Transcribe Ward, Henry A. Letter to Dewey, Chester (1856-03-31)

He is a very pleasant, kind hearted, old man & his presence does mush to add to the good feeling of the meeting & to restore harmony when discussion has become so warm that the remarks begin to grow personal. "et faces saragne volant". His near friend, & as an individual, equally interesting is Mr. de Verneuil whom I pre- sume you have seen & know as the French </u Murchinson >. He is a most infatigable voyageur & has spent nearly 20 years in studying the </u Silurian System > in Russia, Siberia, America, Spain, &e .Mr. Banande is another fine thoughtful looking man who often presents to us interesting comments upon the ^Sillurian^ Fossils of Bohemia notwithstanding the colossal volumes upon the subject by which he as erected for himself a lasting memento. There are many other very noted members of the society, but I have perhaps already written too much. The younger members (many of them professors in the colleges of Paris) are generally the most active in the society, There is however, among the greater portion of them a spirit which I think to be not only ill advised but also hostile to the true spirit of science. I refer to the ranging of themselves into schools. This tendency is very prominent In France & may perhaps be traced to the same source as a constant inclination which exists to underate the achievements of the old