Third, it has been claimed that the material of this figure is
gypsum taken from the hills of Onondaga county. The evidence of
our most experienced quarrymen is that a block of gypsum of
sufficient size to make this figure was never found in this region.

Fourth, if this figure was sculptured from marble or stone, its
body, head and limbs would be solid. Yet the orifices in its
wasted rectum and other parts of its body, and the resounding
noise occasioned by striking upon it proves that it is hollow
internally.

Fifth, No statue was ever sculptured in this or a similar position.
The position is precisely that which a person would assume who was
suffering an agony which was to result in death. The hands
pressing opposite sides of the lower part of the body and one leg
drawn up and pressed against the other is the effort of expiring
humanity to relieve itself from pain. The sculptor's chisel and
the painter's brush have often been called upon to represent
scenes of death in all its various forms and manifestations. Yet
have they never attained the simplicity, the impressiveness, the
vivid naturalness of the story told by the figure which lies in
yonder clay.

Sixth, It should also be observed that a sculptor who had the
genius to form such a figure would naturally keep a proper and
harmonious proportion in the different parts of the body, but it
will be noticed in this subject that the feet are unusually broad,
projecting far beyond the natural lines of the leg, and giving
evidence of usage which has caused what is almost a deformity.