vm 



A D V K K 'I' I S K M E N T 



It was submitted in accordance witli the rule adopted, to a commission of exami- 

 nation, consisting of' a committee of the members of the American Ethnological 

 Society, and on the favorable report of this committee and the responsibility of 

 the Society, the memoir was accepted for publication. The following is the cor- 

 respondence which took place on the occasion. 



CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



CuiLLicoTHE, Ohio, Mai/ 15, 1847. 



Deau Sir: — It is proposed in the recognized plan of organization of the Sraitlisonian Institntion. of 

 which you are the e.xecutive officer, to publish, under the title of " Sinilhsonian Contiibn/iuiis lo Know- 

 ledge," such original papers and memo'us, "as shall constitute valuable additions to the sum of human 

 knowledge."' Under the belief that it falls legitimately within the scope of the above plan, the under- 

 signed herewith submit for acceptance and publication, subject to the prescribed rules of the Institution, 

 a MS. memoir entitled "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, comprising the results of Ex- 

 tensive Orii/inal Surreys and Explorations : by E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis." The extent of these 

 investigations, and their general cliaracter, are sufficiently indicated in the prefatory remarks to the vol- 

 ume. With high consideration, we are truly yours, E. G. SQUIER, 



"Joseph Hexrv, Esq., Secretary Smithsonian Institution. E. H. DAVIS." 



Princeton, June 2, 1847. 

 " Dear Sir : — I am authoiized by the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, to publish, in the numbers 

 of the ' Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,' any memoir which may be presented for this purpose, 

 provided, that, on a careful examination by a commission of competent judges, the me&oir shall be found 

 to be a new and interesting addition to knowledge, resting on original research. The accompanying 

 memoir, entitled 'Ancient Monument.s of the Mississippi Valley,' etc. etc., ha^ang been presented 

 for publication, I beg leave to refer the same, through you, to the American Ethnological Society, with 

 the request that a comjaittee of the members maj' be appointed to examine and report on the character of 

 the work, with reference to the particulars above mentioned. If the report of the committee be favorable, 

 the memoir, without further consideration, will be accepted for publication ; full confidence being placed 

 in the ability of the committee to judge of the article, and in their caution in making up their opinion. 

 " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 



" Your ob't servant, Joseph Henry, 



" Secretary Smithsonian Inst. 

 " Hon. Albert Gallatin, President American Ethnological Society." 



" NewYorIc, June 12, 1847. 



" Dear Sir : — I have the lienor to enclose a copy of the proceedings and resolutions of the New York 

 Ethnological Society, upon the MS. work on American Antiquities, by Messrs. E. G. Squier and E. H. 

 Davis, submitted with your letter of the 2d instant. 



" I approve entirely of the resolutions and recommendations of the Society. The publication of Mr. 

 C. Atwater, in the first volume of the Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, 

 which appeared twenty years ago, is as yet, so far as I know, the only general account of the antiquarian 

 remains of the West, which is entitled to any credit. Yet, many mistakes have been discovered in it, and 

 it is very incomplete, and in no degree to be compared to the extensive researches of the gentlemen 

 above mentioned. What has particularly recommended their labors to me is their love of truth. 



" Such are the combined effects of the fondness for the marvellous, of the 'illusions of tlie imagination, 

 of credulity, thirst of notoriety and lack of discrimination, that, in many specific statements, and in almost 

 all the general accounts of our Western antiquities, which I have seen, the most vague and fabulous 

 reports (independent of most groundless theories), and even flagrant impositions, are so mixed with true 

 accounts, as to render it almost impossible, even for the American reader, to make the proper discrimina- 

 tion, or arrive at a correct estimate of their extent or character. 



