the American Association, at its meeting at Buffalo in 1876.  The general impression seemed to be that its origin could not date from the epoch of the stratum in which it is represented to have been found.  One person thought he could detect a rude representation of the signs of the zodiac around the border.  Another fancied he could discover numerals, and even dates.  No one could even offer any explanation of the objects or the circumstances of its discovery.  The figures bear a close resemblance to rude drawings executed on birch-bark and rock surfaces by the American Indians. But by what means were they etched?  And by what means was the uniform thickness of the copper produced?

{p. 357}

This object was sent by the owner to the Smithsonian Institution for examination, and Secretary Henry referred it to Mr. William E. Dubois, who presented the result of his investigation to the American Philosophical Society. Mr. Dubois felt sure that the object had passed through a rolling-mill, and he thought the cut edges gave further evidence of the machine-shop.  ‘All things considered,’ he said, ’I can not regard this Illinois piece as ancient nor old (observing the usual distinction), nor yet recent; because the tooth of time is plainly visible.’  He could suggest nothing to clear up the mystery.  Professor J. P. Lesley thought it might be an astrological amulet.  He detected upon it the signs of Pisces and Leo.  He read the date 1572.  He said, ‘The piece was placed there as a practical joke.’  He thought it might be Hispano-American or French-American in origin. the suggestion of ‘a practical joke’ is itself something which must be taken as a joke.  No person in possession of this interesting object would willingly part with it; least of all would he throw so small an object into a hole where not one chance in a thousand existed that it would ever be seen again by any person.

“If this object does not date from the age of the stratum from which obtained, it can only be a relic of the sixteenth or seventeenth century, buried beneath the alluvium deposited more recently by the Illinois River.  The country is a level prairie, and ‘Peoria Lake’ is an expansion of the river ten miles long and a mile and a half broad.  It is certainly possible that in such a region deep alluvial deposits may have formed since the visits of the French in the latter part of the seventeenth century. But it is not easy to admit an accumulation of one hundred and fourteen or one hundred and twenty-feet, since such a depth extends too much below the surface of the river.  In Whiteside County, fifty miles northwest from Peoria County, about 1851, according to Mr. Moffat, a large copper ring was found one hundred and twenty feet beneath the surface, as also something which has been compared to a boat-hook.  Several other objects have been found at less depths, including stone pipes and pottery, and a spear-shaped hatchet, MADE OF IRON.  If these