Elephant pipes and inscribed tablets in the Museum of the Academy of natural sciences, Daveport, Iowa / by Charles E. Putnam.

  • Charles Edwin Putnam
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elephant pipes and inscribed tablets in the Museum of the Academy of natural sciences, Daveport, Iowa / by Charles E. Putnam. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    58/100 (page 56)
    -56-: From Prof. George Siieldon, Deerfield, Mass., April 8, 1885. Chari.es K. Putnam, Esq., Preside?it Davenport Academy^— Dear Sir: I have this day received your pam|)hlet on elephant ])ipes, for which please acce[)t my thanks. I have read with interest your clear statement in defense of Mr. Gass and your institution. My sympathies are entirely with you against the cruel insinuations of Hen- shaw. I have great respect for an honest scientific expert, and an equal contempt for those sweeping condemnations based on the neces- sity of maintaining a theory. I am in full accord with you in the re- marks on local societies. It is here that the ])rincipal work must be done; here is the place for the great lights of science to come for facts and material for their theories. The encouragement of such in- stitutions should be a prime object with the Smithsonian. The great universities of the land are excellent things, but in no view can we dispense with village schools. No complete and satisfactory examina- tion of an unusual find can be had except on the s])ot, and as near the time as may be. ... I can as yet find no satisfactory solution to the query, “Who were the Mound-builders?” Very res])ectfully yours, George Shei.don. From Chari.es H. Stubhs, M. D. Wakefield, Pa., April 30, 1885. Secretary of Dave^iport Academy of Natural Sciences^— My Dear Sir : The copy sent me of the paj^er by Mr. Charles E. Putnam, on “Elephant Pipes in the Museum of the Davenport Acad- emy,” was received only a few days ago. You will please accejit my thanks for the same. I have read it carefully through from the begin- ning, and unhesitatingly say that the arguments therein presented are such as to convince any unbiased thinker as to the correctness of the points taken and the positions assumed. .Mr. Henshaw, the scientific ornithologist of the Bureau of Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution, is, as suggested, a new light recently appearing in the archi^ological firmament, and of little moment as ethnological authority. Why he should doubt such endorsement as your honored Academy is ]>assing strange. Jejune writers are prone to be hy])ercritical, and he seems to be no excejition to the general rule. In conclusion will say that I delight to read anything bearing iqion the origin of the race of Mound-builders, their habits and customs. The problem, from whence they came and who they were, seems to me as yet unsettled. Who knows but that it may yet be decided by the Davenport Academy of Sciences, or some other kindred association that relies upon the enthusiasm of its members, and not iq)on those who are fed upon Government ])ap, and able to ]^ay parties to roam over and dig iq) relics in various sections of the country? \'our friend and well-wisher, Chari.es H. S'l’UHHs, M.D.