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.

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    spect to representations of elephants, that they have been not infre- quently found deposited in the ruined cities of Central America, and they seem to have an Asiatic-Indian appearance. From Max Uhle, President of the Royal Ethnological Miiseum. Drp:sden, Prussia, May 7, 1885. I have read with great interest the pamphlet you were so kind to send me, on the elephant pipes which are preserved in your imjiortant museum at Davenport. On reading your treatise, and inspecting the wood-cut of one of the pipes accompanying it, I have become inclined to believe in the genuineness of the pipes in question. In no case should objections based upon circumstances of the finding, if not ac- companied by objections taken from the marks of the things them- selves, suffice for the decision in such a matter, and it is to be wondered at that so eager attacks are undertaken as to the authenticity of relics without any ins])ection of the things themselves. From Dr. Joseph Belluni. (translation.) Perugia, Italy, April 30, 1885. I am in receij^t of your defense of the authenticity of the elephant pipes in the museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Daven- port. I thank you sincerely for sending me this paper, which I en- dorse fully, and whicli I have read with great pleasure and instruction, at the same time admiring your learned and exhaustive criticism of the counter-argument. From Edc'tAR Hepp, President of the Society of Science^ Morals^ Plotters^ and Art. (translation.) Versailles, France, May 19, 1885. I have the honor, in the name of the Society of Science, Morals, Letters, and Arts of Seine and Oise, to thank you for the obligation under which you have placed it for your monograph on “Elephant Pipes.” One of the members of our Society, the learned Dr. Osnard, ])resented to us in the session of May 8th a complete report of the in- teresting discoveries which signalize your work, and which renew inter- est in the studies of Marquis De Nadaillac upon American antiquities. One of the members of our Society made the remark that the use of the pipes, so general among Americans when they assemble themselves, serves to preserve their national traditions among all the village In- dians, where the calumet is still held in honor. Whatsoever may be the worth of this consideration, your communi- cation has in a lively manner interested the Society, which expresses but one regret, which is that knowledge of the English language is a privilege enjoyed by only a small number of the members, and that our Society is therefore only able at this time to associate itself in an unsatisfactory manner with the spirit of scientific investigation in your Academy.