Those persons in Philadelphia that have felt a desire to contradict my assertions cannot, without lowering themselves very much indeed affect to conceive that the members of the Wernerian Society would have listened to my "say so," without investigating the subject, even if they had not been well versed in the habits of the objects I treated of. Neither can they believe that all my acquaintance and particular friends would permit me to proceed in relating _Tales of Wonder_, which if untrue, would load me with disgrace, ruin my family, nay, prove me devoid of all honor! Could I suffer myself to be so blinded at the very moment when I am engaged in the publication of a work of unparalled magnitude, of which the _greatest naturalists and best judges_ both in America and in Europe have given the fullest praise and firmest support, & from which my very means of pecuniary comfort are to be drawn? It would certainly be highly unfair to conceive & assert that at the time whilst I was portraying individuals, animal and vegetable, I should have rambled so wide and so far from facts in a portion of science so intimately connected with & necessary to the support of those delineations, as well as to the general standing of my reputation! Mere interest would suggest a very contrary line of conduct, and I hope I am not so devoid of common sense as to lose sight of all that can render life desirable in this world or the world hereafter. No, my dear Mr. Sully, I have written with care what I have seen, and have felt a great desire to spread the knowledge I have obtained in the great field of Science for the benefit of the world at large, and I rest content with this motto: "Le temps découvrira la vérité." To whom then, my dear Mr. Sully, can I ascribe the birth of the animadversions expressed in the papers of Philadelphia! Is their author one [who] comes avowedly forward with a life spent in the woods, loaded with facts differing in every respect from mine, one who like me can bring forth vouchers, and who can by respectable witnesses support what he says? Or, is he one, who, writing at random and without any knowledge of his subject, merely wishes to push himself into notice by a blunt denial of my veracity, and would _edify_ & _please_ some of his friends, at the price of my reputation. I think, my dear Mr. Sully, the latter much more applicable, and must belong to the author of the report current in your city.