Correspondence. 271 
letter to me a few days ago, correspond in general with the testimony 
of Mr. Kuntz, the j:rentleman referred to, that major Powell barely 
glanced at the figurine, and passed it oiT with a jest, saying, that he 
had seen many like it among the playthings of the children of the Po- 
catello Indians. But, so far as I know, major Powell has never pre- 
sented any of these playthings for examination and comparison, and 
he writes to me now that he is not sure whether the thing he jested 
about is the same thing I am writing about. Is this the kind of evi- 
dence on which scientific men feel warranted in branding honorable 
gentlemen as tricksters and frauds? 
3d. It is due to me that I be allowed to reply to the statement that 
this figurine was "actually foisted on a credulous collector [myself j."' 
Here again it is to be observed, that Mr. McGee is supposed to know 
the meaning of the word "foist" (which reflects again on the character 
of Mr. Kurtz), namely, "to work in by a trick." I beg leave, therefore. 
to restate some points in the evidence which render this charge pre- 
posterous. 
(i)' The direct evidence was first brought to the attention of the 
eminent men (Mr. G. M. Cummings, the general manager, and Charles 
Francis Adams, president of the Union 'Pacific Railroad) associated 
with Mr. Kiirtz in his work under circumstances' that entirely preclude 
any attempt at deception. But not to linger upon this point, which 
will be fully evident to any one who reads my original report, we no- 
tice that 
(2) The circumstantial evidence in confirmation of the direct tes- 
timony is ample. After being sent to me, the figurine was submitted 
to professor F. W. Putnam, who at once called attention to the accu- 
mulation upon its surface in various places of patches of oxide of iron, 
especially, ander the right arm, where quartz grains of sand were ce- 
Uicnted together by this oxide. Furthermore, in connection with this 
figurine there came up from the bottom of the well numerous con- 
cretionary clay balls, some of them more than three inches in diameter. 
The material in these is identical with that in the figurine, and they 
weT-e coated upon the outside with a similar accumulation of iron oxide. 
On submitting this material to F. F. Jewett, professor of chemistry in 
Oberlin College, he attempted every experiment known to him to pro- 
duce a corresponding iron oxide upon the clay of the balls, and found 
it impossible to do so by any processes of simple heating, and only 
approximately by heating the clay when coated with a solution of 
iron chloride. The only possibility, therefore, of its having been pro- 
duced upon the spot in recent- time was by the agency of an expert 
chemist, and no such person was in the region. Indeed the theory 
that such a person made the figurine is scarcely more probable than 
that an angel from heaven did :t. Professor Jewett's conclusion, there- 
fore, was that the accumulations of oxide of iron upon the figurine 
could not be accounted for "except by supposing it to have been the 
r;esult of the slow decomposition of substances containing iron, in its 
immediate vicinity." The figurine was an ancient relic of some sort. 
