Among the causes of this, I regarded my withdrawal to a
remote point as prominent but not decisive. Two years had already
elapsed; the professor was completely absorbed in his new professorship,
in which he was required to teach a new subject in a new language.
Governor Cass, who had undertaken the Indian subject, had greatly
enlarged the platform of his inquiries, which rendered it probable that
there would be a delay. My memoir on the geology and mineralogy only was
ready. Dr. Barnes had the conchology nearly ready, and the botany,
which was in the hands of Dr. Torrey, was well advanced. But it required
a degree of labor, zeal, and energy to push forward such a work, that
admits of no abatements, and which was sufficient to absorb all the
attention of the highest mind; and could not be expected from the
professor, already overtasked.
Among the papers which were put in my hands at Detroit, I found a
printed copy of Governor Cass's Indian queries, based on his promise to
Douglass, by which I was gratified to perceive that his mind was
earnestly engaged in the subject, which he sought a body of original
materials to illustrate.
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