346 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



In its passage through the alembic of Major Powell's intelligence, this conclusion 

 of Mr. Holmes is thus curiously transformed: 



"At our last meeting we had an interesting paper from Mr. Holmes, who, from 

 his studies, concluded that the Mound-builders were no other than the Indians in- 

 habiting this country." 



Now, all that Mr. Holmes said was tliat the textile fabrics he was describing were 

 not superior to, or specifically different from, the work of modern Indians; but, 

 through the dominant thought ever uppermost in Major Powell's mind, it under- 

 went the above remarkable transformation. 



At this same meeting, also. Major Powell made the following interesting state- 

 ment as to the antiquity of man on this continent: 



"There is abundant evidence of antiquity — good, geologic evidence. Stone im- 

 plements are found in geologic formation to such an extent as to leave no doubt 

 that this continent was inhabited by man in early Quaternary time." 



This fully agrees with the following recent statement made by Dr. D. G. Brin- 

 ton in the third supplement to Johnson's Cyclopaedia: 



"This presumed antiquity of the race is fully borne out by the discoveries of stone 

 implements, chipped bones, and human remains in deposits dating back to the close 

 of the glacial jieriod in both North and South America. Such are the ' Trenton 

 gravels,' near Trenton, New Jersey; the ' modified glacial drift ' of the upper Mis- 

 sissippi; the 'lake beds' of Nebraska; the ' auriferous gravels ' of California; the 

 glacial 'mud-beds' of the jiampas of Buenos Ayres, all of which have furnished un- 

 doubted specimens of human workmanship dating back to the close of the Tertiary 

 and beginning of the Quaternary epochs, and thus proving that America was peo- 

 pled throughout its whole extent at that remote date." 



As it is now well established that the elephant also existed here in the Quater- 

 nary period, therefore, in making the above statement. Major Powell joins with Dr. 

 Brinton in establishing the fact that man and mastodon coexisted on this continent, 

 and by this concession Major Powell removes the principal objection to the authen- 

 ticity of the elephant pipes and inscribed tablets. 



In looking over the discussions in this volume of "Transactions," the reader will 

 discover indications of some confusion of thought in the' expressions of Major Pow- 

 ell's views concerning the Mound-builders. Thus, he repeatedly urges, with great 

 gravity, that some of the early tribes discovered on this continent were themselves 

 mound-builders, and that many of these mounds were constructed within the his- 

 toric period. No one will dispute this undoubted fact, but in no sense can it be 

 said to support his theory. The statement that some tribes of modern Indians have 

 built mounds is a poor argument by which to show the non-existence of a prior race 

 of mound-builders of a higher giade of civilization. Certainly it cannot be claimed 

 that any of the great earth-works and effigy mounds have been built by modern In- 

 dians within the historic period. There are occasions, too, when Major Powell 

 seems to be on the point of abandoning his own theory. Thus, in the meeting of 

 February 5th, 1884, in the discussion which followed the presentation of a paper by 

 Prof. Cyrus Thomas, entitled "Cherokees Probably Mound-buiklers," Major Pow- 

 ell uses this language: 



"We have not yet discovered what particular tribes built many of the mounds, 

 nor is it possible to discover when they were built — that is, to fix with accuracy the 

 date of their erection. Some of them have Ijeen built within the historic period. 



