The "Onondaga Giant" is the work of the sculptor, and out of a single large block of the gypseous limestone (an upper member of the "Onondaga Salt Group") which forms large beds in the immediate vicinity. This stone is very strongly marked by lines of deposition, causing bands of different shades extending in horizontal layers, perfectly even and parallel through large quarry masses. In the present in stance these layers are so disposed—in the way the sculptor chose his block—as to cut lengthwise through the whole body, and to mark off different leads over the entire figure. Thus the left hip and left breast present (cameo-like) a layer different and higher than the one which forms the corresponding parts on the right side of the body. The head, too, with its different elevation of chin, nose and forehead, is very strongly marked in the same way. These linings are well-known peculiarities in the original deposition of a stratified rock, and are not features assumed in the petrifaction of any organic body. Further peculiarities of the Onondaga gypsum are very noticeable in the block, and among them is the peculiar style of decomposition by which the whole lower part of the figure is affected, as also one side of its head. Here the soluble earths, with any portions of carbonate of lime, have been dissolved away, and the pure granular sulphate (snowy gypsum) remains, standing up with ragged, uneven, cavernous surfaces, which is a feature very noticeable everywhere in weather-worn fragments of this rock. This decomposition or rotting of the lower side of the left leg gives a very vivid semblance to the corruption of actual flesh, and has doubtless had much to do with the ready reception which the "petrifaction" theory has found among the mass of visitors—even including many men of intelligence and general education. If such persons will refer to works which treat of petrifaction in all their various kinds of transformation and in all the thousand genera and species of fossil organisms, they will find that although bones, shells, and the hard parts of animals, changed to stone, yet preserving their original outlines, are of constant occurrence, yet there is not a single instance on record of fossil flesh; of the fat, muscle or sinew of man or beast changed into stone or into any substance resembling stone. To a person acquainted with the nature of petrifaction, the slow substitution of mineral for animal matter, particle by particle, the reason why humor of other flesh does not undergo the same change will be apparent. This is truly not entirely in accordance with popular belief, nor with the ever-recurring stories in our public journals. "A fish nearly a foot long, petrified to solid stone" has lately been cited in your columns as another instance of the petrifactions of the Onondaga Valley. I visited this yesterday at the Museum of the Onondaga Historical Society, at Syracuse, and found (what I had before surely surmised,) a simple, short, club-like fragment of limestone, worn by running water to a form like a little fish. "This it was and nothing more."

It is proposed—and very properly—that this Onondaga relic should be submitted to the examination of Professor Hall, Agassiz, Leidz, or some other of our geologists known to fame and infallible experts in these matters. This were well. But there is another court which I think, would pass quite as prompt a decision. I believe that a sculptor, in examining this most singular specimen, would at once recognize its artificial character. The devices for saving time or for adding strength, partially cutting out the figure, are sufficiently apparent in the object before us. The legs—with their heavy thigh, the swollen knee portion, the swollen calf and slender ankle, all touch on the outline length as they lie over each other, with no open space between, or no point where one folds down upon the other with a sharp line of contact of the two surfaces. The same thing, too, is noticeable in the arms and in the fingers of the hand, where the flesh, instead of sloping away— one rounded surface finely leaving another—is cut down square, as if some unnatural out growth of flesh had formed a uniting portion beneath the member. This is a too common device in the coarser grades of sculpture to escape notice here. Our sculptor would certainly find fault with the very constrained position of the body, its feet awkwardly crossed and its left arm twisted rather than laid backward under its body, certainly this is not the attitude in which a sculptor—a man of taste—would place his handiwork. Still, may it not be an admissable theory, that the oldtime artist was constrained in the form which he should give his statue, by the form and dimensions of his gypsum block. If there was not material sufficient to carve out both arms lying across the breast, he might find enough to make one of the arms below. If the lower left hand corner of the block were broken off, he might still bring out both feet by lapping one over the other, and letting vertical space atone for lateral want of it. If our sculptor, finally, will look sharply upon the legs and body in such parts as have escaped the considerable water-wearing which has smoothed most of the figure, I think that he will see plainly the marks of the graving tool of his ancient colleague. But, as he now has the figure in charge—I positively rejecting it as being no fossil—I will leave to him and the Archeologist to study and puzzle upon it. Dr. J.F. Boynton, of Syracuse, (to whom, by the way, belongs the credit of having first discerned and recorded in print that this is a statue), says, "I think that this piece of reclining statuary is not 300 years old, but is the work of the early Jesuit Fathers in this country, who are known to have frequented the Onondaga valley from 220 to 250 years ago; that it would probably bear a date in history corresponding with the monumental stone which was found at Pompey Hill in this county, and now deposited in the Academy at Albany. All these are points which Archaeologists and Ethnologists may yet determine. Will not Hon. Lewis H. Morgan leave Rochester by an early Monday train and see this most wonderful statue while it is still undisturbed in its bed. H. A. WARD. ROCHESTER, October 23, 1869.

