22G Remarks on the Prinls of Humltn FeeL 



by a letter which is transmitted with tlieje remarks, thai 

 Col. Benton entertains a different opinion, and supposes 

 them to be the result of human labour, at the same period 

 of time when those enigmatical mounds upon the American 

 Bottom, and above the town of St. Louis, were constructed. 

 The reasons which have induced him to reject the opinion 

 of their being organic impressions are these : 



*'l. The hardness of the rock* 

 ''2. The nmnl of tracks leading to and from Ihem* 

 "3. The difficulty of supposing a change so mstantaneous 

 and apropos^ as rnifst have taken place in the formation of the 

 rocky if irnprcf^sfd when soft enough to receive such deep and 

 distinct Iracks.^^ 



To those who are familiar with the facts of the existence 

 of sea arid fresh water shells, ferns, madrepores, and other 

 fossil organic remains, in the hardest sandstones and lime- 

 stones of our continent, the hardness of the rock, and the 

 upposed rapidity of its consolidation, will not present ob- 

 jections of that force, which the writer supposes.* But 



X 



Several tracks of the human foot are reported to exist upoa the rocki 

 between Esopua lanJiiij and Kiii«;ston, on the Hudson- Chas. H Kugjjl^-? 

 Esq. Representative in Congress from Kingston, to whom I mentioned this 

 report, has no knowledge of the fact. 



A detached block of stone near the residence of Com. Rogers, at the city 

 of Washington, has been frequently resorted to, on account of its bearmg 

 the supposed prints of the human foot I have recentl)^ visited, and made a 

 cursory examination of this stone, in company with Dr. Darlington of Penn- 

 sylvania, and Albert H. Tracy, Es([. of N. York, both Representatives in 

 the present Congress ; but am not prepared to describe it. H- R. S- 



The following interesting fact, touching the history of secondary rocks, 

 has just come to light. The workmen engaged in blasting rock from the bed 

 of the Erie Canal, at Lockport, in Niagara county, lately discovered in a 

 small cavity in the rock, a toad in the torpid state, which on exposure to the 

 air instantly came to life, but died ia a few moments afterwards. The cav- 

 ity was only large enough to contain the body, without allowing room for 

 motion. No communication existed with the atmosphere : tlie nearest place 

 of approach to the surface was six inches, through sohd stone. U is oot 

 mentioned whether the rock was sandstone, or limestone; but from the 

 prevalence of limestone on the surface of the contiguous country, it may 



<; 



be presumed to be the latter : the country is wholly of secondary formation- 

 These animals have frequently been found imbedded in clay, gravel, &c. 

 but no fact of their having been observed in rock^ is recollected. Of the 

 causes which enable animals of this class, which have been suddenly en- 

 veloped in strata of earth, or otherwise shut out from the air without injury 

 to the animal organs, to resume, for a limited period, the functions of life, 

 r>n being restored to tiie atmosphere, no explanation need here be given, a? 



