His own language will best state
his reasons for declining to think it a petrifaction. A letter
of his is subjoined, which was kindly furnished by him for
publication. The letter was written to one of the most scientific
men of America.
SYRACUSE, Oct. 18th, 1869.
Henry Morton, Prof. in Pennsylvania University and Franklin Institute:
DEAR SIR:--On Saturday last, some laborers engaged in digging a
well on the farm of W.C. Newell, near the village of Cardiff,
about 13 miles south of this city, discovered, lying at about three feet
below the surface of the earth, what they supposed to be the
"petrified body" of a human being, of colossal size. Its length
is ten feet and three inches, and the rest of the body is
proportionately large. The excitement in this locality over the
discovery is immense and unprecedented. Thousands have visited
the locality within the last three days, and the general opinion
seems to be that the discovery was the "petrified body" of a human
being.
I spent most of yesterday and to-day, at the location of the
so-called "FOSSIL MAN," and made a survey of the surroundings of
the place where this wonderful curiosity was found. On a careful
examination, I am convinced that it is not a fossil, but was cut
from a piece of stratified sulphate of lime, (known as the Onondaga
Gypsum.) If it were pulverized or ground, a farmer would call it
plaster. It was quarried, probably, somewhere in this county,
from our Gypsum beds.
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