638 MOUND EXPLORATION!*. 



lu a letter writteu in 1882 by Mr. A. S. Tiffany to Col. Xorris, and 

 subsequently, in a letter to the present author, avowed by him, before 

 the academy, to be genuine, is the following statement: 



The limestone tablet I am certain is a fraud. Mr. Gass was assisted iu digging it 

 out by Mr. Harrison and Mr. Hume. Mr. Hume informs me that there was a wall of 

 small bowlders around the tablet. On the tablet there were some arrow points, a 

 <iuartz crystal and a Vniu shell filled with red p.aint, the whole being covered with 

 a rougli limestone slab, the space between it and the tablet not filled with earth, 

 and the paint bright and clean. 



Mr. Tiffany wa.s one of the founders of the academy and, as appears 

 from the proceedings, was long one of its most prominent, active, and 

 tmsted members and was still a member at the time the letters referred 

 to were written. It is proper to state that he accepts the shale tablets 

 as genuine, but stands by the above statement in regard to the lime- 

 stone tablet, and did so in a meeting of the academy iu presence of 

 all the members. 



If these statements concerning the conditions under which this 

 tablet was found be correct, which we have no reason to doubt, as they 

 are made by the parties concerned, there are strong reasons for sus- 

 pecting that it was a " plant " made probably by some unknown person, 

 to deceive the members of the academy. The simple fact that the 

 little vault under the pile of rough, uncemeuted stones was empty, 

 save for the relics, appears absolutely to forbid the idea of age; for 

 under such conditions as in this case it would, unless hermetically 

 sealed, have been filled, in the length of time, with earth from the sides, 

 carried in by the intiltrating water. 



THE SHALE TABLETS. 



As the evidence in regard to the limestone tablet seems not only to 

 preclude the idea of any great age, but also to indicate that it was a 

 "plant" made to deceive the members of the Davenport Academy, we 

 are led to incpiire whether the authenticity of the shale tablets rests on 

 any better foundation. 



If the conclusion iu regard to the fin-mer be correct, and the reasons 

 given for considering them all as belonging to the same category be 

 deemed conclusive, the question is settled and requires no fitrther dis- 

 cussion. But the object at present is not merely to make a point in 

 argument, but to arrive at truth: therefore the following suggestions 

 in regard to the latter are presented. As the two were found in the 

 same grave, they will be eniisidered together, conclusions reached iu 

 regard to the age of one necessarily applying to the other. 



Some blunders made by the society and its members in bringing 

 before the public the lacts in reference to these relics and their discov- 

 ery, though readily accounted for, excite a fear in the mind that proper 

 care was not taken at the time to verify statements and guard against 

 imposition. Compare, for example, Fig. 3, I'l, il Proceedings, Vol. i, 



