspaper awarded its support to Deane. Hitchcock defended himself far better, and more poignantly, in an 8-page addition he slipped into an appendix he added to Ichnology of New England, just before it went to press. It is probably one of the more unusual appendices to a state report on geology.

Next chapter: What Do You Think?