3o8 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OK NATURAI- SCIENCES. 



From Prof. George Sheldon. 



Deerfield, Mass., April 8, 1885. 

 Chari-es E. Pu'iNAM, Esq., President Davetiport Academy, — 



Dear Sir: I have this day received your pamphlet on elejjhant 

 pipes, for which please accept 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 ex[)ert, 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 i)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 spot, 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 Sheldon. 



From Charles H. Stubus, M.D. 



Wakefield, Pa., April 30, 1885. 

 Secretary of Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, — 



My Dear Sir: The copy sent me of the paper 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 acce])t 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 ofc 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 archaeological 

 firmament, and of little moment as ethnological authority. Why he 

 should doubt such endorsement as your honored Academy is passing 

 strange. Jejune writers are prone to be hypercritical, and he seems to 

 be no exception to the general rule. 



In conclusion will say that I delight to read anything bearing upon 

 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 upon those who 

 are fed ujjon Government pap, and able to pay parties to roam over 

 and dig up relics in various sections of the country? 

 Your friend and well-wisher, 



Charles H. Stuishs, M.D. 



