﻿REPORT AND OBSERVATIONS ON RELIC FINDS. 



By Walter A. Dun, M. D. 



It is my purpose to-night to call your attention to the impor- 

 tance of accuracy in observing the surroundings of all relics which 

 are found in all diggings. This is of such importance, that I know 

 you will all permit me the opportunity of consuming a few minutes 

 in its consideration. I am satisfied, in my own mind, that man 

 existed on this continent before our last drift period, reaching back 

 in time, as we are told by astronomers, at least forty thousand 

 years. To my own knowledge, there have been many relics of 

 man taken from wells dug into the drift at a depth of twenty feet 

 and more. Such relics are looked upon as curiosities, pondered 

 over awhile, and finally put on the parlor mantel to be kept, and 

 only seen when a stranger appears. If, by chance, a scientist hap- 

 pens along, and the story is told and the relics produced, there is 

 always sure to be some vagueness of memory or description which 

 allows room for doubt. The seeker after facts asks, How do you 

 know that a previous hole hadn't been dug from the surface by 

 modern inhabitants, such as our Indians or their ancestors ? How 

 do you know but that the diggers of the well purposely placed 

 these relics where they were found, in order to excite your curios- 

 ity? Human nature is so fond of that which is marvelous, that 

 few can resist the temptation of exciting comment, and, conse- 

 quently, such questions as the above are very pertinent ones. It 

 is important, in order to fully verify these finds, that you should 

 investigate them at once. As a fact, few of them come to light, 

 except long after they occur ; and time here, as elsewhere, casts a 

 shroud of mist about them which obscures their importance and 

 questions their authenticity. All this is eminently proper, because 

 we are looking for the real truth ; absolute truth we must have, and 

 substantiate it only by absolute proof, in order to have a basis 

 from which we can appeal to the astronomer for data concerning 

 age, thus settling, in some degree, the antiquity of man. But the 

 importance of observation in such cases does not end here. Speci- 

 mens should be carefully separated, labeled, and accounts of them 

 reported to some scientific body or journal. To illustrate: Often 



