appendix: elephant pipes and inscribed tablets. 329 



as they have great scientific vakie, we have it in contemplation to pub- 

 Hsh the more important of them in connection with the fourth vokime 

 of our Proceedings, now in press. We shall, of course, expect to in- 

 clude this correspondence; and now, awaiting with interest your fur- 

 ther re|)ly to my inquiry, I remain, 



Very respectfully yours, 



Chas. E. Putnam. 



Smithsonian Institution, ) 



Washington, D. C, Sept. 16, 1885. \ 

 Charles E. Putnam, Esq., President of the Davenport Academy of 



Nat7iral Sciences, Dai'enport, Iowa,— 



Dear Sir: I have before me your communication of August 26, and 

 take pleasure in answering the inquiries which it contains. 



The Smithsonian Institution, like other institutions and societies of a 

 similar character, assumes no responsibility whatever for the accuracy 

 of papers published under its auspices. Still less does it undertake to 

 endorse or to defend the conclusions and theories advanced by their 

 authors. The fact that a paper has been published in a volume which 

 bears upon its title-page the name of the Institution does not therefore 

 imply that it has the endorsement or approval of the Institution, nor 

 does it, in my judgment, "augment the force" of any criticisms which 

 it may contain. Such papers must stand or fall u[ion their ov/n merits, 

 exactly as if published in the proceedings of a society or in one of our 

 scientific journals. 



The Smithsonian Institution, in its most formal series of publications 

 — "The Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge" — expressly and 

 officially disclaims responsibility for the contents of each separate 

 paper, notwithstanding the fact that every one of these papers has been 

 submitted for approval to a committee of three competent specialists. 



The Report of the Bureau of Ethnology is prepared under the super- 

 vision of its Director, Major J. W. Powell, and although it is, as a 

 matter of official form, addressed to the Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, he has nothing whatever to do with its i)reparation, nor has 

 he any sujjervision of its contents. 



You will readily understand, then, why I cannot undertake to ex- 

 press any oi)inion concerning the publications of the Bureau of Eth- 

 nology, when the direct publications of the Institution are understood 

 to stand so completely upon their own merits. The Director of the 

 Bureau of Ethnology, as I have previously informed you, is the person 

 to whom all rec[uests for such information should be addressed. 



Having answered your inquiry as to the official connection of the 

 Smithsonian Institution with the publications in question, I may further 

 say that I am not prepared to express an intelligent personal opinion 

 as to the antiquity of the objects under discussion, since I have not had 

 time nor opportunity to investigate the subject. The results of further 

 mound exploration will probably, within a few years, give evidence of 

 great weight for or against the authenticity of the Davenport pipes. 



