1866.] 243 [Peale. 



Dr. Wirtz, of New York, Hon. W. D. Kelley, the Medical 

 News, and the Young Men's Association of Buftalo. 



Mr. Peale exhibited specimens of Indian pottery of the 

 stone age, recently obtained near the Little Falls of the 

 Potomac, and presented a photographic picture of them 

 grouped. 



The use of steatite or soapstone, chnochlore, a variety of serpentine, 

 and of magnesian rocks, among the aborigines, during the stone age 

 in this country, is demonstrated by the numerous fragments of vases, 

 pots or mortars, found in many places frequented by them, but it is 

 rare that perfect or unbroken vessels of this kind are left to us, as 

 evidence of the status in civilization of these primitive people. The 

 reason of this rarity may be found in the fragile character of the 

 mineral, and their entire abandonment the moment an iron or brass 

 vessel comes into possession. It is therefore with great satisfaction 

 that I submit to the inspection of the members the examples before 

 you. 



The smallest of the two is analogous in material to the soapstone of 

 the old quarry on the Schuylkill near Manayunk, but its origin is 

 unknown to me, further than that it was contributed to the Great 

 Central Fair, from whose sales it came into my possession by purchase. 



The large vessel, made of a kind of greenstone trap as it appears, 

 is of the usual oval form, thirteen and a half inches long, nine wide, 

 and four and a half deep inside, and is capable of containing a half 

 gallon of liquid, with sufficient margin left for ebullition. Other 

 specimens which have been saved to us in imperfect condition are 

 generally of the same form, and make it evident that the specimens 

 before the Society, conform to and constitute the type of these ves- 

 sels generally. 



The steatite of which many vessels were made was doubtless 

 selected principally on account of the ease with which it could be 

 worked, by the use of flakes of jasper or hornstone, and retain marks 

 of the employment of such materials both in the interior and on the 

 exterior of their surfaces ; it is true, that it is a poor conductor of 

 heat, but it is equally so, that after being heated it would retain an 

 elevated temperature a long time. 



The projections at the ends were undoubtedly made for convenience 



in handling, and it may be to support the vase when placed on blocks 



or stones over a fire, for which purpose also, holes were sometimes 



perforated near the edge or rim, through which holes strips of skin, 



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