1871. ] 227 (Dubois. 
figures, on the obverse and reverse faces correspond in the attitude of the 
left arm raised and flourishing a whip, or thunderbolt. He reads the date 
1072, and says that no geologist can accept the statement that a piece 
of that age could be lying naturally at a depth of 125 feet, under an 
Illinois prairie. The piece was placed there as a practical joke, though 
not by the present owner; and is a modern fabrication; perhaps of the 
sixteenth century; possibly of Hispano-American, or French-American 
origin. It may have some connection with the journeys of the early 
French priests or their voyageurs. 
I would only add, that those views are forcible, but yet they take 
imposture for granted, and in so doing, leave us in this dilemma; that a 
curious piece was made many years ago, and held for the purpose of trick, 
until a deep hole should be made, long afterwards, in which to bury it, 
and complete the deception. It is also very hard to believe, that an 
intelligent and experienced operator in this line would allow himself to be 
sported with by workmen, and take so much pains, far and near, to 
ascertain what kind of article he had found. 
Mr. Lesley explained : 
He considered the integrity, experience and vigilance of the well sinker 
no guarantee against the surreptitious insertion of the coin. It is impos- 
sible to prevent a practical joke of that sort when the jester is resolved to 
have it so. Experience furnishes a thousand proofs of this in our exten- 
sive oil regions, where all kinds of rubbish have been brought to the sur- 
face from considerable depths ; nails, anthracite coal, California nuggets, 
‘‘butter of antimony,’’ Lake Superior Red hematite iron ore, &e. 
It looks as if there is a good deal of this sort of thing going on in the 
west. The copper-ring and boat-hook ‘taken from a shaft at Whitside; 
at a depth of 120 feet,’ ‘‘the iron spear-shaped hatchet embedded in clay 
at 40 feet’? mentioned in the paper, are subjects for the same incredulity. 
The only possible explanation, excluding an imputation of fraud, in the 
latter case, would presuppose the recent filling up of a hole in the river 
bed with clay, through which a piece of iron might slowly settle down. 
The discovery of a circular stone fire-place, with embers, by Mr. 
Latrobe’s party of engineers in a gravel cut for the road bed of the Balti- 
more and Ohio R. R., many years ago, at a depth of 50 or 60 feet beneath 
the surface, is a circumstance belonging to quite a different category. 
In the present case we have an evident imitation of Mediterranean coins. 
But the central figures are unmistakably Red Indian in their character. 
It is either unique of its kind, or one of a very small class. The proba- 
bilities against a borehole striking such an object are simply infinity to 
one. The improbabilities of the coin being at or near the surface, and 
being worked out from the wall of the hole by the friction of the rods, is 
equally great. There is too much method in the arrangement of the 
elements of the legend to doubt that the maker had a definite idea to 
express. A compound oval symbol occupies the right edge on each face, 
and may have a phallic significance. But the two human figures on one 
