94 KANSAS Academy of Science. 



motion to the arrow as it passed through the air. Their thong sizers, plummets, 

 saws, needles, pipes, and decorated pottery, all bear evidence that the Mound-Builder 

 eagerly sought to become skilled. 



In comparison with the rudeness of the Celtic art, Sir John Lubbock says: "Very 

 different was the condition of American art. The art of pottery attained a consid- 

 erable degree of perfection. Some of the vases found in the tumuli are said to rival 

 in elegance of model, delicacy and finish, the best Peruvian specimens."' 



The skill that they have shown in the construction of many of their inclosures 

 is even more remarkable. In Pike county, Pa., is to be found an exact square, 

 surrounded by a perfect circle. There are, near Portsmouth, four perfectly con- 

 structed concentric circles, intersected by avenues or walks exactly true to the 

 cardinal points. Near where the Root river empties into the Mississippi, there is 

 an interesting inclosure, the principal mound being a cone, the circumference of 

 whose base is 36 feet, and whose altitude is 12 feet. This is sftuated within the 

 center of a circle. Without this circle are three bounding ridges, forming the three 

 sides of a triangle. Each ridge is 144 feet in length, 12 feet across at the base, and 

 are respectively three, four, and five feet in height, or together equal that of the 

 central mound. These, certainly, are manifestations of a mathematical skill. 



The evidence of their having manifested a desire for intellectual improvement 

 is not so strong as other things jjointing backward to some of the other causes of 

 their civilization; yet we have suflicient traces, we think, to warrant us in stating 

 that they sought to develop intellectually. 



Some authors claim that certain mystical writing-tablets have been found in the 

 mounds, but the authenticity of such is doubted. From personal observation of a 

 tablet now in the Welch Museum, at Wilmington, Ohio, I find that some of the 

 characters are very much like Greek letters. Prof. Collett, State Geologist of In- 

 diana, stated to me that he regarded it as spurious. On the other hand. Prof. Blake, 

 of the Kansas State University, who succeeded in taking a cast, under water, of the 

 celebrated Dighton rock, while he was yet quite young, told me that the Danish 

 archaeologists did not regard the characters upon it as Norse, but rather of Mound- 

 Builder origin. Hence we consider that this throws the weight of evidence in favor 

 of the Mound-Builders' use of characters or letters in the expression of thought. 



The picture-writing and construction of animal mounds point to the fact that 

 many of this people must have been close students of natural history. "The art 

 of picture-writing they shared with the Aztecs and Inipa of the Peruvians." 



As I have stated concerning their skill in constructing their fortifications in per- 

 fect squares, triangles, and circles, it is quite reasonable that we infer from such 

 that many were students of some system of mathematical science. 



It is thought that these few statements will be sutficient to indicate that there 

 was some intellectual development. 



(5) The fifth and greatest cause that has aided in the civilization of man has 

 been the development of his ethical and religious nature; and the question that we 

 are led to ask ourselves is: Have we found any evidences that the Mound-Builder 

 had and exercised such a nature? That we may. answer this question the more 

 definitely, let us examine some of their sacred mounds. 



The temple of the Aztecs was called by them a teooallis. They built it upon a 

 truncated pyramid, and here worshiped God, whom they called Theut, or Theot. 

 That this word bears a strong resemblance to the Greek word Thos, everyone can 

 readily see; and as to their relationship, that is a problem for the philologist. 



If we find a similarity in the structure of the Mound-Builder and Aztec temple, 

 might we not at least draw a slight inference that their religious systems were some- 

 what alike? 



