THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 219 



and the American Academy on this side of the Atlantic, and the several 

 scientific societies on the other. 



Ancient Momiments. 



The success of the first memoir published by the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution has awakened much attention to American antiquities, and a 

 number of communications have been submitted on this subject. Among 

 these is one by Mr. William Pidgeon, of Virginia, who has spent a 

 number of years in the explojation of mounds, and other ancient re- 

 mains, on the upper branches of the Mississippi. 



The results of his labors are of a very interesting character, though 

 the facts contained in his memoir are too much mingled with the tradi- 

 tions received by him from the Indians, and with his own hypotheses, 

 to be accepted as a part of the Smithsonian Contributions. After re- 

 peated conversations with Mr. Pidgeon, I was clearly of the opinion 

 that his researches ought to be given to the public in some way, in 

 order that his statements might receive due attention, and be corrobo- 

 rated or disproved by other explorers ; and I am pleased to be able to 

 state that a gentleman of Washington has undertaken to arrange and 

 edit these researches, and that they will be published in a separate 

 volume for the benefit of thg authors. 



We have also received communications relative to mounds from Mr. 

 Charles Wliittlesey, of Ohio, from Mr. Titian R. Peale, of Washington, 

 and Mr. William E. Guest, of Ogdensburg, New York. The first of 

 these may be considered as supplementary to the memoir of Messrs. 

 Squier and Davis, describing works omitted in their survey. The 

 second gives a plan and description of the mounds which formerly ex- 

 isted on the present site of St. Louis, Missouri, made during the visit 

 of Major Long's party in 1849 to that country, on their way to the 

 Rocky mountains. This sketch is now interesting on account of the 

 fact that, in the rapid progress of improvement, these mounds have 

 been nearly obliterated, and that they can only be preserved to science, 

 as they existed more than thirty years ago, by this publication. 



The third is an account, with drawings, of ancient works at Prescot, 

 in Canada West. The great size of the remains of trees which oc- 

 cupy the ground, evince the long time which must have elapsed since 

 these works were constructed, and the entire absence of stone pipes 

 and arrow heads has induced the belief that they are of a higher an- 

 tiquity than those in the Ohio valley. 



The last two contributions will form a single memoir, the plates for 

 which are partially completed. 



But the most interesting circumstance connectecf with the study of 

 the ancient remains of this country is a recent action of the American 

 Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Massachusetts. This institution was 

 founded in 1812 by the zeal and liberality of Isaiah Thomas, for the 

 purpose of collecting and preserving such manuscripts, pamphlets, and 

 other articles as relate to the history of this countr}^ and for the explo- 

 ration and publication of its antiquities. It was at the expense ot this 

 society that the original researches of Mr. Atwater, on the mounds of 

 the Ohio valley, were first published ; and during the last two years 



