and contented possessor of this unique example of its kind. [Translation by Leidy.] But the canon was ultimately despoiled of his ill-gotten treasure. At the siege of Maestricht in 1795, the famous skull to which Hofmann had devoted so much anxious thought and labor, fell into the hands of the French and was carried off as one of the spoils of war. So widely celebrated had the specimen become during the fifteen years which had elapsed since its discovery, through the writings of several noted scientific men, that the French general commanded his artillerists to spare the house in which it was known to be. The canon, however, shrewdly suspecting that such an unexpected and extraordinary mark of favor was not for his own sake but rather for the sake of the famous fossil, had it removed and carefully hidden in a house in the city. After the capitulation of Maestricht the eagerly sought-for fossil was not to be found, and the offer of a reward of six hundred bottles of wine, so the story goes, was made for its recovery. So tempting was the offer that, ere long, it was brought in triumph to the house of St. Faujas de Fond, by a half-dozen grenadiers, whence it was later transferred to Paris, where it now is. We may well sympathize with Dr. Hofmann in the loss of his cherished specimen, since, had it not been for his zeal, money, and labor, it would never have escaped the usual fate of such things—complete destruction. But we must remember that St. Faujas de Fond, the recorder of this history, was a Frenchman, and somewhat interested in robbing the reverend canon of it; possibly there is another side of the story which has never been told.