228 Remarks on the Prints of Human Feet* 



of Mexico, when their towns and temples were first visited 

 by the Spanish conqueror. 



These remarks, and the papers which are designed to 

 ilUistrate them, are submitted without farther comment, in 

 the hope that the novelty of the facts, at least, will recom- 

 mend them to the consideration of those who take an in-, 

 terest in the geological antiquities of our continent, and 

 whose opportunities of information quahfy them for the 

 discussion, in a manner that I cannot presume to be. 



Yours, with respect, 



HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT. 



Sir, 



TO THE HON. THOMAS H. BENTON, OF MISSOURI. 



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Washington, April 27th, 1822. 



Understanding that you have seen the prints of human 

 feet in the limestone rock, which forms the western shore 

 of the Mississippi river^ at St. Louis, and that you entertain 

 peculiar views in regard to them, I beg leave to solicit 

 your reply as to the fact of the existence of those impres- 

 sions, in situ, at the place indicated ; the time at which 

 they were first discovered by the inhabitants, and the sub- 

 sequent removal of the stone, with such opinion as you may 

 think proper to communicate respecting their origin, and 

 the conclusions to be drawn. 



"It is very remarkable that no analogous appearances 

 have been disclosed by the rock strata of any other part of 

 the world : at least, we are not informed that any well au- 

 thenticated discoveries of the fossil remains or impressions 

 of man, have ever been made, which prove the existence 

 of the species before the consolidation of existing rocks.* 

 But such, it appears to me, is the inevitable conclusion to 

 be drawn, if we are prepared to admit that these prints 

 were produced by the pressure of the human foot upon 

 those secondary strata, during their soft, or semi-pasty 

 state. 



" When we reflect upon the period of time which has 

 elapsed since the Mississippi country has been known to 



* Thefos?il human bones of Guadaloupe, are not conceived to form an ex- 

 ception to this remark. They are contained in a porous, shelly rock, or a 

 kind of tufa, of very recent and local formation. H. H- S. 



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