4 Cincinnati Society of Natiiral History. 



also showed under the microscope a slide ])repared by himsel ffrom 

 tlie dust, and presented one to the Society. 



Dr. W. A. Dun said he would make a few announcements: 



First — Prof. Cope would lecture twice in the city, on Sunday, 

 March 20, in the Unity Club Course, and on Tuesday, March 22, 

 in the Scottish-Rite Cathedral on Broadway. The subject for the 

 latter lecture would be "The Origin of Man and other Mam- 

 malia." 



Second — The Photographic Section would show on Thursday 

 evening, March 3d, the 100 slides received in exchange from the 

 Amateur Photographers of St. Louis. 



Third — The exhibit of Foreign slides for the benefit of the 

 Building Fund would take place on April 8th in the Odeon. 



Dr. Dun in presenting a specimen of Mound Builders cloth' 

 read the following letter from Dr. N. E. Jones, of Circleville, O.: 



CiRCLEViLLE, Ohio, February 25, 1887. 

 Dr. W. a. Dun, Cincinnati, O. 



My Dear Doctor : — Thank you for your kind letter of the 2 ist. 

 The specimen of mound builders' cloth is yours and your disposal. 

 It was taken August, 1884, from the most beautiful and best pre- 

 served monument of the mound builders found anywhere in 

 Southern Ohio. 



This mound is situated near the Scioto river on an elevated 

 plateau, six miles south of the City of Circleville, Ohio. It is not 

 circular but has a base of 50X80 feet in diameter and a perpen- 

 dicular height of eighteen feet with a flattened top 25X40 feet. 

 The top is covered with a blue-grass sod while the base and sides 

 are thickly studded with small forest trees of various kinds. There 

 is a singular fact connected with the mound — from the first discov- 

 ery to the present time no shrub nor tree has ever attempted to grow 

 upon the sumit ; and the excavation showed none had ever been 

 there. In making this partial excavation, the earth was removed 

 from the base towards the center — before reaching the center and 

 above the basal line, an altar was unearthed formed of bricks and 

 mortar, made as smooth as a billiard table and upon which rested 

 charcoal or pieces of wood charred, from one to six inches in 

 diameter, forming a bed or mass of charcoal eight feet square and 

 over twelve inches thick (or deep). On this charcoal w-as resting 

 the winding sheet, showing every fold and seam and thread just as 

 it covered the human form. This wrap occupied the space due a 