LETTER PROM GEN. E. W. LEAVENWORTH.

To the editor of the Syracuse Journal:— This subject does not seem, even yet, to be exhausted, much as has been written in regard to it. Having spent an hour yesterday in the inspection of the great mystery, permit me hastily to give you the results of my observations.

THE LOCALITY.

For the benefit of the large number who will not be able to visit the locality, it may be well to define more fully and precisely the exact spot in which it was found. It is near the west line of the town of Lafayette, in the upper section of the valley of the Onondaga Creek, called Christian Hollow—a short two miles above the south line of the Reservation of the Onondaga Indians. The valley at this point is about half a mile in width, and there are two north and south roads running through it, directly at the foot of the hills on each side. The small village of Cardiff nestles under the eastern hills, about half a mile directly east of the locality in question, which is precisely at that point where the slope of the western hills meets the alluvial valley of the Onondaga Creek. This point is about one hundred feet east of the west road, and about two hundred feet west from the bank of the creek. On the west the ground rises moderately to the road, then more rapidly to the top of the western hills, some eight hundred feet above the valley below. On the east it is nearly or quite a dead level to the creek, the ground being evidently all alluvial. The valley is beautiful— thickly settled and under high cultivation.

THE POSITION.

The statue—for such I am sure it is—lies in a hole about twelve feet long, five feet wide at the top, and four at the bottom. The soil of the first three feet, or a trifle more or less, is the common alluvial soil of the Onondaga valley. The next foot is gravel, which rests on the solid clay. The ends of many pieces of wood project through the gravel and some are found in the soil above.

IS THERE ANY FRAUD OR DECEPTION.

Those familiar with the frauds practised in other countries in the manufacture and sale of antiques, and perhaps others, would have a vague suspicion that this might furnish another instance, nearer home. My own mind was not free from such dreams. And notwithstanding the apparent impossibility of finding a place where such a stone might be obtained—of quarrying, working, transporting, and burying the same, and keeping it a profound secret, I still had my suspicions. But the first look at the statue dispels from the mind every thought of that nature. It has the marks of the ages stamped upon every limb and feature, in a manner and with a distinctness which no art can imitate. I have not seen the first person who entertained any doubt of its great antiquity, after looking at that most wonderful and inexplicable figure. The time spent in manufacturing and retailing the simple and absurd rumors which circulate through the community and find their way into the papers, is weakly and foolishly thrown away. It is a serious and most remarkable reality, and one which as yet have received no satisfactory explanation, and probably never will.

IS IT A STATUE OR A PETRIFACTION?

Serious doubts are really entertained on this subject, and it is elaborately discussed. I must confess that I have none whatever, and for the following reasons:

First—There is no satisfactory evidence that any one person ever lived in any age or country of this world, of the statue of ten feet, unless it be Goliah of Gath. I know very well what is claimed and said on this subject, but the evidence would not satisfy a jury of intelligent men.

Second—There is nothing in the general aspect, which leads any one to think it anything but stone. I venture to say, that were it in any other form, such a supposition would never have arisen.

