1881. ] Proceedings of Scientific Societies. 687 
genuineness of the tablets, though not to any great extent by 
competent and candid archzologists, and we feel no uneasiness 
on that account. 
The tablets have been sent to the Smithsonian Institution for 
examination, and were retained there an subjected to the most 
thorough scrutiny for two months, during which time the National 
Academy of Sciences held its meeting there, and the heliotype 
plates of them were obtained under the directions of Professor Baird 
himself. They were also exhibited throughout the sessions of 
the meeting of the American Associations for the Advancement 
of Science at Boston last August. 
ny author or other person who cared to inform himself of the 
facts, has, and has always had ample opportunity to do so, and 
would at once see that ¢he circumstances of the finding were 
such as utterly to preclude all possibility of fraud or imposition. 
The evidence that they are coéval with the other relics, that is, 
that they were inhumed with them and before the mound was 
built, is ample and conclusive and will be so considered by any 
unbiased mind. 
No prehistoric relic ever found has better evidence to establish 
its genuineness than these, and not one suspicious circumstance 
in connection with them has been pointed out, nor can there be. 
We shall confidently hope for and gladly welcome further dis- 
coveries by whomsoever made tending to throw more light upon 
this still obscure and intensely interesting problem, of our earliest 
predecessors on this continent. 
Among the principal additions to this department of the 
museum since the last annual report, have been fourteen mound- 
builders’ pipes, three copper axes, and a number of other relics 
from the mounds, secured chiefly by the untiring exertions of our 
honored associate, the Rev. Mr. Gass, who has spared no time or 
labor, and who has recently presented his report of the explora- 
tion of 75 mounds within the year, only one-fifth of which afforded 
any relics for the museum, though the investigations are always 
instructive, and many facts are thus learned. 
_ Besides this gratuitous labors and personal expenses borne by 
himself, about $70 made up by private contribution has been ex- 
pended for hired help in opening the mounds; the results have 
been highly satisfactory ; and this important work should be con- 
tinued, and, if possible, better provided for by some regular 
appropriations. The time is rapidly passing during which the 
opportunity for such researches in this vicinity will remain. 
__ We have also received as the product of the persistent enthu- 
Siasm of Capt. W. P. Hall about 1100 ancient stone and flint 
implements, and 1 50 vessels of ancient pottery, the latter having 
been exhumed by his own hands from the mounds and ancient 
burial places of the lower Mississippi valley. oes 
Our collection of mound relics now consists of the four in- 