Third—The stratification of the stone is perfectly visible, even to the imperfect observation now allowed. Mr. Calthrop's letter is full and satisfactory on this subject, but in addition to the places pointed out by him, the stratification may be seen on the left shoulder, and I think on the top of the head. That upon the left breast is, however, most clear, distinct and satisfactory.

Fourth—The whole statue, in all its parts, furnishes the most conclusive evidence, that it was all cut from one stone. It is quite clear that the stone has been cut away just far enough and only just far enough to show the legs, the arms and the fingers.

Fifth—The fracture of the stone along the left leg,, and especially on the heel of the left foot, which seems to be recent and fresh, is the fracture of our common gypsum, and leaves no doubt, so far as the eye can determine, that the material is stone.

It is said that on striking the head or the chest, it gives forth a sound indicating that the statue is hollow. Such evidence must in any event be very uncertain, and now no such experiments are permitted.

No one is permitted to touch the statue, but I was allowed to look at it with a powerful glass at my leisure.

I have carefully read the nine points made in the Standard of the 23d, to its being a statue. None of them are conclusive, nor, as it seems to be very strong, do they affect my belief on the subject. The marvelous has a great attraction for all of us, but we cannot afford to surrender our better judgment for the luxury of enjoying a belief in it.

In the meantime, why will not Mr. Newell run a dozen or twenty trenches from the locality of the giant, in every direction, down through the alluvial soil to the clay, and see if other discoveries may not be made, which will throw light on this one?

Very respectfully, E.W. LEAVENWORTH, SYRACUSE Oct. 20th, 1869.

From the Syracuse Journal, Oct. 27th.

LETTER FROM PROFESSOR HALL, THE STATE GEOLOGIST ALBANY, Oct. 26th, 1869.

Messrs. Truair & Smith, Publishers of the Syracuse Journal: GENTLEMEN:—I have just received your favor of the 25th instant, in relation to the "Stone Wonder," visited by us. There can be but one opinion about it, I think.

It is a statue, cut in gypsum, and intended to represent a human form of colossal size in a recumbent posture. As to its source or origin, I cannot conjecture. It is worn and dissolved by water to a degree that indicates long inhumation, and it is covered by an alluvial deposit of three feet or more in depth. The sculpture is of a high order and very different from those of Central America. I enclose you a few paragraphs* which I wrote in reference to a statement that I had not been permitted to examine the object in question. I do not see that we can say more at present. I am respectfully, your ob't servant, JAMES HALL.

*The same letter communicated to the Albany Argus of October 25th, under the signature "H." and printed on page—.



TO THE GIANT OF ONONDAGA.

Speak out, O Giant! stiff, and stark, and grim, Open thy lips of stone, thy story tell; And by the wondering crowd who pay thee court In thy cold bed, and gaze with curious eyes On thy prone form so huge, and still so human, Let now again be heard, that voice which once Through all old Onondaga's hills and vales Proclaimed thy lineage from a Giant race, And claimed as subjects, all who trembling hear Art thou a son of old Polyphemus, Or brother to the Sphinx, now turned to stone— The mystery and riddle of the world? Did human passions stir within thy breast And move thy heart with human sympathies? Was life to thee, made up of joy and hope, Of love and hate, of suffering and pain, In fair proportions to thy Giant form? Did ever wife, by whatsoever name Or tie of union, with her ministries Of love, caress and cheer thy way through life? Were children in thy home, to climb thy knee And pluck thy beard, secure, and dare thy power Or, was thy nature as its substance now, Like stone—as cold and unimpressible? Over these hills, with spear like weaver's beam, Dids't thou pursue the chase and track thy foe, Holding all fear and danger in contempt? And, did at last, some fair Delliah Of thy race, hold thee in gentle dalliance, And with thy head upon her lap at rest, Wer't shorn of strength, and told too late, alas, "Thine enemies be upon thee?" Tell us the story of thy life, and whether Of woman born—substance and spirit In mysterious unon wed—or fashioned By hand of man from stone, we bow in awe, And hail thee, GIANT OF ONONDAGA!

SYRACUSE, Oct. 20, 1869. D.P.P

THE END